CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With preseason practices set to begin in full in three weeks, North Carolina men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis met with local reporters on Tuesday afternoon for his first group interview availability since the Tar Heels lost to Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament.
Davis, entering his fifth season as head coach of his alma mater, mainly spoke about UNC’s reworked roster, which includes six transfer portal additions and four freshmen.
Watch the full video here and scroll down for excerpts from Davis’s question-and-answer session at the Smith Center.
Q: What’s your take on Luka Bogavac so far as a player from what you’ve seen? And could you take us through the process of identifying him, recruiting him, and how you were able to land him?
Davis: “He’s been great getting to know and also coaching him. He’s been fantastic in the classroom and also on the court. As a player, he’s somebody who can do a number of different things on both ends of the floor. He’s got great size, can handle it, and make plays with the ball in his hand. Can shoot, score on many different levels, mid-range, get to the bucket, excellent passer, and somebody who had a burning desire to be here and to be a part of this program. And as soon as he walks into a room, it just brightens up. He just has that type of personality I’ve really enjoyed being around.”
Q: When you were building this roster, what was on the checklist for what you wanted to accomplish? And how do you feel about where you are going into preseason?
Davis: “A couple of things, I thought we needed to be bigger in positional size. We needed more size. I think the number one determining factor of an outcome of the game is rebounding. I thought defensively we were okay — rebounding percentage-wise, but offensive rebounding was nowhere near where we needed to be. I wanted to become more versatile. You have different types of lineups, and I feel like with this roster, we’ve been able to identify both of those.”
Q: Can you explain your approach to the transfer portal this time around with a GM in Jim Tanner for the first time?
Davis: “In regard to the transfer portal, the two boxes that need to be checked is: a want and a need. Obviously, you know, Jim is a part of our team and a part of our program, and I’m really thankful that he’s here. We were friends prior to him becoming the general manager; we work extremely well together… He just has a burning desire for this program and this university to be successful, and so we work extremely well together, and just like all of us on the staff, he wants us to be successful.”
Q: What are you most excited about with Caleb Wilson?
Davis: “From a basketball standpoint, I think you guys know he’s just uber-talented. I mean, his length and his athleticism, he can handle the basketball at that size, finish around the rim, shoot mid-range. Defensively, he can do a number of different things. As much as I can talk about how impressed I am of him on the court, I’m even more impressed of him as a kid and a teammate. Everything that he talks about is never about him. And I mean that, like everything that he talks about is about the team, and it’s about North Carolina, everything. For someone highly ranked coming in here to not only talk about it, but only really be concerned about the welfare and the benefit of the team, is something that is rare, and it’s something that I really enjoy and love being around every day.”
Q: With four seasons as the head coach of Carolina basketball in the books, what are your biggest takeaways from those four seasons? And how do you feel going into Year 5 compared to that first stretch?
Davis: “I feel the same way that I have felt the last four years. There is a pressure and expectation for us to be good this year, but that pressure and that expectation for us to be good is no different than any other year. The standard is at the highest here, and I always talk to the guys that the standard is the standard. And there’s an expectation every year for us to reach that standard. You talked about the last four years, and I actually had a conversation with (team spokesman Steve Kirschner) last week, that there’s a pressure and expectation to be good this year. But also, in some sense, to keep it there, if that makes sense. The first year, we were a rebound away from winning the national championship, but the next year, we win 20 games and we don’t make it to the NCAA Tournament. And then the third year, we’re a top-five team pretty much the whole season, No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and won the (ACC) regular-season title. Then last year, we won 23 games and just made the NCAA Tournament. And so there is a determination to get there and to stay there.”
