Hubert Davis reveals whether he plans to coach North Carolina harder in Year 2

The North Carolina men’s basketball team surprised quite a few people last year and made it to the NCAA Tournament championship game. The Tar Heels came within a few plays of being crowned national champions in head coach Hubert Davis’ first year at the helm.

So as an encore, what does Davis envision for his North Carolina squad? Well, during a recent press conference, the Tar Heels head man answered that question along with whether or not last year’s success will cause him to coach his team harder in year two.

“One of the things I told them, last year, was always block out the noise. I felt like it was feel the negative noise, whether it’s on the phone with family and friends,” said Davis. “That’s something that I felt like that our team did a much better job either turning it off or turning it down last year.”

In the first half of the season, North Carolina struggled with consistency. Analysts of the team questioned the team’s leadership and focus. However, all those questions were answered towards the end of the year, heading into the ACC tournament. Before the tournament kicked off, the Tar Heels beat their archrival, the Duke Blue Devils, on their homecourt 94-81. That would be legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game as the Blue Devils head coach. In the two teams’ rematch in the Final Four, the Tar Heels doubled down and beat Duke once more to advance to the championship game 81-77.

Davis’s message to the team after success in tournament

After experiencing that level of success, Davis had to ground his team as they headed back to campus. For Davis, it was a similar message like the one earlier in the season for his group.

“So when they came back on campus, we had a meeting. I just wanted to set the tone to let them know where I’m coming from. I told him this year a huge determining factor is now… the positive noise. Oh, you guys are great, you guys are in the way too early top 25 ranked number one which absolutely means nothing, you guys are back to the final four, got you got four starters coming back, that’s noise. And for us, (we need) to focus on what is real. That’s our preparation, our practice, and how we can get better this summer to possibly put us in a position where we were last year.”

Now that his Tar Heels have tasted success, fans shouldn’t expect the second-year head coach to take it easy on his team. In fact, count on the exact opposite happening to the Tar Heels with Davis.

“I’m not taking it easy on them, I’m coming harder… I’m just the type of guy I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go.”