AJ: Davis Silencing His Doubters On The Recruiting Trail

March 8, 1992, was a mere 29 years ago, but at some point in the last couple of weeks, Hubert Davis must have had one of those Yogi Berra “déjà vu all over again” moments.

Way back when Davis was a senior shooting guard for Dean Smith at North Carolina, he put on a show versus Duke that concluded with him pouring in a career-high 35 points, which was part of a seven-game period in which Davis averaged 28.7 points.

The Tar Heels were wobbling a bit, at least for a Carolina team, and Smith needed his senior to carry the load, so Davis obliged. He had to come through, the standard of the program was relying heavily on his ability to make shots.

A bit more than three months ago, Davis was tasked with another heavy responsibility, to take care of a program that has added four national championships and 10 Final Fours to its rafters since that night Davis went off against the Blue Devils. The burden of keeping Carolina, well, Carolina, is a much greater task than that stretch the legendary Smith requested from Walter Davis’ cousin.

Davis now runs the UNC program, which still carries an international brand and the Jordan Brand. Nobody won more NCAA Tournament games than Roy Williams during the recently retired coaches’ 18 seasons in Chapel Hill. He cut down the nets three times and led the Heels to five Final Fours. It’s an American brand, too.

So, when Davis was hired as Williams’ replacement, a job he didn’t think about until Ol’ Roy approached him to consider being his successor, he had some proving to do.

Could he coach? Could he recruit? Some critics argued Davis would fall flat on his face on the trail because he hadn’t really recruited before. One prominent class of 2022 target hadn’t even heard of Davis until he was hired, fueling further speculation this was a steeper climb than some originally thought.

The season doesn’t begin for another four months, and it will take another few months after that to get a healthy gauge on Davis as an in-game coach and game-by-game preparer, but with respect to his ability to get kids to say “I do,” he’s blasting Shohei Ohtani home runs all over the place. Barry Bonds, eat your heart out!

Just last Thursday and Friday, Davis landed the top player in the transfer portal and a highly touted class of 2022 prospect who was once thought as a lock to not leave his home state of Indiana.

Dawson Garcia scorched the Tar Heels in leading Marquette to a shocking upset over Carolina in the Dean Dome last February. But a week after he formally hit the transfer portal, the 6-foot-11 sophomore, who led the Golden Eagles in scoring and rebounding last season, pledged to play for Davis and the Heels.

A day later, Jalen Washington, who hails from Gary, IN, told the world he was also going to play for Davis at UNC.

Garcia was the third noteworthy player from the portal to join the Carolina program since Davis took over. Former Virginia forward Justin McKoy was the first to pop for the Heels, and then Brady Manek, the 14th all-time leading scorer at Oklahoma, which has produced a bevy of talent, also chose Carolina.

Including Garcia means Davis has added a former McDonald’s All-America who made the Big East All-Freshman team, a player who started 111 games for the Sooners and has lit up Kansas on a few occasions, and a gritty forward who nearly chose UNC while in high school.

Furthermore, Davis has received three commitments from class of 2022 prospects since the dead period concluded beginning June 1 that allowed recruited athletes to visit campuses and meet face-to-face with coaches.

First, Will Shaver popped right after opening June with an official visit to Chapel Hill. A few weeks later, surging point guard Seth Trimble committed, and then two weeks after that, Washington came on board.

Six “I dos” in three months with each one carriying significant importance. And, as this has played out, the doubters about Davis’ ability on the trail have gone silent. In fact he’s being lauded by many.

He proved ‘em wrong as a player three decades ago, and at least so far, he’s proving some of them wrong again on the trail.