It's impossible for anyone to know what's going in Roy Williams' head right now. Roy doesn't even know.

On the brink of his greatest coaching achievement, Williams seems prepared to risk everything this week in New Orleans, site of the Final Four.

If his favored Kansas Jayhawks don't win the national championship, if they somehow lose in their semifinals matchup against a talented and well-coached Marquette squad, Roy will be lampooned by the national media for his handling of the Roy-to-North Carolina rumors.

	This is the image Kansas fans hope to see of Roy Williams for years to come.

He refuses to address the issue head-on. He has sidestepped the two options that could provide him relief from the incoming media onslaught:
1. Williams could end the speculation by announcing he has no interest in returning to UNC.
2. Williams could say, "I will not discuss my feelings on the North Carolina job until after my team has completed play in the NCAA Tournament."

Instead of taking those direct approaches, here's what Williams had to say on Wednesday when questioned about UNC during a national teleconference:

"I don't think its fair. I said (Tuesday), my team, my staff, myself, everybody deserves to have the right to focus on this Final Four week. Regardless of what I say, the next guy is going to ask another question. And Ben Howland is a guy I love to death. And two weeks ago he said Pittsburgh's a destination. It's all just a bunch of garbage. My team deserves me to not have to answer those questions. I haven't spent one second thinking about it except for the fact nobody can understand English enough to take an answer, which is that my team deserves me to be focused on what I am. I didn't think this decision would ever come up again, but it has, and it's already been a pain in the rear end.''

Now you could argue that Williams indirectly said that he wouldn't discuss North Carolina until after the season. But you could also argue that Williams directly said that he's going to consider taking the Carolina job again, which is a major news story, given the prominence of the UNC and Kansas programs, and given Williams' statements in 2000 that he wouldn't consider any other job offers.

If Kansas loses this weekend, the story will be that the Jayhawks and Williams were distracted. How could they not be? The biggest circus in Kansas basketball history -- "Roystock" is what Jayhawk fans call UNC's seven-day recruitment of Williams in 2000 -- returned to town just in time for the Final Four. And this time it returned with a few new acts that could possibly impact the ending.

So what should you read into Williams' (mis)handling of the Tar Heels rumors?

Roy is one confused puppy. He doesn't know what to feel, how to feel or what his feelings should compel him to do. His good friend and former assistant Matt Doherty, a man Williams endorsed for the head job at UNC, just got run out of a job by a bunch of whiny, petulant players. Williams feels empathy for Doherty, but Williams also probably has enough inside information to know that Doherty brought a great deal of this on himself.

Roy is also confused by his situation in Lawrence. He has zero respect for his athletic director, Al Bohl, who is alternately referred to as "Shallow Al" and "Weird Al" by coaches throughout the KU athletic department.

	The thought of not working for Bohl is more than enough for Roy to leave.

Bohl is a boob. He's quite possibly the most substance-less man or woman I've ever met in athletics. He has a used-car salesman's persona. The best way to discern whether Bohl is feeding you a line of crap is to look at his face and see if his lips are moving. Bohl is so goofy and makes people so uncomfortable that even his handpicked, first-year football coach, Mark Mangino, the man Bohl gave a one-year contract extension to despite a winless conference season, would like to see Bohl removed as AD.

Williams and Bohl fell out early in Bohl's tenure, which is a little less than two years old. Bohl fired KU football coach Terry Allen, Williams' good friend, with three weeks left in the 2001 season. Williams didn't object to Allen's firing. He objected to the timing. Williams thought Bohl needlessly embarrassed Allen by firing him midseason. Williams also wasn't pleased that Bohl had an assistant AD deliver the news to Allen. "Shallow Al" didn't have the tummy to carry out his own hit.

Williams publicly criticized the timing of Allen's dismissal. Instead of ignoring Williams' harmless criticism and avoiding a scrap, "Shallow Al'' escalated the bickering by telling reporters that Williams needed to understand that Al Bohl was the boss.

"Shallow Al'' was drunk on power he doesn't have in basketball-crazy Lawrence. Most people expect Bohl to be fired by the end of the school year. But that action might be too little, too late in regards to Williams' flirtation with North Carolina.

Bohl's presence the past two years probably made Williams have moments of regret about turning UNC down the first time. Not even Roy knows if those introspective moments will compel him to leave Kansas this time.

Jason Whitlock is a regular columnist for the Kansas City Star (kcstar.com), the host of a morning-drive talk show, "Jason Whitlock's Neighborhood" on Sports Radio 810 WHB (810whb.com) and a regular contributor on ESPN The Magazine's Sunday morning edition of The Sports Reporters. He can be reached at ballstate0@aol.com.