Hubert Davis’ Final Four hour was buried by other news.

The new head coach of the Tar Heels had a sterling senior season in 1992, averaging 21.4 points and leading the ACC in 3-point shooting on his way to second-team all-conference and being the 20th pick in the NBA draft by the New York Knicks.

But it should have been no surprise, as Davis improved steadily as a junior, coming off the bench to regularly score in double figures and average better than 13 points. His best game was his last of the season, the Tar Heels sad loss to Roy Williams and Kansas at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis when Dean Smith was ejected late.

Davis matched his up-to-then career high with 25 points, hitting 9 of 16 shots, 2 of 4 3-pointers, and adding 5 rebounds and 3 assists. The loss was so stunning for the ACC champions that the returning players used it for fuel for the next season, when Davis easily led the team in scoring, hitting double figures in 32 of 33 games and reached 30 four times including 35 in his last regular-season game at Duke.

If coaching comes as easy as scoring, Hubert will be a shooting star again.

He has a long history with Carolina basketball dating back to watching his Uncle Walter play in the 1970s and sitting on his lap on the ride back from Montreal and the 1976 Olympic Games.

Davis’ showing was about the only good thing at Dean Smith’s first Final Four in nine years, not only losing to his young protégé in his third season at Kansas, but also seeing his coach embarrassed and Duke shock top-ranked and undefeated UNLV in the other semi and then beat the Jayhawks for the Blue Devils’ first of five NCAA titles.

Davis was heart-broken for his teammates, especially seniors Pete Chilcutt, Rick Fox and King Rice, who advanced to the Final Four as a No. 1 seed after blowing out Duke in the ACC championship game in Charlotte when Hubert added 17 points to the 25 from Fox, the tournament MVP. They were hoping for their own shot at Vegas.

Davis got back to two Final Fours as a member of Williams’ UNC staff and, of course, cut down the nets with everyone else in 2017.

Now he has a chance to write his own chapter of Carolina hoops history as the fifth straight head coach in 69 years to keep it in the family, following Smith, Guthridge, Doherty and Williams.

(featured image via Associated Press)

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