The North Carolina Tar Heels received a gift most college basketball fans felt they didn't deserve. Despite playing in a relatively light ACC conference and despite their wildly inconsistent regular-season play, the Tar Heels were given the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.
To their credit, the Tar Heels ran with said opportunity, defeating the San Diego State Aztecs by 27 points in the First Four to punch their ticket to the field of 64. They were the 11-seed in the South Region, and had a date with 6-seed Ole Miss on the horizon.
Whether the Tar Heels deserved to make the cut can (and probably should) be debated, but it felt as if they had a legitimate shot at pulling off a first-round upset, at the very least. I mean, how many times have we seen teams that many don't believe should've been in the tournament go on Cinderella types of runs?
Unfortunately for Tar Heels fans, this UNC team turned out to be what most thought they were: not good enough. The Tar Heels dug themselves a substantial first-half hole in Friday's game, which has been a theme in Hubert Davis' tenure as head coach. They were able to make things interesting down the stretch, but UNC's subpar first half was enough to doom the Tar Heels. Their season ended at the hands of the Rebels, who won the contest 71-64.
While there's lots of blame to go around for UNC's disappointing loss and rough season overall, most Tar Heels fans are pointing the finger in Davis' direction, at least if social media is to be believed.
UNC fans want Hubert Davis fired after another early NCAA Tournament exit
If Hubert Davis coached the Dream Team they wouldn’t have made it out the group stage
— M.S. (@mo_spade) March 21, 2025
This Tar Heels team isn't quite the Dream Team, but they're absolutely talented enough to have played much better than they did. Davis did not make the most of what he had.
How UNC kept having the slow start, comeback, run out of gas issue against good teams from the beginning of the season until now is totally on Hubert Davis.
— Jeff or Jeffrey Fann (@TalkinACCSports) March 21, 2025
He simply never corrected the problem that kept UNC from being a top 20 team.
As mentioned above, this game played out in the exact same way as many seem to under Davis' leadership. The Tar Heels look completely unprepared at the start of games, turn it on after digging a massive hole, and inevitably come up just short after attempting a heroic comeback. It's infuriating.
Under Hubert Davis:
— MBC (@alealejandro214) March 21, 2025
-on the bubble in 75% of the seasons
-first preseason number 1 team to miss the tournament in the history of college basketball
-lowest seed ever in program history (11)
-second largest halftime deficit in a tournament game in program history
-22-38 in Quad…
Davis has been running the show for four years at UNC, and has underwhelmed. The Tar Heels made a stunning run to the national title game as an 8-seed in Davis' first season but wound up missing the NCAA Tournament altogether the following year. They then proceeded to get knocked out far too early as a 1-seed last season, followed by this train wreck of a year.
Hubert Davis ruined the best program in college basketball in 4 years.
— HEELS ARE DANCING (@rj_smith_3) March 21, 2025
Not too long ago, the expectations were to compete for titles annually at UNC. Now, it feels as if they're fortunate to have even made the NCAA Tournament. Things certainly have shifted under Davis.
Hubert Davis contract thru 2030. This man has done nothing, but choke away a National Championship.
— TaReef KnockOut (@TaReefKnockOut) March 21, 2025
Those hoping that the Tar Heels might be willing to move on from Davis probably shouldn't get their hopes up. UNC recently extended its head coach on a contract that runs through 2030. His buyout isn't large enough to force them to keep Davis around, but that doesn't mean that the school is going to want to move on from a head coach they recently extended so soon after agreeing to a deal.