Some cynics have labeled Kansas University’s Roy Williams, “The best coach to have never won a national championship.”

It’s not much of a compliment.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me,” Williams said Monday. “I am human. No one likes bad things said about you.”

His Jayhawks, 29-3 overall and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional, begin postseason play at 6:50 p.m. Thursday in St. Louis against Holy Cross.

Williams, who has a 384-92 overall record and eight regular-season conference championships in 14 seasons, will be trying to take a third KU team to the Final Four.

The Jayhawks reached the national semifinals in 1993 and played for the national title in 1991, but Williams has yet to cut down the nets in college basketball’s biggest game.

“I have the goal of trying to win every single game. I have the dream of winning the national championship,” he said. “My buddies tell me I’m setting myself up for failure when I say that, but it is my dream.

“There are a lot of great coaches that have never won a national championship, never gone to the Final Four. For somebody to say, ‘He can’t win the big one,’ or, ‘They can’t win the big one,’ that puts me in some pretty good company because there are a lot of great coaches who haven’t done it.

“The media, the fans, anybody that keeps asking me that question  ‘Are you the best coach to have never won it?’ or ‘Is Phil Mickelson the best golfer to never have won a major?’ … first I think it’s sort of flattering to be considered one of the best coaches in any category, even if it’s just a category of two people. I try not to get caught up in that at all.”

While Williams is a six-time league coach of the year and a three-time national coach of the year, he knows winning a title will put him in elite company.

“To your peers, however, those in the coaching profession, I’m not so sure it elevates you as much in their eyes because they are going through the same things,” he said. “They know the problems. They know the expectations, the stresses that you have  lucky, unlucky, injuries, no injuries, just the right situation, wrong situation, wrong timing, any of those things.

“I think coaches tend to look at it more clearly and don’t judge your value on whether or not you’ve ever won a national championship.”

Is Williams on a “quest” to win the title?

“To say that I’m a maniac about it, that it’s the only way I’m going to judge my worth, that’s far from the truth. Let’s play it out and see what the heck happens this year,” the coach said. “I have had a great deal of fun, every single day, coaching this team.”

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More on Drew and NBA: Drew Gooden recently said he’d “probably” leave Kansas for the NBA after this season.

Williams gave a similarly strong hint Monday while filming a spot on ESPN’s show “Unscripted.”

“I think there is a great possibility that Drew will be going early to the NBA,” Williams said. “It’s something we decided in the preseason we’d wait and talk about it at the end of the year.”

Williams said he’d ask 10 to 12 NBA people their opinion of Gooden’s draft position, would speak to Gooden and Gooden’s family and then, “allow him to make the decision. I’ll say, ‘You do what you want to do and I’ll support you regardless of what it is.'”

NBA scouts have told the Journal-World that Gooden is a certain lottery pick in the upcoming draft.

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Spittin’ in the river: The Jayhawks return to St. Louis, the site of the 1993 Midwest Regional where KU beat California and Indiana to advance to the Final Four. At that time, KU’s players spit in the Mississippi River for good luck. Will the Jayhawks spit this time?

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re going to try to figure out something so we can laugh a little bit more,” Williams said.

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Drawn out selection show: Williams gave a thumbs-down to CBS’ Selection Sunday TV show.

“Yesterday was probably the most disturbing to me of all of them,” Williams said, noting it took CBS a long time to reveal the actual brackets and participants, first explaining new guidelines as to where teams would be sent.

“They probably have 80 or 100 teams sitting there trying to find out if they’ve made the field. They (CBS announcers) go through all of this political explanation and then to three commercials before they even show the entire field. I think that’s just agonizing to the teams sitting there wondering. It went 20 minutes before all the teams were shown. If you are one of the teams left wondering … the pain and the sweat and work you put in … I was just agonizing for some of those teams.”

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Hinrich OK: Kirk Hinrich, who sprained his right ankle against Texas Tech and had the ankle taped in Saturday’s Big 12 finale against Oklahoma, is fine, Williams said.

“Injuries, we’re fine,” Williams said. “Everybody practiced today. He was fine today. His ankle did not affect his play yesterday. He just had a bad day.”

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Happy coach, mad coach: “We watched tape today,” Williams said Monday. “Our kids are in an unusual frame of mind now. The first part of the tape session we scolded them a little bit (for mistakes in Sunday’s loss to Oklahoma). Then we said all right, turned the page and congratulated ’em on what they accomplished. The No. 1 seed … they have to feel great about the season.”

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Hitting the road: The Jayhawks will board a 50-seat charter at Forbes Field at 7:30 tonight for their short flight to St. Louis. KU will work out at the Edward Jones Dome from 5 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. Wednesday in a practice open to the public.

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Hot commodity: KU assistant Neil Dougherty, believed to be a leading candidate to replace Billy Tubbs at TCU, is also believed to be on Arkansas’ list of possible successors to Nolan Richardson. Bradley also reportedly has interest in Dougherty.

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Holy Cross: Williams has been busy gathering films on Patriot League champ Holy Cross, a team that lost by just four points to Kentucky in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

“I know Ralph and have a great deal of respect for him,” he said of Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard. “I know his club is going to be very well coached. They’ve had a great run, winning 10 of their last 12 or something like that. Other than that, my assistants are getting all the information together right now.”