The North Carolina team Roy Williams left to Hubert Davis was one that was used to winning. But the former coach’s retirement has only spelled trouble for the Tar Heels in the last three years. UNC has lost more than it has won, especially when it comes to Quad 1 games to get a seed in the NCAA tournament. The latest 83-70 loss to the Louisville Cardinals means now the hard question must be asked – what happens to coach Hubert Davis?

In a recent episode of The Field of 68: After Dark, journalist Jeff Goodman discusses the loss to Lousiville, a team that sits 15 spots below UNC. The Tar Heels have now gone four straight weeks unranked, after beginning the season in the 9th spot of the AP Top 25 Poll. “There is a bigger-picture conversation to have here, and it’s the future of North Carolina basketball and whether Hubert Davis is a part of it,” Goodman says.

“I know people maybe don’t wanna have that conversation yet but I think it may be time here.” He points out how Davis and his team might be overly relying on freshman Ian Jackson right now, who “can look phenomenal one minute and then look like he has no clue what he’s doing the next.”

So far this season, the Tar Heels are 2-6 in Q1 games, and in Davis’ three seasons, on the verge of losing their second NCAA appearance in four years. Roy Williams only missed twice in 18 seasons, and as Goodman points out, it’s the lack of consistency and drastic swings in performance that might do the Tar Heels in. “With regards to Hubert Davis, this is a guy that his first year, he made that title game. But until that final month, they weren’t really a tournament team.”

“They were a fringe tournament team. Then year two, they’re terrible they underachieve, they don’t make the NCAA tournament…then last year, they bring in a couple transfers and they’re terrific. Now they’re back to maybe kinda being a tournament team. Is that good enough for North Carolina basketball? I say no way in he–.”

Does Hubert Davis have a solution to the problems plaguing his team?

Hubert Davis on the same way UNC keeps losing

Top Comment by 75Mojo

Yep, time for change. Even feel good stories have got to entice some bluebloods. His success was off Roy’s boys.

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Trail the opposite team early on in the game, come back from the break to break through and either tie or lead the game, and then hesitate right at the end to lose it all. This seems to have been the incorrect formula that UNC keeps applying over and over again, and even Hubert Davis is a little fed up.

“I’ve been straightforward and direct throughout the entire game, but especially in late game situations, four minutes to go, like the discipline and details just have to be there,” the head coach said after the loss to Louisville. “You’ve got to defensively, you got to get stops, you got to defend without fouling. You have to execute, and when I mean execute, I’m not just talking about just being able to score in those situations…different stuff like that we just got to get better and more consistent at.”

Consistency is what seems to be the main problem right now, as Davis’ four years in North Carolina have all gone wildly different. It’s about making use of the pieces available to you, yes, but what to do when not everything is lining up the way it’s supposed to? That’s what the coach has to figure it now.