Roy Williams calls out President Trump while discussing ACC Tournament host cities
BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Roy Williams offered some candid thoughts on what market the ACC Tournament should play in and somehow also used it as an opportunity to offer a sharp comment on President Donald Trump’s social media presence.
The discussion started on Wednesday after Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim spoke in favor of keeping the event - currently being held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the first time - in big cities, criticizing former host Greensboro, N.C. as a place that provides "no value" as a venue.
North Carolina's Roy Williams responded to Boeheim's comments following his team's 78-53 win over Miami on Thursday.
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"This is America. Everybody's got the right to their opinion," Williams said. "I don't agree with that. I love moving the tournament around. I think it's good. But the Masters was played at Augusta National. Augusta's not a very big town. We keep taking the tournament back there.
I still think it's good for us to move around. I loved Washington, D.C., last year. New York is doing a great job. I love Greensboro."
But then he took it to a whole other tangent when asked if having the tournament in the big city could potentially benefit ACC teams when it comes to recruiting.
"It used to be much more so than I think it is now. Now everybody's has got social media, and we don't need The New York Times to find out what in the dickens is going on in the country. You know, our president tweets out more [expletive] than anybody I've ever seen. We've got social media.
In the old days, there's no question it was the media capital of the world, but I'm not sure it is right now. Media capital of the world is sitting right there, right there, right there. But it has value. I'm not saying it doesn't. I don't think we have to go overboard."
The ACC Tournament returns to Brooklyn again in 2018 and is scheduled to return to North Carolina for two years after that, with Charlotte hosting in 2019 and Greensboro in 2020.
