UNC Basketball: Hubert Davis a top 10 coach for 2022-23?

247Sports lists UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis above Duke’s Jon Scheyer.

It’s been just over a year since Hall-of-Fame head coach and college basketball mainstay Roy Williams unexpectedly retired and walked away from the sidelines, leaving the North Carolina basketball program in search of a new lead man for the first time in nearly two decades.

They found Williams’ replacement on those same sidelines, as nine-year assistant coach, Hubert Davis, was chosen to step in and take over the reins for the three-time national title-winning Williams. They’re big shoes to fill, but the former UNC sharpshooter and ESPN analyst had the full support of both the school and Williams. In fact, it was Williams that named Davis as his preferred successor, having groomed him for the position by involving him heavily in the coaching and recruiting aspects of the game throughout their time together in Chapel Hill.

The folks over at 247Sports also appear to be bought into Davis following a magical postseason run that saw the Tar Heels go from NCAA Tournament bubble team to National Championship game participant. Add to that the fact that Davis reeled in the top prospect in the class of 2023, and what’s not to love about a coach that both played and coached at North Carolina — and spent 12 years in the NBA — before moving over to the big seat in Chapel Hill?

Davis comes in at No. 9 on this year’s list, one spot above first-year Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, who has perhaps the biggest shoes to fill in the history of the game following the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski.

"“This is a big swing, but we’re buying high on Hubert Davis,” 247Sports’ Isaac Trotter writes. “Stepping in for an all-timer like Roy Williams is no easy task, but Davis steadied the ship for North Carolina. He never got too low when the Tar Heels scuffled. Davis then engineered one of the all-time, late-season resurgences, guiding North Carolina all the way to the national championship game as a No. 8 seed. Davis had Kansas in a 15-point hole at halftime and was 20 minutes away from winning it all in Year 1 before the Jayhawks came alive in the second half. But we do not believe that Year 1 was a fluke for Davis. His guys absolutely love him. He has the perfect temperament for the ever-changing collegiate game. Davis has helped North Carolina recruit at a super high level, so it’s obvious college basketball’s next studs are buying into his mission. Davis could skyrocket up this list if North Carolina runs it back in 2022-23.”"

There’s no doubt that Davis has the UNC basketball program headed in the right direction, bringing back every major player from a season ago and getting commitments from multiple five-star high school players in his first recruiting cycle. If he backs up his 29-win Final Four season with something similar in 2022-23, Davis may be nearing the top of this list when it comes out a year from now.

When the Tar Heels take the court this fall, they’ll begin the season as a top-5 team and a prohibitive favorite to cut down the nets in Houston — where they narrowly missed winning a national championship just seven years prior.

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