North Carolina’s Hubert Davis is one of only 13 active head coaches who has taken his current program to at least two Sweet 16s in the past four years, although he appears to be a long shot to reach that prominent NCAA Tournament threshold again this season.

Davis, now in his fifth year leading his alma mater, also is one of only two active head coaches (with Duke’s Jon Scheyer) who has led his program to a regular-season ACC title. The Tar Heels accomplished that feat, along with a #7 end-of-season finish in the national polls, in 2024.

On the recruiting trail, Davis is one of only two ACC leaders (again with Scheyer) who has signed at least one consensus top-15 high school prospect in each of the past four years. Drake Powell (2024) lived his one-and-done NBA dream last season, and Caleb Wilson (2025) is doing so this year. Elliot Cadeau (2023) and Ian Jackson (2024) opted to transfer to Michigan and St. John’s, respectively, after last season. Dylan Mingo (2026) will arrive in Chapel Hill this summer.

This season, Davis has added his signature to one of the greatest success stories of the transfer portal era. Henri Veesaar, who started only five games during his three years at Arizona, immediately became a full-time starter for the Tar Heels. Now he’s the best center in the ACC, a highly competitive and versatile difference-maker at both ends of the floor, and one of the 10 best players in the entire league.

So why does Davis get criticized so much?

Well, mainly, it’s because his resume is compared most often to those of Dean Smith (his coach at UNC), Roy Williams (his coaching mentor at UNC) or Scheyer. The 38-year-old Duke coach has managed to keep the Blue Devils on the top tier of college programs despite the 2022 retirement of legendary leader Mike Krzyzewski, even as the Tar Heels have at least temporarily settled into a second tier of sorts, a place historically unfamiliar to Carolina fans.

Smith and Williams are both Hall of Famers and legitimate candidates for the college game’s all-time Mount Rushmore of coaches. Scheyer, meanwhile, quickly has made himself a candidate for the “most successful successor” in the annals of coaching legends, given his countless accomplishments (three ACC Tournament titles, three regular-season crowns, two Elite Eights, 2025 Final Four, current #1 national ranking, etc.) over these past three-plus seasons.

This year, Davis has had several championship-caliber elements at his disposal: an All-American having one of the best freshman seasons in Carolina history (Wilson), one of the best frontcourt tandems in the country (Wilson/Veesaar), and a tough, gritty, unselfish, experienced leader (senior guard Seth Trimble).

Davis, his staff and his team also deserve a ton of credit for repeatedly responding well to adversity — first Trimble’s early season forearm injury/surgery (missed nine games), then an ugly 0-2 West Coast road trip, then Wilson’s fractured hand (missed six games) and most recently Wilson’s broken thumb (season-ending surgery).

In the first three instances, instead of panicking, pointing fingers or splitting apart, the Tar Heels instead stayed together and kept improving.

“I do think we’ve become a group that’s edgier,” Davis said. “The resiliency of this group, through a lot of changes this year, the way that they have reacted and responded, has been fantastic.”

While the #21 Tar Heels have proven they can beat other highly regarded teams (e.g., Kansas, Virginia, Louisville, Kentucky, Clemson) and even a truly elite one (Duke), they have significant holes, too, including consistently ineffective point guard play, the worst 3-point defense (nearly 39 percent) in the ACC, and now the unexpected loss of Wilson for the rest of the season.