Hubert Davis seemed to know something we didn’t.
Dean Smith used to have an old recruiting axiom — schedule the last visit of a coveted prospect in his home or on your campus.
One of the few times that failed was in 1990, when Grant Hill committed to Duke the weekend before Smith and his assistant coaches were invited to the Hill family home in suburban Washington, D.C.
Calvin and Janet Hill wanted to give Smith the courtesy of telling him in person that their son was going elsewhere.
“We wish Grant good luck at Duke, but I could have been home having dinner with my family,” Smith said in perhaps the most biting comment of his Hall of Fame career.
Hubert played for Smith, of course, and likely was aware of his mentor’s philosophy. When Davis met the media at his summer press conference last Wednesday, he knew transfer Pete Nance was arriving on campus later that day on his last recruiting visit, when he could meet the returning and former players and fully grasp the exposure he would get from regular national TV games and the role he could have in helping the Tar Heels return to the Final Four.
The second-year Carolina coach was both ebullient and entertaining with the media. He said he loved his 2022-23 team with four starters returning, but was always looking for anyone else who could help the Tar Heels get even better.
Two days later, after Nance’s apparently successful visit, the Heels did get better; the four-year starter at Northwestern, a 6-10 grad transfer, committed to UNC. He is the best bet to replace Brady Manek, the great-shooting stretch forward who made the most of his fifth college season.
Nance may not have Manek’s savvy and feel for the game, but he brings 45 percent 3-point accuracy to Chapel Hill, which is even higher than Brady’s 40 percent mark from the arc.
So Carolina gets another power forward or center who can drain treys from the top of the key or the wing. That, in turn, will keep defenses from doubling Armando Bacot in the paint and give the expected preseason ACC Player of the Year the same room to operate he had as a junior.
Hubert knew Nance’s visit was his last, and that’s why he might have been in such a great mood before the son of former Clemson standout and NBA all-star and Slam Dunk champion Larry Nance stepped foot on campus.
Featured image via Northwestern Athletics
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