UNC Men’s Basketball 2025-2026

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mpaer said:
Re the Catholic School...my Sources (lol) say when he got here he demanded the kids from the new basketball staff get to the top of the waiting list for entry......
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Eh. Basically Coach K did the same thing with Durham Academy, did he not? Whatever Durham Academy is. I don't think it's a catholic school.
 
rodoheel said:
If no coach was ever fired until the school had a "shoo-in" replacement ready to replace them, then almost no coach would be fired. That's not the standard man. I don't know who would replace Hubert. But if we have five years of evidence that Hubert isn't the guy, it's time to make the next attempt at finding the guy. That's how it goes.

I'm not sure you mean it this way, but what you're saying sounds almost indistinguishable from "UNC should accept that it's no longer an elite program, and stop trying to be one again." I have a lot of sympathy for the idea that a lot of UNC fans were completely spoiled by the success that Dean and Roy had - and that it's not necessarily realistic to expect UNC to get back to having runs like it did from 1982-1993 or 2005-2009 - but I don't think there's any doubt that we should be striving to be a consistently better program than the one we've been for the past five years. You can acknowledge that the days of nearly annual 1 seeds and Sweet 16s aren't coming back and still have a standard for the program that Hubert hasn't met.
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Here's my uniformed answer: Under normal circumstances, I 100% agree. With that in mind, Hubert Davis' first four years have coincided with the biggest shift in college basketball since freshmen were allowed to play varsity. Each year, the basketball landscape has been altered as larger amounts of money have been needed to build a successful program. On top of that, this is the first year since Covid that we haven't had 5th year players. I am willing to give Hubert Davis more time, provided certain expectations are met this year, because he has had to weather this constant storm AND because he has, at times, shown the ability to put an exemplary product on the court. Consistency is key, and consistency has not been Davis' strong point, but I'm hoping that this year will be something that can be built upon, whether or not all goals are reached. If, by the end of the season it is not, then I think the firing of Davis is justified.
 
sringwal said:
Here's my uniformed answer: Under normal circumstances, I 100% agree. With that in mind, Hubert Davis' first four years have coincided with the biggest shift in college basketball since freshmen were allowed to play varsity. Each year, the basketball landscape has been altered as larger amounts of money have been needed to build a successful program. On top of that, this is the first year since Covid that we haven't had 5th year players. I am willing to give Hubert Davis more time, provided certain expectations are met this year, because he has had to weather this constant storm AND because he has, at times, shown the ability to put an exemplary product on the court. Consistency is key, and consistency has not been Davis' strong point, but I'm hoping that this year will be something that can be built upon, whether or not all goals are reached. If, by the end of the season it is not, then I think the firing of Davis is justified.
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My pushback would be that UNC hired Hubert knowing that the landscape was about to change drastically. I don’t think anyone could have predicted exactly how NIL and the new transfer rules were going to impact the sport back in April 2021, but everyone was fully aware that the change was coming.

The fact that Hubert has been resistant to adapt to those changes is a major red flag to me.
 
sringwal said:
Here's my uniformed answer: Under normal circumstances, I 100% agree. With that in mind, Hubert Davis' first four years have coincided with the biggest shift in college basketball since freshmen were allowed to play varsity. Each year, the basketball landscape has been altered as larger amounts of money have been needed to build a successful program. On top of that, this is the first year since Covid that we haven't had 5th year players. I am willing to give Hubert Davis more time, provided certain expectations are met this year, because he has had to weather this constant storm AND because he has, at times, shown the ability to put an exemplary product on the court. Consistency is key, and consistency has not been Davis' strong point, but I'm hoping that this year will be something that can be built upon, whether or not all goals are reached. If, by the end of the season it is not, then I think the firing of Davis is justified.
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I don't think I really disagree with much of that, but the exception that swallows the rule is the phrase "provided certain expectations are met this year." I've already stated what are, for me, the expectations that need to be met this year. So really it may just come down to a disagreement about what expectations need to be met.
 
King Hippo said:
Same here. Players transferring every year is a huge problem and needs to be fixed. If they are going to pay them then make them have contracts that make it so they can't jump to a new school every year.
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IMO multi-year contracts are the fix to all the complaints. But the schools, not the players, are the biggest obstacle in that regard; they have long resisted having any contractual commitments to the players (at least beyond scholarship obligations that were generally only guaranteed for a single year).
 
it would be really nice if we have a season where we're consistently top 10-15, finish top 2 in the ACC, top 2-3 ncaat seed and win a whole lot of regular season and post-season games.

but a lot of us could probably be placated for the time being by something along the lines of top 20-25 finish as long as it includes some good wins (dook, ul, state, marquee ooc win or two) and a decent post-season with a top 4-5 seed and winning multiple games in the acct and ncaat if that also includes a team that looks cohesive and like it is having fun and features really good seasons from a few players generating all conference or all american honors and a lottery pick projection for caleb wilson.

good vibes all around and something that could be built on, like @sringwal said, even if all of those more lofty benchmarks that people have been laying out aren't met.

like, something along the lines of split with dook/state/ul, win another couple of good ooc matchups, very limited bad losses. finish 3rd in the acc, make it to the acct semis, #4 ncaat seed, sweet 16, finish ranked @ #15, caleb wilson projected lotto, trimble, veesar, powell, bogavac, stevenson are getting nba looks.

we don't actually win anything there but foundations have been laid and vibes are good.
 
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finesse said:
There's a lot of what you say that I get. My problem is that, by my POV, it's too much about on the court success. That might be more easily fixed by a replacement.

There's just always be a lot more to my memories of the program than that. I'm not sure what we had can be retained. I'd like to believe it can. When I look at coaches available, HD's resume still looks stronger, especially in that aspect, than it would in a vacuum.

I'm not going much further with this. My health made me take a break about 6 years ago and I recognized that my best memories of all college sports are behind me.
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I believe our memories were fueled by the on-court success. I doubt we'd have nearly as many wonderful memories of the players, off the court, if they weren't winning on the court. Just my, probably flawed, perspective.
 
rodoheel said:
IMO multi-year contracts are the fix to all the complaints. But the schools, not the players, are the biggest obstacle in that regard; they have long resisted having any contractual commitments to the players (at least beyond scholarship obligations that were generally only guaranteed for a single year).
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I think the biggest obstacle to multi-year contracts is the lack of a governing body (outside of the courts) to enforce them. No one wants a contract that’s unenforceable and schools don’t want to have to start suing their players on a consistent basis.

If that hurdle can be worked out, I think you’ll see multi-year contracts become the norm (likely with buyout clauses).
 
stankeylegjones said:
I believe our memories were fueled by the on-court success. I doubt we'd have nearly as many wonderful memories of the players, off the court, if they weren't winning on the court. Just my, probably flawed, perspective.
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I was a student in 1970 when the tradition of success was nascent and the team and student body were more closely connected. Obviously we have reasons for our differing POVs. Neither is flawed. They reflect different times.
 
sringwal said:
Here's my uniformed answer: Under normal circumstances, I 100% agree. With that in mind, Hubert Davis' first four years have coincided with the biggest shift in college basketball since freshmen were allowed to play varsity. Each year, the basketball landscape has been altered as larger amounts of money have been needed to build a successful program. On top of that, this is the first year since Covid that we haven't had 5th year players. I am willing to give Hubert Davis more time, provided certain expectations are met this year, because he has had to weather this constant storm AND because he has, at times, shown the ability to put an exemplary product on the court. Consistency is key, and consistency has not been Davis' strong point, but I'm hoping that this year will be something that can be built upon, whether or not all goals are reached. If, by the end of the season it is not, then I think the firing of Davis is justified.
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My issue with HD/staff is: 1) a lot of his coaching is just not that great; 2) he's been very unwilling to adapt to the changing landscape; 3) I don't think the program is headed in the right direction. Hopefully, this year, he'll demonstrate he's a much better coach, he'll embrace changes (instead of being forced into them by the AD), and the program will look like it's headed in the right direction.
 
Peppers49 said:
My pushback would be that UNC hired Hubert knowing that the landscape was about to change drastically. I don’t think anyone could have predicted exactly how NIL and the new transfer rules were going to impact the sport back in April 2021, but everyone was fully aware that the change was coming.

The fact that Hubert has been resistant to adapt to those changes is a major red flag to me.
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Logically, that make sense. But it is also the crux of why I'm willing to give Hubert a little more of a chance than some: Hubert was hired into a situation where it was a lot more difficult to succeed than it has been for other coaches. I feel like he was being set up to fail. That isn't his fault.

Given all of that, he has also approached the job with a professionalism and dignity that we have not seen from many other coaches (including some past and present at UNC who should have known better). The product on the floor - the most important part of the job - has not been up to par, but he also has not abandoned the "Carolina Way" at a time when it is nearly impossible to hold onto the "old way" of doing things.
 
stankeylegjones said:
I believe our memories were fueled by the on-court success. I doubt we'd have nearly as many wonderful memories of the players, off the court, if they weren't winning on the court. Just my, probably flawed, perspective.
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This is likely true. At least winning most of the time. But to your point: who here has fond memories of Adam Boone and Brian Morrison? Or even Jason Capel?
 
rodoheel said:
I don't think I really disagree with much of that, but the exception that swallows the rule is the phrase "provided certain expectations are met this year." I've already stated what are, for me, the expectations that need to be met this year. So really it may just come down to a disagreement about what expectations need to be met.
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I think it does; I'm just willing to give him a little more wiggle room than others because

a) I think that this is the year that the ACC begins to look like a top-4 basketball conference again,

b) Hubert is making huge in roads internationally, which is a market that UNC hasn't properly exploited since the 90s, and

c) there aren't a lot of clear replacements at this time. Almost everyone is struggling with consistency right now. If there were 1-2 coaches that I could identify as being worthy of replacing Hubert Davis and be sure fire winners, then my expectations would be tighter. But everywhere feels to me like "throw things at the wall and see what sticks."
 
rodoheel said:
I don't think I really disagree with much of that, but the exception that swallows the rule is the phrase "provided certain expectations are met this year." I've already stated what are, for me, the expectations that need to be met this year. So really it may just come down to a disagreement about what expectations need to be met.
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Yeah, I'm probably splitting hairs. I have never felt more conflicted about a season than last year. UNC played some absolutely incredible come from behind basketball last year, but just kept falling into holes. Even in the first round of the tourney, we were a made basket in the last two minutes away from likely winning. I believe that Hubert Davis was largely responsible for the holes the team found themselves in, but I also believe that he did some incredible in game coaching to keep the team from completely unravelling.

But here's the weirdest part - in a 48, rather than 40 minute game, I believe that last year's squad was built to be a top-10 team. Other teams were almost always gassed by the end of the game. The Heels just kept running out of time.

And I don't know what to make of that dichotomy other than to say, "let's see how this season goes."
 
superrific said:
This is likely true. At least winning most of the time. But to your point: who here has fond memories of Adam Boone and Brian Morrison? Or even Jason Capel?
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Y'all don't still put your antlers up every time Carolina makes a good play?
 
sringwal said:
Logically, that make sense. But it is also the crux of why I'm willing to give Hubert a little more of a chance than some: Hubert was hired into a situation where it was a lot more difficult to succeed than it has been for other coaches. I feel like he was being set up to fail. That isn't his fault.
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I see it almost exactly the opposite way, HD was given a top 3 CBB job right out the gate, a position that most other coaches could only dream of being offered.

He has more resources than 95+% of coaches out there and he didn't have to build anything to get them.

He wasn't "set up to fail", he was given a position that set him up better than nearly any other coach starting their HC career.
 
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