UNC men’s basketball head coach Hubert Davis was named the ACC Coach of the Year on Monday. He’s the first UNC head coach to win Coach of the Year honors since Roy Williams in 2011 and the fifth different UNC coach to do so. Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge and Williams are the others. Overall, it’s the 13th different time – the most in league history – Carolina has taken home the award.

In his third season as head coach, Davis oversaw a nearly complete remaking of the UNC roster. After the departures of nine scholarship players via graduation or the transfer portal – including starters Pete Nance, Leaky Black and Caleb Love – Davis brought in five new transfers. Two of them have cemented themselves as starters: Harrison Ingram from Stanford and Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame. Davis also recruited point guard prospect Elliot Cadeau to reclassify and join Carolina a year early out of high school. Cadeau is now a starter and leads the team in assists.

That group, along with veterans like Armando Bacot and R.J. Davis, has already surpassed UNC’s win total from the 2022-23 season before postseason play begins and won the outright ACC regular-season championship for the first time since 2017.

After missing the 2023 NCAA Tournament entirely, Carolina is a virtual lock to receive a high seed in this year’s event. First, the team will play in the ACC Tournament, where the Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed. UNC will open play in the quarterfinals on Thursday against either No. 8 seed Virginia Tech or No. 9 seed Florida State.

 

Featured image via Dakota Moyer

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.

Related Stories
‹
'I Wouldn't Change Anything': Veteran Tar Heels Reflect After Sweet 16 Loss vs. Alabama
What made this UNC group special to head coach Hubert Davis was how it embodied his ideals of connectedness on and off the basketball court.
Relive UNC Men's Basketball's 2023-24 Season in 23 Photos:
Another UNC men’s basketball season is in the books, as the Tar Heels finish 2023-24 with a 29-8 record. The team fell short of beating Alabama in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament after earning the ACC regular season title and reaching the ACC Tournament Championship game. Relive the highs and lows of the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Sad Ending
R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot are already among UNC’s best players ever, and they will be remembered for that more than this last loss.
Alabama Uses Late Run to Knock Off UNC Men's Basketball in NCAA Sweet 16
Alabama star Grant Nelson took over late in the second half against No. 1 seed Carolina in the Sweet 16 Thursday night in Los Angeles, sparking a late Crimson Tide run to stun the Tar Heels and end their season, 89-87. Nelson, a transfer from North Dakota State, finished with 24 points, 19 of which […]
Chansky's Notebook: Best of the West
If the oddsmakers are right, it will be Arizona and UNC on Saturday in Los Angeles for a trip to the Final Four.
UNC Men's Basketball in the 2024 NCAA Tournament: How to Watch, Cord-Cutting Options and Tip-Off Time
The UNC men’s basketball team will face No. 4 seed Alabama in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 on Thursday night in Los Angeles. The Crimson Tide defeated No. 13 seed College of Charleston and No. 12 seed Grand Canyon in the first two rounds of the tournament. The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed […]
UNC Men's Basketball NCAA Tournament Opponent Breakdown: Alabama
No. 4 seed Alabama will face off against No. 1 seed Carolina in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night in Los Angeles. The Crimson Tide finished third in the SEC regular-season standings and defeated No. 13 seed College of Charleston and No. 12 seed Grand Canyon in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. […]
Chansky's Notebook: Pay The Right Way
As UNC is back in the limelight, NIL opportunities have happened almost organically for a school always in the national conversation.
Chansky's Notebook: 4 Out of 5 Ain't Bad
The ACC was relegated to “medium” space during the regular season and received five NCAA bids, when two or three more should have made it.
UNC Men's Basketball Muscles Past Michigan State, Advances to Sweet 16
Carolina used a 25-6 run at the end of the first half to erase an early 12-point deficit and held off Michigan State in the second half to win 85-69 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday evening. With the win, UNC advances to its 38th regional semifinal appearance in program history. […]
›