On Thursday, March 19, 2026, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels (UNC) blew a 19-point lead and exited the first round of the NCAA Tournament for back-to-back years. Since Hubert Davis has taken over the reins as head coach of UNC’s prestigious basketball program, his resume has not been stellar. Following Roy Williams’ retirement in 2021, Davis had big shoes to fill. However, it is quickly becoming clear that the shoes are a few sizes too large.
Success Off of Williams’ Coattails
Many people will be quick to point out many of the positives of Davis, but there is reason to believe these are his greatest flaws. Davis’ first two seasons consisted largely of teams built by Roy Williams. This included key players like Armando Bacot, R.J. Davis, Caleb Love, and Leaky Black. In his first season at the helm, Davis led the team to a 23-8 record in the regular season and an 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
At this point, expectations for the team were low as they would have to face reigning champion Baylor in the second round. UNC won their first round game and then beat Baylor to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. This success carried all the way to the Final Four where the team even beat rival Duke, in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game. The Tar Heels then faced off in the championship game against the Kansas Jayhawks. At the end of the first half, the Tar Heels led 38-22. Unfortunately, this lead would not hold and they ended up losing 72-69.
Following the season, speculation surrounding the team was intense. Where were the players going to go and what was going to happen to the team? Most of the key players had eligibility, however, they were also projected to be drafted to the NBA if they were to enter. Do they try to run it back, or do they begin their professional careers? In a shocking decision, Bacot, Davis, Love, and Black decided to stay another year and UNC quickly became the favorite to win the national championship. The team entered that season ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll. This is where the real cracks in Chapel Hill began to form.
The Most Overrated Team Ever
Until the 2022-23 season, no team ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Poll missed the NCAA Tournament. This was about to change. The Tar Heels started the season 5-0, but were unimpressive against five mid-major teams. Then they proceeded to lose four straight games and went from No. 1 to unranked in the span of two weeks. Unfortunately for UNC, these struggles continued for the remainder of the season. The team went 1-7 against ranked teams including losses to in-state rivals Duke and NC State. Chapel Hill’s suffering ended with an ACC Tournament loss to Virginia, but the final stamp of embarrassment came a week later.
The team missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, and declined an invitation to the NIT.
Falling Short of Redemption
Following one of the most embarrassing campaigns in recent memory, Davis and the Tar Heels needed to redeem themselves. This team came out with much more aggression and performed better than any other team Davis had coached. They were the regular season ACC champions and just fell short in the ACC Tournament game to NC State. Regardless, they performed well enough to earn a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
This Tar Heels team felt like the standard everyone was used to. They dominated the competition in the first two rounds coasting to the Sweet Sixteen. All momentum ended here. UNC had a date with Alabama and lost again due to the programs struggles in crunch time, under Davis.
This was the last bright spot of Davis’ tenure.
Time To Address the Ugly
Since Davis has taken over he has not struggled to recruit. Davis consistently has top 20 recruiting classes and even some success in the transfer portal. This should be an indicator of a good coach that has success getting players into the league and having success on the floor.
Since Davis took over, only two players have been drafted, Harrison Ingram and Drake Powell. Now, this list will expand this year, if Caleb Wilson enters the draft (and it is also likely if Henri Veesar enters). This should not be the standard. To compare, UNC’s rival Duke, had five players drafted in 2025 alone. It is clear that Davis cannot develop players.
Not only can Davis not develop players, but it also clear he is not a winner when it matters most. His tenure has been riddled with blown leads and just falling short when it matters. He has shown this is who he is as a coach.
If UNC wants to continue to live in Duke’s shadow, then they need to keep Davis. If UNC wants to be passed by NC State, then they need to keep Davis. If UNC wants to turn into a mediocre basketball program, then they need to keep Davis.
Update
At the time of this article being written, it became clear that UNC saw a lot of the same issues. They met with Davis on Saturday, March 21 to discuss his future. Reports indicate that Davis will likely resign in the coming days.
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