Jason Williams and Grant Hill argue UNC’s Blue Blood status

Is UNC – Duke greats Jason Williams and Grant Hill clash over whether UNC still qualifies as a “Blue Blood.” Williams points to a long slide; Hill counters with more recent championship and postseason presence. The debate turns into a bigger question about what happens

For former Duke stars Jason Williams and Grant Hill, this isn’t just a debate about rankings. It’s about whether the old guarantees still hold.

Williams says UNC is no longer a Blue Blood, arguing the program has fallen off for too long. Hill disagrees. His case is straightforward: UNC has won a championship more recently than Duke, and UNC has also reached a championship game more recently too—two facts he calls “undeniably true.”

The question lands because the sport itself has changed. The traditional Blue Bloods list—already labeled “a stupid term” in the discussion—was framed as Duke. UNC. Kentucky. Kansas. Indiana. UCLA. A more contemporary list was offered as Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State, UConn, Gonzaga. Even within that shift. the point is obvious: with college basketball in such flux. defining a “Blue Blood” is getting harder. not easier.

Kentucky is one of the clearest examples of how messy the definition has become. Kentucky legend Dan Issel is cited saying that “when everyone is paying players, it’s harder to cheat.” The claim is paired with an anecdote from a former Kentucky player saying Wildcat players were “absolutely paid.”

The conversation then pivots to what happens after the people who define eras step away. No one knows what will happen to Kansas when Bill Self retires. The recent record is used to underline the uncertainty: in the last four years. Kansas has not made it out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Over the last three seasons. Kansas finished 5th. 6th. and 3rd in the Big 12—after finishing 1st or tied for 1st for 14 straight years.

That uncertainty is mirrored in how Duke and UNC have handled succession, and it’s where the debate about identity starts to feel personal.

Duke’s transition is described as tightly managed. Mike Krzyzewski and Jon Scheyer worked closely together in Coach K’s final season. Scheyer, the account says, won over his own recruits and built his team his way, calling it an astonishing succession—nearly perfectly executed.

In Chapel Hill, the succession story played out differently. Roy Williams stepped down and made it clear that Hubert Davis was his preferred replacement. But the results. as laid out here. were not steady: Davis didn’t communicate with his players very well. coached teams that were “wildly erratic. ” and was dismissed after another yo-yo season.

The discussion also includes two specific factors from that stretch. On the one hand. losing Caleb Wilson to injuries is described as a “fatal blow.” On the other hand. allowing him to dunk while he was still recovering from a wrist injury is framed as foolish. with the added detail that it “was not the same hand. but that doesn’t make it any smarter.”.

With the Dean Smith coaching tree out of candidates, UNC then hired NBA coach Michael Malone. The big question now becomes whether Malone can restore—or at least keep—UNC’s Blue Blood status.

There’s cautious optimism built in. Malone is said to have done a decent job identifying and acquiring talent. He’s also been portrayed as calming the traditionalists by hiring a number of former UNC players to fill out his staff.

Still, the argument is grounded in a warning drawn from history. The track record of NBA coaches moving to college is not described as strong. Examples of names and outcomes are listed: Fred Hoiberg at Nebraska is described as having done well; Larry Brown is remembered as a brilliant coach who would have succeeded anywhere. at least for a few seasons. before “wanderlust” kicked in. Kevin Young is cited as doing well at BYU.

But the failures are presented as long. The list includes Isiah Thomas, Mike Dunleavy Sr., Chris Mullin, and Patrick Ewing.

One reason given for those struggles is recruiting, which is framed as less central than it used to be. The portal is cited as allowing programs to “get a pretty good team in a hurry.” For now. recruiting overseas is also described as an option—though it’s flagged that proposed new rules could change that.

Then comes the more difficult piece: the players. The argument says NBA coaches moving into college now face much younger rosters. Duke is mentioned as having a 17-year-old next year in Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje; and “a lot of freshmen are 17.” Malone. the account says. is used to managing reliable professionals in their 20s and 30s. He’s going to be forced to adjust from being a manager to being, in the comparison offered, a teacher.

If Malone succeeds, the debate over UNC’s Blue Blood status is positioned as effectively answered. If he does not, the question becomes more pressing—not just for UNC, but for the sport’s deeper assumptions about what history can protect.

The discussion widens again with coaching searches from recent years. It notes that Indiana, Kentucky, and UNC all had coaching searches in the recent past, and that each “swung for the fences,” assuming that their history would attract an accomplished college coach. It didn’t work for any of them.

So where does that leave Williams and Hill? It leaves the definition of Blue Bloods open, for now—less like a sealed label and more like a test that’s still being run, game by game.

UNC basketball Duke Jason Williams Grant Hill Blue Bloods Michael Malone Hubert Davis Roy Williams Bill Self Kansas Coach K Jon Scheyer Dan Issel