Hubert Davis projects where revamped North Carolina roster will show improvement

North Carolina will be nearly unrecognizable in the 2023-24 season. After their season ended in March, the Tar Heels lost seven players to the transfer portal. Conversely, the squad brought in five transfers and two freshmen. Although UNC lost talent, head coach Hubert Davis knows his team needed change.

“There’s a number of things that we needed to address to get better from last year. Last year, we weren’t a very good outside shooting team. There are 15 teams in the ACC. We were 15th in 3-point shooting percentage,” Davis said. “The team that we have now, I think we’re a better shooting team.

“I didn’t think last year we were very good in terms of ball movement and sharing the basketball. Out of 15 teams in the ACC, we were 14th in team assists, so I feel like we have multiple playmakers now that can make plays for themselves and their teammates. I really like the mix and the combinations of this team. I know it’s really early, but there’s a lot of versatility. And that’s something that I’m really excited about,” Davis said.

Tar Heels fans are undoubtedly looking for improvement. After reaching the National Championship in the 2021-22 campaign, North Carolina failed to reach the NCAA Tournament last season. The Tar Heels went 20-13 and held a mediocre 11-9 conference record.

As mentioned before, the subpar season led to a mass exodus from the program. This exodus included UNC’s leading scorer and former five-star recruit, Caleb Love, who averaged 16.7 points per game.

While UNC didn’t find any five-star prospects in the transfer portal, it did bring in some serious talent such as Stanford’s Harrison Ingram and Notre Dame’s Cormac Ryan. Additionally, the Tar Heels return standouts Armando Bacot and RJ Davis.

Entering his third season at the helm, Davis is happy with his roster.

“At the beginning of the summer, you know where you want to be. You didn’t necessarily know how you were going to get there, but you knew where you wanted to go and where you wanted to be. And now, being here in the latter part of July, it’s exactly where I wanted to be,” the 53-year-old head coach said. “I’m just in a great spot for the team. We’re in a great spot, and I just like the makeup of this team, and I like where we are right now. Very happy with it.”