North Carolina Basketball Coach Hubert Davis had his final show of the season Wednesday and he offered up some interesting tidbits regarding his program, the transfer portal, and more.
The Tar Heels’ season ended last Friday in Milwaukee a 71-64 loss to Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels finished the season 23-14.
So, here is a snapshot of what was most interesting Davis discussed on the show:
Note: We addressed the death threats comment in a different content item.
*The Tar Heels started four guards for much of the season and even with various lineups never were a big team. Two 6-foot guards and a 6-foot-8 center was the norm, and the Heels were just too small, Davis said.
“We’ve got to get bigger. We just do. From A to Z, we just do. And we talked about the physicality of Ole Miss and their positional size was bigger than us. And pretty much that’s the way we were the whole season. So that’s one of the things that we’re definitely going to address is, we’ve got to get bigger. In terms of that physicality, you have to have a presence; you have to be bigger. And that’s what we’re addressing.”
*To get bigger, Davis and GM Jim Tanner will use the transfer portal. UNC has been in contact with some players so far and have also targeted some players that haven’t yet entered the portal. One of them was expected to enter Thursday. Part of having a GM is being prepared in advance when many players become eligible to speak with. For that, Carolina is much more ahead of the game right now than this time a year ago.
Davis spoke about the process:
“It does go a lot faster than high school recruiting. Obviously, in recruiting, there are two boxes that have to be checked. There has to be a want and a need. So, I’m not going to recruit anybody that we want that we don’t need, or we need and we don’t want.
“And that’s why these meetings with the current team – in regards to who’s staying, who’s going – really identifies and gives us a clear picture of what we need and what we want moving forward for next year’s team. Obviously, the biggest, the easiest thing, is looking at the talent, in regards to who’s talented out there on the floor for what you’re looking for.”
*Davis has often coached by feel, which is common among most coaches. But he has also shrugged at noted statistics at times either in postgame or midweek conversations with the media. He said in early December he used stats with his team usually to only make a point but it wasn’t a regular thing.
Analytics, however, are a part of every sport, and some of the up-and-coming programs in the nation are run by coaches who swear by analytics. So, Davis will now look to use analytics more than he has before.
“It won’t drive my decisions, but it definitely can help, and I want to understand it more. In regards to individual development for our entire team, how we’re approaching, from an offensive standpoint, shot selection, where efficiently we are getting shots from a defensive standpoint, I want to do a deep dive into analytics and see how it can help us be better on both ends of the floor.”
