CHAPEL HILL – While North Carolina fans are clamoring for any information about who might fill out Hubert Davis’ coaching staff at North Carolina and what players in the transfer portal he is targeting, they also want to know what style the Tar Heels will play next season.

That may not be the immediate concern, but it is squarely on the radar. Will he keep the status quo and UNC will look like UNC has for decades, or will Davis tweak things and present a varied version of Carolina basketball?

Based on what UNC’s new coach said during his introductory press conference along with an interview on ESPN the night before, much of how the Heels play will carry a similar look. But it may not be an exact replica of Dean Smith’s or Roy Williams’ Heels.

“The foundation is set here at Carolina,” Davis said Tuesday during his intro presser. “And it's a foundation that I believe in. It's a foundation that has been tested and tried and proven successful through Coach Smith, Coach (Bill) Guthridge and Coach Williams.

“I've got no plans of going away from that foundation because I believe in it. I do understand that the game has changed, and we've got to get better next year. Plain and simple, period.”

At times, the Tar Heels appeared to play on a college basketball time warp this past season. So many teams are playing with four and five players outside of the lane, but UNC always had two traditional big men on the floor, courtesy of Williams having arguably the deepest front court in the nation.

Garrison Brooks was coming off an All-ACC season, Armando Bacot had become Carolina’s best player, Day’Ron Sharpe was tagged as a probable one-and-done player before arriving, and Walker Kessler might have the highest upside among the quartet.

The rest of the Tar Heels were inexperienced freshmen who struggled with consistency and a veteran wing not known for stuffing that stat sheet. With that came a team that shot just 43.9 percent overall from the floor, including 31.8 percent from three-point range, ranking the Heels 263rd in the nation in that department. On the other end of the floor, the Heels were No. 256 in three-point defense at 35 percent.

Williams had to play big because that was the clear strength of the team. But the game continues moving to a more of a spread approach. Bigs aren’t as much in demand, especially when mid-sized players are strong, tenacious, and get after it on the glass. That was Baylor this season, and certainly in the national championship game.

The Bears, who started just one player over 6-foot-5, outrebounded much longer Gonzaga, 38-22, including 16-5 on the offensive glass. Davis is aware of this, but he also knows what works, as UNC is just four years removed from its most recent national championship and two years from a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“Yes, things have changed, but Carolina has been tested and tried and perfected and been proven successful through all the years,” Davis said. “And the way that we will play will be the Carolina way and it will be successful, even now.”

Davis went a bit more into how he views things moving forward during the interview on ESPN the night before.

“I mentioned before that I’ve got to do it with my own personality with my own shoes, and that’s really important to me,” he said. “I know that the game has changed, I know kids are more versatile, I know kids have gone away from posting up guys, and people from an offensive standpoint want to be open and play the game the right way. And that’s what we have.”

So, based on what Carolina’s new coach has said so far, it is fair for fans to expect what they have seen for five decades, but perhaps with a twist here and a tweak there. Maybe even a little more, especially as Davis settles in.

His basketball associations away from UNC include playing for some of the greatest minds the sport has known. Pat Riley, Don Nelson, and Tar Heel ambassador Larry Brown, who coached Davis with the Detroit Pistons, so Davis has seen the game through numerous lenses.

How he applies that over time will be one of the more interesting developments of his time at the helm.