While the Northern Carolina officials assess the state of their basketball program during the fourth season of Hubert Davis, they only have a simple question.
Do they have one of the 10 best basketball coaches in the country or not?
If the Tar Heels think they do it, then Davis should still have a chance to repair a program that looks shocking.
If they conclude that Davis is not a top 10 coach, then they must make a change, they must do it after this season, and they must hire someone who is part of this category, that this person has already connection to school.
Because this is what North Carolina deserves. This is not what North Carolina has.
What happened on Saturday night A loss of 87-70 For Duke, which has never been competitive, you should in no case be unacceptable for North Carolina. But it is not one or a stroke of luck or a bad game either.
It is a microcosm of a program that fell into the trap of believing that everything will be fine when your eyes and ears will tell you a more uncomfortable truth. But will the North Carolina be ready to see and hear it?
Davis, who is in most of the accounts a wonderful man in the really important way, has become head coach of Caroline du Nord mainly for two reasons: because he played under Dean Smith and because that’s what Roy Williams wanted to retire in 2021.
It made sense. North Carolina is one of those programs that have always really cared to be part of its basketball coach. Davis, who was an NBA player and television commentator before joining the bench of Tar Heels as an assistant, was simply the next online.
And when he took the North Carolina to the match for the national title in 2022 – Fighting Mike Krzyzewski in Duke in his last match at Cameron Indoor Stadium, then again in the Final Four to end his career – It was a race Legendary for which Tar Heel fans will forever be grateful.
But no one, whether inside or outside the Northern Carolina fans base, must feel each other about what this season was.
The Tar Heels, which were a seeded n ° 8 in the NCAA tournament, was hot at the right time and set up a crazy sequence of the Mercurial Caleb Lave goalkeeper on the edge of a national championship before finally losing Facing Kansas.
It was almost a story book. Right now, it looked like a validation for Davis, which had been questioned earlier this season when the North Carolina looked like a team of NCAA bubbles.
But almost three years later, we have much more data on the Tar Heels program under Davis.
It’s not pretty.
The following year, North Carolina was so dysfunctional – largely with the same team that made the championship match – that she refused a NIT offer and ended her 20-13 season.
Last year, the Tar Heels were one of the most experienced teams in university basketball and seemed to bounce back, going 17-3 in the ACC and obtaining a seeded n ° 1 in the NCAA tournament. But after a defeat of the ACC tournament against NC State and a sweet defeat of 16 against Alabama, it did not look like a huge success.
And now this year, with the Tar Heels seated at 13-10 in total and 6-5 in the ACC, it is difficult to see a path to the NCAA for this team unless they won the title of tournament of conference.
It would be two years out of four for Davis to miss the big dance. It’s just not good enough – not to probably the best work of university basketball.
You can plead for Kansas or Kentucky or even Duke, but North Carolina basketball should not take a rear seat for anyone and should not seek excuses when this standard is not respected.
Bad years can happen to anyone, but North Carolina cannot be in the field of basketball mediocrity and cannot accept missing NCAA tournaments every two season. Giving Davis a fifth year for any reason to believe that he is a top 10 coach of the country would be the admission that the university no longer considers his basketball work one of the best of all university sports .
As much as Davis represents what North Carolina wants its program to be and the generational continuity of Smith in Williams to another former former student, it is a company. You are either good enough or you are not. And given the tradition of North Carolina, its brand, its resources and its attractiveness for recruits, there is no reason for the badly tolee program.
Unfortunately for Davis, this is what happens on his watch. Almost four years after the start of his mandate, it is quite clear that he is not a Top 10 coach, a top-20 coach or a top-30 coach. So why would the North Carolina allow this to continue?
Because he’s a really chic guy? Because he is an old one? Because he made a national championship match? If this is the standard, Bruce Weber, Ben Howland, Paul Hewitt and Mike Davis would have had life safety. Alas, this is not how the world works in serious programs about basketball.
North Carolina has a lot to think in the coming months. It may be time to aim a little higher. It may be time to admit that you do not need to be an elder from North Carolina to be an excellent coach. It may be time to become serious and stop with this ridiculous idea that being in the family is a prerequisite for the training of this basketball team.
Is the North Carolina serious? If Davis is back on the key next year, it will not be fair to ask this question, it will be necessary.
This article originally appeared on USA Today: The future of Hubert Davis: how serious Caroline Basketball is serious?
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