UNC Basketball Recruitment: Hubert Davis’ Role in Andrew Wiggins’ Recruitment
Hubert Davis was an outstanding shooter at the University of North Carolina who showed great strides of improvement during his career. Davis’ best attribute was his shooting. He finished as the all-time leader in career 3 point shooting percentage at North Carolina with an outstanding 43.5%. Davis also holds the best all-time 3 point shooting percentage record in a season at North Carolina with 48.9% in his junior season. Hubert Davis also is second in career 3 point shooting percentage in the NBA behind Steve Kerr. Hubert shot 44.1% for 3 over his NBA career. Those are some pretty good credentials to have. He was lured away from his basketball analyst position at ESPN for an assistant coach position at UNC.
Mar 3, 2013; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels assistant coach Hubert Davis on the sidelines during player introductions. The Tar Heels defeated the Seminoles 79-58 at the Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Many Tar Heel fans, by now, have heard about the long recruitment of the number one player in the 2013 class, Andrew Wiggins. Yes the Tar Heels are in his final four list of college choices and yes he just cancelled his in home visit with UNC, KU, and FSU. The Tar Heels are still very much in it. Almost every recruiting analyst has one common aspect about Andrew’s game that can really improve on. That one common aspect is his perimeter shooting. This brings me to ask these questions, “If he needs to improve his perimeter shooting, who would be a better help than Hubert Davis?” and also “Is Hubert Davis playing a bigger role in his recruitment than many think about?” If Andrew Wiggins knows his perimeter game needs to improved, then these questions may have a more significant impact than fans might think.
Hubert Davis clearly showed his value as a coach working with Reggie Bullock and PJ Hairston in the offseason before the 2012-2013 season. There is clear evidence to go along with this statement as well. According to an article by Robbie Pickeral on ESPN, PJ had this to say about Hubert Davis,
"“Knowing that he was one of the best shooters at the NBA, I kind of took every bit of advice from him. Because coming from a shooter to a shooter, he knows much more than I do about shooting, and shooter perfection. … He basically told me my shot looks good, I just basically have a habit of kicking my foot out sometimes, and that would cause my shot to be short. [He would tell me] stuff like that, and then I’d go back and work on it.”"
According to an article on The Daily Tar Heel, Reggie Bullock also had this to say about Hubert Davis:
"“You know he’s a shooter, I’m a shooter so he tells me what I need to work on in my shot. He’s just been helping me a lot offensively with my basketball game.”"
Coach Davis clearly helped a great amount. Reggie Bullock increased his 3 point shooting percentage from 38.2% in the 2011-2012 season to 43.6% for the 2012-2013 season and Hairston’s 3 point shooting percentage went up from 27.3% in the 2011-2012 season to 39.6% in the 2012-2013 season, Davis’ first season on staff.
Andrew Wiggins is already considered the consensus 1st overall selection in the 2014 NBA draft, and as stated above, many recruiting analysts believe Wiggins’ perimeter game is the one weaker point in his overall game. The evidence is shown above with the significant progress shown by Hairston and Bullock under Hubert Davis’ coaching and advice. When looking into Andrew Wiggins’ recruitment you do not hear much about Hubert Davis being involved. He may be involved or he may not be involved. It would be interesting to know if Roy Williams is using Hubert Davis as one of his selling points, but we will probably never know. Having one of the best shooters in NBA history as well as North Carolina basketball history as an assistant is a pretty good thing to have in your recruiting arsenal. I believe there is a good chance Roy is using this point. I know I would.