Roy Williams out-blings John Calipari during visit with Julius Randall
Having read that John Calipari wowed elite recruit Julius Randle with his brand new championship ring during an in-home visit Sunday evening, North Carolina coach Roy Williams one-upped his Kentucky counterpart two days later.
Williams showed up to Randle's home with a case that held 30 rings commemorating anything from conference championships, to Final Four berths to national titles. Once Randle finished admiring those, Williams then reached into his pocket and pulled out the coup de grâce: The 1992 NBA championship ring Tar Heels legend Michael Jordan won with the Chicago Bulls.
USA Today's Jason Jordan has spent the week with Randall in Plano, Texas, chronicling the in-home visits the Class of 2013's top-ranked recruit has received from coaches from the likes of NC State, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and Kansas. Jordan asked the 6-foot-9 power forward whether holding Michael Jordan's ring topped trying on Calipari's.
"Come on now. It's Jordan. No comparison," Randle responded.
"[Williams] said Jordan gave it to him to show his players what they could achieve with hard work and determination. I was just shocked. I couldn't believe I was holding Jordan's ring."
The anecdote from USA Today demonstrates the lengths top coaches will go in competing with one another on the recruiting trail. It's no accident Calipari was wearing his national title ring to Randle's home Sunday night. And it's no coincidence Williams just happened to bring a case of rings two days after Randle and his mom gushed about how impressive Calipari's ring was.
It's going to be tough for any coach in the Randall sweepstakes to top Williams' haul, but Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski certainly has more championship rings to showcase.
And if that's not enough, perhaps Krzyzewski can place a call to Lance Thomas. If Friday's news is any indication, the ex-Duke forward has plenty of diamond-crusted jewelry he could lend his former coach.
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