Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: 5 reasons to be excited about Tar Heels in 2021

By Blake Cockrum

CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 08: "Ramses", mascot of the North Carolina Tar Heels, makes an entrance before a game against the Duke Blue Devils on February 08, 2018 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 82-78. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 08: "Ramses", mascot of the North Carolina Tar Heels, makes an entrance before a game against the Duke Blue Devils on February 08, 2018 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 82-78. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, NC – APRIL 06: Hubert Davis is introduced as the new men’s head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Dean E. Smith Center on April 6, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Jeffrey Camarati/Getty Images) /

The Hubert Davis era begins

After an outstanding four-year stint as a player at the University of North Carolina — one that saw him work his way into the program’s record books on a number of occasions — Hubert Davis graduated and went on to a successful 12-year career in the NBA.

Davis retired from the game in 2004, and began a career as a college basketball analyst working for ESPN in 2008. He spent four years with the sports media juggernaut before returning to the University of North Carolina as an assistant coach in 2012. After nine seasons working as an assistant for the Tar Heels, Davis was quickly chosen as Williams’ successor in April 2021.

Although he was immediately faced with the departure of a handful of talented players, he was quick to find adequate replacements in the NCAA transfer portal. Not only that, but Davis impressed everyone with his work on the recruiting trail. He earned commitments from four 2022 prospects, three of them four-star players, and one of the best recruits in the 2023 class, Simeon Wilcher.

But now the real test begins, as Davis and his new-look coaching staff take the court with his new-look team, beginning with one of the nation’s most difficult non-conference schedules.

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