Whoa, whoa, you say, calm down. But, follow me here, Basketball as I've said before has a qualifiable beginning. Created by James Naismith, taught to his disciple Phog Allen, who in turn coached and mentored Dean Smith, whose most famous coaching disciple is Roy Williams ( or Larry Brown ).
Western Philosophy traces it's roots to Socrates, who taught his disciple Plato, who in turn mentored Aristotle. Aristotle's most famous student was Alexander the Great, and if we continue to follow the comparison then that would make Michael Jordan his basketball equivalent.
Hyperbole aside, the linchpin is Kansas. All of the coaches either played or coached there. Although in more recent times, UNC has sent it's share of talent there way. This more recent history starts with Dean Smith maintaining close ties to Kansas after becoming the head coach at Carolina, even considering leaving to coach Kansas at one time.
Instead Dean became their consigliere, recommending the two modern coaching success at Kansas, before Self,: Larry Brown and Roy Williams ( both UNC guys obviously ). Brown was already regarded as a talented coach when he took over at Kansas ( although in the all's fair in love and war category, Larry repaid Dean by stealing Danny Manning from UNC by hiring Manning's father as a coach. Manning changed his commitment from UNC to Kansas after this and went on to bring them their only National Title in recent memory.) Roy was an unlikely choice for such a top tier program. He got the job because of Dean. So Carolina has paid back the Smith debt a couple of times over.
More importantly this is the third time Kansas and UNC have played each other in the Semi's of the Final Four with Roy involved as a head coach. The first time was Dean's return to the Final Four after the longest absence of his career, during which time the new guard of ACC coaches:, Jimmie V., Bobby Cremins, and Coach K. had stolen Dean's thunder. It was also Roy's first trip and he ended up winning. A tough game all around made tougher by Duke and Coach K. winning their first title the next game ( although it could be mercifully, since UNC surely would have been crushed by Duke in the final, and never would have lived it down). This game of Roy over Dean seems to bear a lot of similarities to the game this weekend.
The second time they met in the Semi's UNC was making it's second title run under Dean. This was the comeback against Jimmie V., at ESPN now, Cremmins tailing off and about to disappear, and it's often forgotten Coach K; who Dean from this point on to his retirement would dominate in recruiting and on the court ( we've yet to see if Coach K. facing a similar challenge to his supremacy by Roy can come back to power). But this Semi victory seemed less painful for all the participants. It wasn't one of Kansas's great teams, and there was a feeling that this was Dean's year.
This time Dean's not involved and Roy's back with UNC. There's no real connection with Self, so the historical comparison falls away. The mutual love between Roy and Kansas has soured with their bitter divorce, so unlike the games against Smith early on in his career, Roy has no mixed feelings about taking it to his opponent. Expect Carolina to run away with the game in the second half.
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