Roy Williams reflects on his past career at Kansas as his No. 1-seed UNC Tar Heels prepare to face off with the No. 2-seed Kansas Jayhawks for a shot at the Final Four, and Jayhawks' coach Bill Self discusses the Heels.

The last time UNC coach Roy Williams faced his former employer, the Kansas Jayhawks, he called it “one of the worst nights of my career.”

That matchup occurred in the 2008 NCAA Tournament semifinals and when I spoke to him about it more than a year later during the research for Williams’ autobiography Hard Work, he could still recall in detail almost every play from that game.

He said he walked onto the court that night in San Antonio believing his team was going to play great. Before he knew it, the Tar Heels trailed 40-12.

He also admitted that he coached the game feeling so ill that he threw up into a towel and so dizzy that he had to hold onto a chair to keep from falling. At one point he asked his assistant coach Steve Robinson to call a play because he couldn’t.

Though the Tar Heels made a run in the second half, UNC lost 84-66.

“It felt like somebody reached in and grabbed my heart and shook it in front of my face,” Williams told me. “That Kansas game will eat at me for the rest of my career. Playing so poorly was bad enough, but playing so poorly against the team I coached for 15 years made it even worse. I wanted to win that game more than any game I have ever coached… Watching us play felt like a nightmare. I still to this day have not watched a tape of that Kansas game, and I probably never will.”

Think he wants to win this one?

ST. LOUIS — History was waiting for N.C. State. Kansas decided to make its own instead.

With a date with North Carolina in the Final Eight on the line, N.C. State bowed out of the NCAA tournament on Friday night in a 60-57 loss to second-seeded Kansas in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Instead of an historic fourth meeting between the Wolfpack and Tar Heels — what would have been the first in the NCAA tournament between the two rivals — the Jayhawks will get a rematch of the 2008 Final Four with their former coach, UNC's Roy Williams.

ST. LOUIS — When Duke beat Kansas, at a neutral site, back in November, the Blue Devils made 11 3-pointers, compared to only two for the Jayhawks.

When Davidson beat Kansas, at a neutral site, a month later, the Wildcats made 11 3-pointers, compared to only six for the Jayhawks.

In all six of its losses this season, Kansas — a prototypical inside-out team — was out-scored from 3-point range. And four of those losses came at a neutral site.

ST. LOUIS — Bill Self has won an average of 29 games a year in eight seasons at Kansas with the 2008 national title and five Big 12 titles to his credit. Still, N.C. State assistant coach Bobby Lutz, who spent last season in the Big 12, considers this season to be Self's best work.

"When you consider what they lost and how they've progressed, I think it's his best coaching job ever," Lutz said.

The Jayhawks (29-6) had to replace three NBA draft picks from last season's team, which won 35 games before bowing out to Virginia Commonwealth in the Final Eight.

The North Carolina State Fair has unveiled its 2011 concert lineup for Dorton Arena, and it has all the usual elements. There are a couple of Christian-pop acts, plus country groups you've never heard of even though they've won a bunch of awards; an "American Idol" alumnus; a burned-out classic-rock band; plus a partridge, pear tree, expatriate local Tift Merritt, classy oldie Dionne Warwick and the most attention-getting name of all, one of the biggest danged legends in country music -- the great George Jones.

One act is still to be announced, but here's what we've got so far:
 

Oct. 13 -- Craig Campbell, $5
Oct. 14 -- Skillet, $15
Oct. 15 -- TBA
Oct. 16 -- Tift Merritt, $5
Oct. 17 -- Steel Magnolia, $5
Oct. 18 -- George Jones, $10
Oct. 19 -- David Nail, $5
Oct. 20 -- Dionne Warwick, $10
Oct. 21 -- Newsboys, $10
Oct. 22 -- Kansas, $10
Oct. 23 -- Kellie Pickler, $15

ECU’s Skip Holtz said no to one basketball school, Syracuse in 2008, but the football coaching job at Kansas is a more appealing offer is extended.

After leading the Pirates to a second straight Conference USA championship, Holtz clearly is in the Kansas mix. He and Jayhawk athletic director Lew Perkins are tight.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Todd Reesing threw three touchdown passes and Maxwell Onyegbule returned an interception 48 yards for another score, enabling No. 22 Kansas to shake off a sluggish start and beat Duke 44-16 Saturday.

A surprised Kansas (3-0) found itself trailing 7-0 after Thad Lewis engineered a two-play, 87-yard drive on Duke’s first possession. The 22-point underdog Blue Devils (1-2) kept it tied 7-all into the second quarter before Reesing began finding his touch.

DURHAM — The Duke football program has to go back 38 years to recall a road victory over a ranked team.
That victory came on Oct. 2, 1971 when the Blue Devils defeated No. 19 Stanford 9-3 before 61,000 Cardinal fans.

The Devils try to end that drought on Saturday when they face No. 22-ranked Kansas at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.

Duke's football game at Kansas on Sept. 19 will kickoff at noon. The game will be televised by Versus.

Duke's opener against Richmond on Sept. 5 is set for 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will host N.C. Central on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.