OK, you’re Roy Williams and you have eight guys you coached, well, seven, who could be considered for the coming professional basketball draft. What do you tell the ivory hunters when they ask whether North Carolina’s Sean May or Kansas University’s Wayne Simien is the better pick?

Both are about the same size, have similar skills and played in winning programs. Both have missed significant parts of college seasons because of injury but seem to be pretty durable at this point. Simien may be the better pure shooter, particularly from the free-throw line, but May might have a slight edge as a defender. They list May at 6-foot-8 and about 260 pounds and Simien at 6-9, maybe 255, though some scouts say he’s more like 6-7. That will be settled at the tryout camps, of course, where the talent-sifters learn everything but the consistency of their navel lint, providing they have an “insy.”

Williams can face this year’s draft, and the coming rebuilding season, in a bit more relaxed mood since he finally wears that NCAA title ring … The Ego Has Landed. A lot of pressure is off “the best coach never, until now, to win an NCAA title.” But he’s constantly bombarded with questions about pro prospects he’s coached. Roy’s bound to have some special affection for May since Sean helped him get that title that meant so much. But he also deeply admires Simien because of all the adversity Wayne’s overcome to rate as high as No. 10 when the NBA guys make their grabs.

Bear in mind, too, that when Williams bolted for the North Carolina job after Wayne’s sophomore season, in a moment of disappointment, Wayne remarked that he “gave my right arm for that man.” Maybe Roy might figure he owes the kid something a little special under the circumstances. As I recall, Wayne was due in New York for major shoulder surgery when the Williams departure developed. There were rumors at the time that Roy didn’t pay enough attention to how Wayne was doing, because of all the transition hubbub. Compensation-time?

Things are a lot better now. Wayne and Mom and Dad Simien are at peace with what has transpired. Knowing the premium Roy places on loyalty, he’ll doubtless help Simien every way he can, which is a lot. Yet there still might be a slight edge for Sean May.

North Carolina’s three other NBA prospects rate far higher on the chart than KU’s Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Michael Lee. Williams will feel no pressure in the recommendations here, and shouldn’t. The 6-4 Rashad McCants clearly has more potential than the 6-4 Langford; UNC’s Raymond Felton is a better, more versatile point guard than Miles; KU’s 6-3 Lee for all his dedication and spirit can’t in any way measure up to Carolina freshman Marvin Williams, a 6-10 wunderkind some think is the best of all the Carolina departees. Langford and Miles might do well to be second-round selections.

Marvin Williams doggone near went NBA right out of high school and people around Chapel Hill, including teammates, rave about what he can do. Dean Smith is always chided for being the only coach who could hold Michael Jordan to 20 points a game (as a collegian in a team framework). Roy Williams used Marvin Williams as his fifth or sixth man, got tremendous results and by now has let all the scouts know just how good this kid can be. But Old Roy favors veterans, so Marvin had to pay his dues as a yearling. A kid with lesser character and such great talent would have bristled; Marvin, with a devoted mother who has been his guiding light, fully enjoyed winning a title ring in just one year.

And word is he’ll be an even better NBA player than Carmelo Anthony, who won an NCAA title as a yearling at the expense of Kansas. We’ll see, but the point is that Roy Williams didn’t have to struggle to promote Marvin, whom some think he’s at least a No. 3 in the draft.

So where does all this leave KU’s and Leavenworth’s Simien? At one time, there was evidence he might go as high as fifth in the draft, which would mean a guaranteed contract for three years and about a $10 million package. Then the Carolina guys and a lot of other collegians began to leap into the pot, there was talk about some phenomenal talent in foreign countries. Certainly the NBA is loaded with non-Americans of tremendous caliber and word is more are on the way, along with all the college guys who are bolting early.

Wayne has appeared to be backsliding, to No. 10 or lower. All loyalty and KU blue-bleeding aside, which guy would you pick first as an NBA coach and manager – Wayne Simien or Sean May?

After Roy went home to Carolina, there were difficult times with the self-centered McCants, the first of the Tar Heels to announce an early out. The two finally seemed to congeal, and Roy reportedly told McCants that when he chose to go pro, Roy would back him to the hilt and be there for the draft. That was long before the 2004-05 season and before the Heels captured the NCAA trophy. And before it was certain that three other Tar Heels would be up for grabs.

The guess is that Williams will be at the draft site to give moral support to his talented quartet. Will Simien attend, on the basis that some team has told him they’ll take him high; will he and Roy Williams be hugging if that’s done? Who gets hugged first, Sean May or Wayne Simien?

I’ve never rooted harder for a KU product in the pro draft than I will for Wayne Simien. In him you get not only a fine basketball prospect but the kind of kid who will add class to any roster. Wouldn’t it be great if the Chicago Bulls would take him, reunite him with Kirk Hinrich and then blend him into a team that would make the playoffs again next year?

But there’s good reason to worry that might not happen, not because the Bulls wouldn’t be good enough but because there’s talk of a total lockdown by the owners for 2005-06. If this proves as disastrous for basketball as it did for hockey, the draft could soon be inside-page news. Can the players, the union and the owners really be that doltish? Ask the hockey people how dumb you can get.