Joel Berry passionately defends Hubert Davis, sends clear message to UNC players

Throughout the UNC basketball program's ugly stretch to begin ACC play, many fans (and members of the media) have been quick to blame the team's coaching staff for the issues at hand.

However, while everyone outside the building is frustrated with Hubert Davis, UNC basketball alums are coming to his (and the coaching staff as a whole) defense.

On X, former national champion guard Joel Berry II shared his thoughts on UNC's loss to Cal. After re-watching the game in its entirety, Berry, who is one of four Tar Heels ever to score 1,800 points (1,813) and tally 400 assists (451), pointed the blame in the direction of the players, citing a list of items he believes the players need to be better at.

The list is rather extensive, one that Berry broke down into 12 different bullet points. Of those identified areas of improvement, they are all things that the players solely need to do a better job at, as the little things are hurting this team in a variety of areas.

A different perspective

Berry is an experienced player who put together quite the resume during his college basketball career. He also knows the UNC basketball program extremely well, and can easily identify when things aren't going the way they are supposed to.

While Hubert Davis is taking the blame (as is the case when a Blue Blood like UNC fails to live up to its lofty standards), Berry firmly believes that the players are the ones who deserve the blame, as he had no problem putting together a list of things he found to be glaring issues on the court.

Based on his opinion, this is a player-focused issue. As much as Hubert Davis and his staff would love to be on the court playing, they can't force the players to communicate better, showcase better fundamentals on both sides of the ball, show urgency from the opening tip until the final buzzer, and, of course, make free throws.

While fans might not want to hear it (citing Davis' up-and-down tenure in his five seasons at the helm at North Carolina), Berry poses some very interesting thoughts that do make a lot of sense. At the end of the day, it comes down to the players, as the guys who take the floor are the ones who will ultimately dictate the outcome of the game.

If the players don't do their part, there's nothing the coaching staff can do. The players have to dig deep and find a way to get the job done, improving their effort in multiple facets of the game.

Maybe the Tar Heels should have Berry stop by to run a film session. A change of voice might help this crew.