Williams pursued Barnes more than anyone in career

By AARON BEARD
AP Basketball Writer

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.(AP) — Roy Williams remembers times when he had
a good feeling that a recruit would sign to play for him only to
see the player go elsewhere.

His vibe about the much sought-after Harrison Barnes turned out
well for North Carolina.

Barnes, a 6-foot-7 swingman widely regarded as the nation’s top
recruit, signed with Williams’ Tar Heels program Friday. Barnes
choose the defending national champion from six schools that
included national powers Kansas and UCLA, along with rival Duke.
It ended a 16-month pursuit for Williams, who said he recruited
Barnes probably harder than anyone in his career.

“I said right up to the very end I would not have been surprised
with any of the six choices, and I really wouldn’t have been,”
Williams said Saturday during halftime of the Miami-North
Carolina football game at Kenan Stadium. “We worked extremely
hard and we’ve got a good product to promote, there’s no
question about that. I’d like to think that we’re always going
to try to outwork everybody else, but I wouldn’t have been
surprised” had he gone elsewhere.

Barnes announced his decision by contacting Williams through an
internet video conference call on a nationally televised
broadcast. Williams said assistant coach Steve Robinson and
video coordinator Eric Hoots set up the call after request from
the Barnes family, but Williams said he didn’t know Barnes’
decision until the call came.

“You have a good feeling when they start talking about the Skype
and setting it up, but they could have been doing that for every
school,” Williams said. “When he said, ’I’m going to go over and
Skype the coach,’ and then his face showed up on our computer,
that’s a pretty good feeling.”

Barnes joins point guard Kendall Marshall and shooting guard
Reggie Bullock in the Tar Heels’ recruiting class for next
season, which already ranked among the nation’s best even before
Barnes’ announcement. The trio should help address a couple of
the Tar Heels’ apparent weaknesses: depth at point guard and
unproven outside shooting.

As for beating out Duke in the recruiting of Barnes, Williams
wouldn’t dwell on it.

“Duke’s going to get good players,” he said. “I don’t worry
about Duke and I’m sure that they don’t worry about us. They’re
hard to recruit against because they’re so good. … They’re all
really good schools. You just want him to say your name, your
school and then whoever you beat doesn’t make any difference.”