“It goes down in history,” Weber said. “Not only Illinois history, NCAA history. Tied the most wins ever, No. 1 for all the time. You get to the championship game. You know, I mean, if you’re not happy with this, I feel sorry for you, because life ain’t getting better.”

It did get better for Williams, though.

The coach left Kansas to take over the Tar Heels two years ago, after the program Smith built had faltered and fallen to 8-20. Williams took a ton of heat for leaving the Jayhawks suddenly after losing in the title game in 2003 — his fourth close call at the Final Four.

He defended the move, saying coming back to his alma mater had always been his dream.

MEN'S RESULTS FINAL North Carolina 75, Illinois 70 SEMIFINALS Illinois 72, Louisville 57 North Carolina 87, Michigan State 71

“The last three or four days, I had five or six of them call me and wish me good luck,” he said of his former players.

It took two years to rebuild, and this week he dealt with a more familiar issue: Did he need to win a title to call his career a success?

He told the story of Smith insisting he was no better a coach after he finally won one in 1982, but Williams conceded that answering that “same doggone question” did get a little annoying at times.

When he walked into the interview room after this win, his first statement echoed Smith.

“I’m no better coach than I was three hours ago,” Williams declared.

The win gave North Carolina its fourth overall title, fourth-most in NCAA history and one more than archrival Duke. Celebrating in the locker room afterward were former Tar Heel Michael Jordan and Smith, the coach Williams patterned his career after.

After May made a short shot with 11:22 left in the first half for an 18-17 lead, Carolina never trailed again — but this game never really got comfortable.

May was unstoppable for the first 12 minutes of the second half, scoring 16 points during that stretch and dishing out two assists to help North Carolina push its lead to as many as 15 and fight off the Illinois rallies.

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