Jay Bilas assesses pressure on Hubert Davis, draws parallels to 2022 Final Four team

In 2022, North Carolina got off to a 4-3 start in ACC play before rattling off a run to the national championship. At the time, questions swirled around Hubert Davis in his first season after replacing Roy Williams.

Three years later, the Tar Heels are in a similar spot entering their rivalry game against Duke. UNC is 6-4 through league play and on the bubble in On3’s latest Bracketology – and Jay Bilas sees the parallels to 2021-22.

During an appearance on ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption on Friday, Bilas said pressure comes with the job at North Carolina. Two of Davis’ Hall of Fame predecessors dealt with it, as well, but it all comes down to avoiding the outside noise.

“There’s always pressure on the head coach at North Carolina,” Bilas said. “Dean Smith had a tremendous amount of pressure. Roy Williams felt a similar thing. He was questioned about how he used timeouts. I think he was pretty good at that. So Hubert Davis is going to be no different in that regard.

“The one thing I’ll tell you about Hubert, that you know, Hubert Davis is one of the finest human beings I’ve ever met in my life. He’s the best father I’ve ever seen. One thing I know for certain is he is handling this the same way every day in practice. He is teaching, he is coaching, he is preparing without regard to external factors. He is concerned about the internal.”

Jay Bilas: UNC ‘capable of more than we have seen’

In 2021-22, North Carolina kicked things into gear in late January amid an 11-2 finish to the season. That included a rivalry win over Duke before the ACC Tournament. While Bilas pointed out this year’s Tar Heels are a different group, he sees the potential for a turnaround.

“If you’ll recall … in 2022, his first year there – about this time of year – everybody was saying the same things they’re saying now,” Bilas said. “And they beat Duke in the middle of the year, and they wound up going to the national championship game. Now, this team is a different team. I think they’ve got some issues in their rebounding, their interior hasn’t played as well as they’re capable of playing.

“But the one thing I believe about North Carolina, they haven’t played up to their capabilities, but they’re capable of more than we have seen. I think that’s the way he his handling this team, and I think they’re going to be better as the year goes on.”