If the Tar Heels continue struggling, grumbling may turn to screaming.
There has been some discontent about UNC’s season to date, but it has really started to bubble up since the Tar Heels lost at Louisville and at this point, it’s probably fair to say that Hubert Davis is on the hot seat. If not, it’s at least getting warm.
Let’s start with this: for Duke partisans, it’s easy to dislike the UNC coach, whoever it may be. It’s just part of the rivalry. UNC fans hated Mike Krzyzewski, but after he retired, they often acknowledged his greatness - and that UNC owed him a debt, much as Duke owed Dean Smith and Roy Williams a debt because each side pushed the other to be greater.
It’s very difficult to dislike Hubert Davis. He just seems like a good man and while he coaches at UNC, it’s very hard to work up a proper froth about him. We don’t want UNC to be better than Duke, but watching his team struggle is not fun.
And the heat is rising.
Over at his Field of 68 podcast, Jeff Goodman and company openly question whether Davis should continue. Goodman doesn’t think UNC will make the postseason and it’s certainly not looking good.
As of Friday, UNC is 8-6. Some of the losses are acceptable: a three pointer to Kansas in Lawrence, a three-point loss to Michigan state in overtime and a six point loss to Florida.
The loss to Auburn was not good, nor was the loss to Alabama. Under Williams, much less Smith, those losses probably would not have happened.
Revisionist history, but come on: Smith was deadly in those sorts of games.
A two-point win over Dayton? A three-point win over struggling Georgia Tech? This is UNC basketball?
The win over UCLA in the Garden was a big one, but the loss to Louisville let the air right back out of the balloon.
Now, increasingly, you’re seeing more questions about Davis in the media. Check out these headlines:
Davis aside for the moment, the main problem for UNC, clearly, is the frontcourt. Jalen Washington, Ven-Allen Lubin and Jae’Lyn Withers haven’t been very productive and, for whatever reason, Davis and his staff haven’t shown much confidence in freshman James Brown.
Ty Claude could theoretically help, if not in the post at least as a rebounder, but he’s barely playing either, getting about 5.5 minutes a game. Last year he averaged 5.2 boards for Georgia Tech; two years ago, he pulled down 8.6 a game for Western Carolina.
Another part of the problem for the Heels is that Davis has to keep RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, Seth Trimble, Ian Jackson and Drake Powell happy, and there are only so many minutes to go around. Drake has been moved to forward, which makes sense right now, even though he’s really a natural big guard.
On the bright side, Jackson is emerging as a major factor, but no one, so far anyway, has stepped up to provide at least part of what Armando Bacot used to bring every night.
UNC will see Notre Dame on the road, SMU at home and NC State in Raleigh for its next three games. They should beat the Irish, though Tae Davis may really hurt them in the post, and who knows about SMU just yet.
And State?
A chance to really hurt UNC? In Raleigh?
The Pack has its own issues, but they’ll be ready for that one.
So long story short, Davis may indeed be on the hot seat. And if he is, A.D. Bubba Cunningham has a real problem.
The UNC coaching tree is not looking that great right now. The only viable candidate we can think from within the family is Cincinnati’s Wes Miller. He’s building a solid resume...but what if he doesn’t take the job? Where would Cunningham turn next?
No one knows what’s going to happen, but if Davis either resigns or is fired, UNC’s situation is going to be very, very interesting.
Just ask yourself this question: knowing that this is one of the premier jobs in college basketball, if UNC decides to, or is forced, to go outside of the family, who would they hire?
The options would vastly increase. We doubt Danny Hurley would take it, but he’d have to consider it. And given his own psyche, with brother Bobby having had a brilliant career at Duke, being at UNC could be tempting.
A lot of guys would love this job but would probably be long shots due to personal or career issues. Among them are Chris Beard, who resigned at Texas after a violent fight with his fiancee, who otherwise would be a brilliant candidate, Bruce Pearl, who has a bad record with the NCAA, and Nate Oats, but he handled the crisis around Darius Miller’s murder charges. It really was a disaster for Alabama basketball.
There are two candidates who might be ideal. The first wouldn’t go over well and you might be able to guess since we’ve talked about him a lot the last few years...Drake’s Ben McCollum. He was essentially John Wooden in D-II basketball and is off to a 12-1 start in his first season at Drake.
The other, more likely guy we can think of?
Baylor’s Scott Drew, who would be a perfect fit in Chapel Hill.
He rebuilt Baylor from a horrible situation surrounding another mishandled murder and would check every box at UNC except for playing there.
They’d get over that. He’d venerate Smith, Williams and the whole tradition and the fans would forget he wasn't actually family as soon as he started winning.
And he would win.
If Davis leaves after this season, you can expect UNC to do everything possible to get Drew out of Waco. And our hunch is that while he didn’t seriously consider Kentucky, he might be very interested in the North Carolina job.
