During a Tuesday pickup basketball game between Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, and the Tar Heels men's basketball team, Williams watched his players from the sidelines. He shouted comments that some took as an endorsement of Obama. "You've left the next president of the United States wide open," he yelled at one point.

In a state where the Democratic primary between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is days away, political observers are hanging on every word and action. But Williams' playful comments were not meant as an endorsement of Obama, said Steve Kirschner, spokesman for the basketball team.