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NEW ORLEANS – Hubert Davis delivered, and so did his players.
Davis has repeatedly said his role as the head basketball coach at North Carolina is one of service to the program that gave him so much. And within that, he wants his players to accumulate the same kinds of stories and testimonies he and his assistant coaches, all of whom played on fantastic teams at UNC, had when they were suiting up as Tar Heels.
At times, the message has seemed a bit forced, at times even corny with how much the rookie Carolina coach has pushed it. But there was a reason Davis stayed in tune over and over and over again: He was intent on making it happen.
The thing is, to achieve that part of his mission, the players had to follow through as well. And over the last month, the daily message and vision met with reality and it happened. North Carolina beat Duke twice in two of the biggest and most memorable games the programs will ever play against each other, and the Tar Heels also made it to the national championship game.
They lost, but in some respects they didn’t. Davis delivered, and so did the players.
“I told them this after the game that my desperation for them to have those experiences in a Carolina uniform was very important for me,” Davis said, not long after his team fell to Kansas, 72-69, in the national championship game Monday night at the Superdome.
“I was very thankful that I feel like this year they were able to have – they were able to have a number of experiences that they could grab on and to lean on and to smile about.”
Davis played in a Final Four as a junior and won two ACC Tournament championships back when that event carried a bit more luster than it does now. Assistant coaches Pat Sullivan (1993), Sean May (2005), Jackie Manuel (2005), and Brandon Robinson (2017) won national championships, assistant Brad Frederick (1997, 1998), played in two Final Fours, and assistant coach Jeff Lebo played in two Elite Eights, won an ACC Tournament, and the 1987 Tar Heels went undefeated in ACC play.
Now, the 2022 Carolina club can say they beat Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game as well as his last overall game, which also happened to occur in the Final Four.
For the players, however, their greater lesson in achieving lasting memories and testimonies as prescribed by their coach was born through their process. None of that happens without being dialed into the grind.
“It takes a whole band,” sophomore guard RJ Davis said Monday night. “We've been together this whole year. We made it this far for a reason. This team was special. Glad to share memories and big games that we'll all talk about and cherish forever.
“We've been through a lot this year. Faced adversity. Overcome it. And all the hard work we've put in this offseason, summertime, preseason, brothers to this point where we're at.”
Carolina was 12-6 overall and 4-3 in the ACC after dropping embarrassing games at Miami and Wake Forest in January by a combined 50 points. Every statistical measure suggested the Heels were getting worse, including the body language of the team that week.
So, the day after falling at Wake in Winston-Salem, Hubert Davis now-famously loved on his players reminding them all of their goals were still intact instead of tearing them to shreds, which is what they expected. That part of their story has been told numerous times, even back then.
But what was born out of that was a slow crawl forward. An inching process that began with the Heels grabbing hold of a big blue wagon, and beginning with a sometimes-plodding win over then-struggling Virginia Tech, the team began to accumulate bits of armor and weaponry, tossing them onto the wagon.
They pulled forward adding more in a not-so-pretty win over Boston College. Then a rout of NC State, and so on. UNC won 17 of its next 20 games, including the two triumphs over Duke, plus the incredible overtime win over defending national champion and East Region top seed Baylor not far from the Bears’ campus, and then the Heels out-gritted UCLA.
The program’s 21st Final Four, three more than the next program (UCLA has 18), is a banner these kids will hang. They came close to adding Carolina’s seventh NCAA championship, but there is no shame in falling short, especially considering where the Heels were not that long ago.
“I would say that this season has been successful,” junior forward Armando Bacot said. “Just having Coach Davis as a coach. He's been amazing all year. And everybody on our coaching staff has been great.
“And just this program, we've all loved being here all year and just playing for Coach Davis. This won't be the last time y'all will see this program here.”
The thing is, Carolina’s run wasn’t just for the players, it was for the massive fan base, that helps keep this massive thing called Carolina Basketball propped up, and for the staff. Players generating memories also means the coaches are, too.
Davis doesn’t do this for himself, he says, but their success is also his.
“The thing that I shared with them in the locker room is along the way, as they were experiencing it,” their coach said, “they were giving me more stories and testimonies and memories by just having a front-row seat to be around them.”
Hence, memories and testimonies for all.
