UNC Basketball: Expect A Change In Approach This Season
By Jordan Falls
As Hubert Davis enters year three as the head coach of UNC Basketball, it appears we should expect to see some change this season.
There was plenty to talk about at UNC Basketball media day on Friday as it has been relatively quiet around the Dean Smith Center for a few months. One major talking point for head coach Hubert Davis, as he enters his third season, was changing and learning from the previous two years. Of those changes, three really stood out.
Hubert: “We’re gonna play faster.”
— Michael Koh (@michaelkohwchl) October 6, 2023
On offense, UNC Basketball fans are accustomed to seeing the Tar Heel fast break and secondary fast break. However, the last two seasons under Hubert haven’t exactly played out that way. There hasn’t been as much tempo and pushing the basketball down the court as fast as possible as we saw under Roy Williams for such a long time. Hubert stated on Friday that we should expect to see a much faster style of play in 2023-2024 and get back to those Carolina roots.
Hubert Davis says one of his main reflections over the summer was wanting to create more disruption on defense. Says so far, UNC's on-ball D has been much improved.
— Brendan Marks (@BrendanRMarks) October 6, 2023
"Last year it was a lot of man-to-man defense, but there weren't any changes in terms of types of looks."
Defensively, the Tar Heels haven’t been bad, but they haven’t been great either. Creating that fast style of play offensively starts on the defensive end of the floor by causing mistakes and forcing turnovers. Davis pointed out that we should expect to see the man-to-man defense, but expect a lot more in your face, creating pressure on the ball as well and causing that disruption for the offense.
Last year, Hubert Davis let his players draft a contract of how they wanted to play and what their core identity would be. This year? He made the list himself.
— Brendan Marks (@BrendanRMarks) October 6, 2023
How come?
"I'm the head coach."
Maybe most importantly, in his third season, Davis is taking control of the locker room. This isn’t to say the last two years didn’t have control, but that maybe it was too much of a player-led team and not enough coach-led. Last season, the players were allowed to draft a contract of their identity and expectations – that clearly didn’t work with the results on the floor last season.
So, what did Hubert do?
Took control.
Davis drafted the contract this year. We have to remember this is his first stop as a head coach ever, and he will grow and learn new things each off-season as the year before it plays out. While we don’t know what to expect from the 2023-2024 season, one thing is for sure: expect things to change from last season.
Next. Hubert Davis identifies three “Green Light” guys. dark
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