North Carolina is picking up the pieces after a heartbreakingMarch Madnessloss to VCU. The Tar Heelsblew a 19-point lead, allowing the sixth-largest comeback in NCAA tournament history, including the largest the first round has ever seen.
They've now bowed out of the tournament's Round of 64 in back-to-back years, andquestions are swirling about the job security of head coach Hubert Davis.
Those won't be answered until early next week, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
"The future of Hubert Davis at North Carolina right now is squarely in flux in the wake of these back-to-back, first-round NCAA tournament exits,"Thamel reported on Saturday. "The sides are expected to talk in the upcoming days, and no decision on Davis' future is expected until early next week.
"Do not expect Davis to be fired outright. Any kind of departure would be synchronized, likely between he and the school. Hubert Davis is a legend at North Carolina and will be treated with that type of respect."
Thamel added: "The options here are simple: Keep Davis with significant changes to the staff and program or orchestrate some type of wholesale change to the coaching staff and bring in a whole new regime."
In other words, even if Davis stays, staff changes are expected.
Outgoing UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who will be replaced by Steve Newmark when Cunningham steps down from his role this summer,reportedly told Field of 68's Jeff Goodmanthat he and other administrators are in the process of evaluating the men's basketball program.
"Every year at the end of the season, it's important to evaluate all facets of the program and look for ways to improve," Cunningham said, per Goodman. "The Chancellor, Steve and I are doing that together now and will continue to have discussions over the coming days."
UNC has historically hired within Tar Heels family
Davis has led the UNC program since April 2021,when he took over for Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams, who guided the Tar Heels to three national championships and five Final Fours over an 18-season tenure.
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In hiring Davis as Williams' replacement, the school stayed within the Carolina basketball family. Davis played under program legend Dean Smith, another Hall of Fame coach, at UNC from 1988-92 and worked under Williams as an assistant coach from 2012-21.
Davis took the baton and ran with it initially, especially down the stretch of his first season at the helm. The Tar Heels took down rival Duke twice: first in the regular-season finale, spoiling the final home game for retiring Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski,and then again in the Final Four.
Although UNC fell to Kansas in the national title game, its journey back to that stage inspired confidence in Davis.
Tournament struggles under Davis
Since, however, the Tar Heels have won just two NCAA tournament games, and both of those victories came in 2024, when they were a No. 1 seed after winning the ACC regular-season crown. That year, they lost in the Sweet 16 to Alabama.
Following UNC's national runner-up finish in 2022, it began the 2022-23 season as the No. 1 team in the AP preseason poll but went on to miss out on the NCAA tournament entirely.
This season, the Tar Heels beat Duke in the first of the teams' two meetings. But their leading scorer and rebounder, top NBA Draft prospect Caleb Wilson, eventually suffered two injuries,the second of which was a thumb injury that the freshman forward picked up in practice and that required season-ending surgery.
UNC missed Wilson sorely when VCU was mounting its first-round comeback on Thursday. And now Davis' future, as Thamel reported, is "squarely in flux."
