Jay Bilas ponders pressure on Hubert Davis to win with four returning starters

For the tenth time in school history, North Carolina is the preseason No. 1 team in college basketball. Hubert Davis has a Tar Heel team that has a ton of experience and added plenty of talent too. After the inaugural season Davis is coming off of, it’d be fair to wonder if this level of spotlight is too bright for a second-year head coach. Jay Bilas is not of that opinion, though, when it comes to the head man at UNC.

Bilas recently spoke about Davis and where he has the program in his second season. He said Davis doesn’t necessarily feel pressure and that he thinks his first year replacing Roy Williams had to be harder than what he’s going to deal with in 2022.

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“That’s an interesting question. It’s funny. I don’t think Hubert feels pressure the way other people do…I do think, like with everything, there was an adjustment period. When you take a new job and a new role, all those things? He’s not immune to that. But he never wavered last year in what he thought was important and how he was going to do things. I don’t think he’ll do that this year,” said Bilas. “I would say that it would be more difficult to — in your first year in anything. Because you’re still kind of feeling your way around a little bit, even though he was completely secure and is and exactly who he is.”

Davis went 29-10 during his first season back in Chapel Hill. It was his team’s run to and in the postseason that defined his first campaign though. The Tar Heels ended the season on an 11-2 run with their only losses coming in the ACC Tournament semifinals and to Kansas in the national championship game.

Bringing back the corps of Armando Bacot, Caleb Love, RJ Davis, and Leaky Black along with additions like Pete Nance, it has plenty of people thinking the Tar Heels will be back in the Final Four this season. From what Bilas says, though, that’s what Davis wanted. It doesn’t guarantee them a special season but Davis is happy to have that level of respect when it comes to the expectations for his roster.

“I don’t think this will faze him at all. He wanted those expectations. He wanted to build North Carolina back into the contender that it is. To have people say, ‘Hey, they’re the best team.’,” said Bilas. “He knows that it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not going to win you any games or hang you any banners. Who was preseason No. 1 last year? I don’t know that anybody remembers that. I don’t.”

North Carolina has a long way to go between their opener and potentially making the Final Four in Houston. However, the idea that Davis may not be ready for this moment hasn’t even crossed Bilas’ mind. He believes this season will be easier on him with the idea of following in Williams’ footsteps off his back. Pair that with the goals that he and his team have and the Tar Heels seem more than ready to tip off their season come Monday against UNC-Wilmington.