“The cracks in the foundation are often not seen until the house collapses.”
Whether you follow college basketball religiously or see the occasional post on social media, you are familiar with the blue-blooded powerhouse, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — better known simply as UNC. Over the past 50-plus years, UNC basketball and success have been synonymous. However, things are beginning to take a turn.
The school is still landing five-star recruits, is backed heavily by its donors, and remains a staple in collegiate sports. So how is it possible that they are going to miss the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years after making the National Championship in 2022?
How things used to be
Growing up as a UNC fan, life was fantastic. Seeing some of the greatest college basketball players of this generation — such as Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Paige, Joel Berry, Justin Jackson, Cam Johnson, and my personal favorite, J.P. Tokoto — was great. Watching the games was exciting and there was genuine surprise when they would lose.
2010s North Carolina Basketball: A thing of beauty pic.twitter.com/FRpq3MHXMn
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 17, 2025
UNC fans now have to suffer, watching a backcourt led by Elliot Cadeau and Seth Trimble — two players who have no real style of play and dominated the high school level but are simply not fit to carry one of the greatest college basketball programs in the history of the sport.
In many ways, they exemplify UNC as a program perfectly right now: disoriented, confused, and simply not good enough. This starts at the top and falls heavily on the shoulders of Hubert Davis and the athletic program. UNC has had two of the greatest coaches of all time in Dean Smith and Roy Williams, and now the school sits with their tail between their legs, watching things deteriorate.
The Dean Smith days
Let’s go back to when UNC cemented itself as a true powerhouse: the Dean Smith days. Smith is in the upper echelon of all-time coaches, and he did it because he was an innovator. He knew how to scout talent and inspire players to win. Smith was the true pioneer of analytics, showing how getting to the free-throw line was one of the best ways to win a basketball game. He also had the players wired to win due to his intense and innovative practice techniques.
When Smith finished his career, he was the winningest coach in college basketball. He amassed 11 Final Fours, 13 ACC titles, and two National Championships.
After Smith changed the way coaches approached the game, Roy Williams took over just six years later. Williams took the reins in 2003 and made an immediate impact, snagging his first National Championship in 2005. Williams was able to dominate in the 2000s. His ability to scout talent was immaculate and he truly knew what building a winning team consisted of. He didn’t just see the stars next to a player’s name but understood how they could be implemented effortlessly in order to grow the program.
Williams also coached with and mentored the current coach, Hubert Davis.
So, what has happened that caused Davis to seemingly underperform?
What’s going on?
Davis burst onto the coaching scene his first year by handing the unanimous GOAT of college basketball — Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski — a loss in his final game. It seemed that Davis was going to pave his own path to greatness. Oh, how that was wrong.
The following season, Davis was able to keep all of the key players Williams had molded. UNC went into the season ranked as the top seed but proceeded to miss March Madness, starting a storm. Caleb Love left, Leaky Black and Pete Nance graduated, and it was time for Davis to show why he had taken over this program.
He was able to bring in five-star recruits but flopped in the transfer portal. At first, it seemed UNC might not have liked what was available to them. However, they ran back the same main pairing of a 24-year-old Armando Bacot and RJ Davis, who had to learn how to be the main piece of an offense. UNC wound up making the tournament, but throughout the season, they showed many signs of weakness. Davis was an undersized shooting guard, Cadeau was unable to shoot, and Bacot was inefficient. They had a very good season but got bounced in the Sweet 16.
Roy Williams SOUNDS off on anyone saying Hubert Davis is no longer the right man to coach @UNC_Basketball. @InfSportsNet pic.twitter.com/g1QsfQzHoF
— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) February 17, 2025
The present
This year is Hubert Davis’s worst season yet. Players who show promise, such as Ian Jackson, are unable to be featured in the offense. He has fallen in love with the pairings of Davis and Cadeau, Davis and Trimble, and Cadeau and Trimble as the primary facilitators on offense. They have no real identity and all three players are suffering their worst years yet as college players.
Davis has shown his lack of ability to build a stronger team properly using the transfer portal, which is how the game works now. He has appeared to lack the innovation his predecessors possessed. Because of this, UNC has decided to bring on a general manager to lead basketball operations.
The general manager will deal with the transfer portal and NIL spending while working alongside Davis to construct a roster that can make a postseason appearance that isn’t the NIT.
UNC has decided to create an entirely new position to support Davis, rather than moving on and finding an ample-minded coach who can navigate the current atmosphere of the sport.
The fall
UNC runs the risk of regressing into the likes of Indiana, UCLA, Virginia, Villanova, and many other “fallen kingdoms.” Even with a weakened ACC, the Tar Heels could find themselves in shark-infested waters if this is unable to turn around by next season.
UNC’s downfall could be a formula that changes the way we look at college basketball in the new era of voluptuous spending and the so-called lack of “loyalty” between players and a program.
To his credit, Davis has done well retaining his players and building a sense of family within the program. Next year will be the true test of Davis’ ability to run this historic Tar Heels program.
Will being able to solely focus on player talent development rather than transfers and recruiting finally click for Davis? Or will he show that he is just not cut out to take the reins, thus potentially ending his time leading UNC basketball?
We’ll see.
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