Is pressure building on Hubert Davis?

There has been some dissatisfaction with UNC’s season to date, but it’s really started to bubble up since the Tar Heels lost at Louisville, and at this point it’s probably fair to say that Hubert Davis is on the hot seat. If not, at least it will be warm.

Let’s start with this: For Duke partisans, it’s easy to dislike the UNC coach, whoever that may be. It’s just part of the rivalry. UNC fans hated Mike Krzyzewski, but after he retired, they often recognized his greatness—and that UNC owed him a debt just as Duke owed Dean Smith and Roy Williams a debt because each side pushed the other to be greater .

It’s very hard not to like Hubert Davis. He just seems like a good man, and while he’s coaching at UNC, it’s very difficult to build a proper reputation about him. We don’t want UNC to be better than Duke, but it’s not fun to watch his team struggle.

And the heat rises.

Over on his Field of 68 podcast, Jeff Goodman and company questioning whether Davis should continue. Goodman doesn’t think UNC will make the postseason, and it certainly doesn’t look good.

As of Friday, UNC is 8-6. Some of the losses are acceptable: a three pointer to Kansas in Lawrence, a three point loss to Michigan State in overtime and a six point loss to Florida.

The loss to Auburn wasn’t good, and neither was the loss to Alabama. Under Williams, much less Smith, those losses probably wouldn’t have happened.

Revisionist history, but come on: Smith was deadly in that kind of game.

A two-point win over Dayton? A three-point win over struggling Georgia Tech? Is it UNC basketball?

The win over UCLA at home was great, but the loss to Louisville let the air right out of the balloon.

Now, increasingly, you’re seeing more questions about Davis in the media. Check out these headlines:

Davis aside for now, the main issue for UNC is clearly the front court. Jalen Washington, Ven-Allen Lubin and Jae’Lyn Withers haven’t been very productive, and for some reason, Davis and his staff haven’t shown much faith in freshman James Brown.

Ty Claude could theoretically help, if not in the post at least as a rebounder, but he barely plays either and gets about 5.5 minutes a game. Last year he averaged 5.2 boards for Georgia Tech; two years ago, he pulled down 8.6 a game for Western Carolina.

Another part of the problem for the Heels is that Davis has to keep RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, Seth Trimble, Ian Jackson and Drake Powell happy and there are only so many minutes to go around. Drake has been moved forward, which makes sense right now, even though he really is a natural big guard.

On the bright side, Jackson is emerging as a major factor, but no one, so far anyway, has stepped up to deliver at least a fraction of what Armando Bacot used to bring every night.

UNC will see Notre Dame on the road, SMU at home and NC State in Raleigh for the next three games. They should beat the Irish, although Tae Davis might really hurt them in the post and who knows about SMU.

and state?

A chance to really hurt UNC? In Raleigh?

The pack has its own problems, but they will be ready for it.

So long story short, Davis may actually be on the hot seat. And if he is, AD Bubba Cunningham has a real problem.

The UNC coaching tree isn’t looking too good right now. The only viable candidate we can think of from within the family is Cincinnati’s Wes Miller. He’s building a solid resume… but what if he doesn’t take the job? Where would Cunningham turn next?

Nobody knows what’s going to happen, but if Davis either resigns or gets fired, UNC’s situation is going to be very, very interesting.

Just ask yourself this question: Knowing this is one of the premier jobs in college basketball, if UNC decides or is forced to go outside the family, who would they hire?

The possibilities would increase significantly. We doubt Danny Hurley would take it, but he should consider it. And given his own psyche, where brother Bobby had had a brilliant career at Duke, being at UNC could be tempting.

Many guys would love this job but would probably be long shots due to personal or career issues. Among them are Chris Beard, who resigned at Texas after a violent fight with his fiancee, who would otherwise be a brilliant candidate, Bruce Pearl, who has a bad record with the NCAA, and Nate Oats, but he handled the crisis surrounding Darius Miller’s accusations about murder. It was truly a disaster for Alabama basketball.

There are two candidates that could be ideal. The first one wasn’t going to go well, and you might be able to guess since we’ve been talking about him a lot the past few years…Drake’s Ben McCollum. He was essentially the John Wooden of D-II basketball and is off to a 12-1 start in his first season at Drake.

The other, more likely guy we can think of?

Baylor’s Scott Drew, who would be a perfect fit in Chapel Hill.

He rebuilt Baylor from a dire situation surrounding another botched murder and would check every box at UNC except to play there.

They would get over it. He would honor Smith, Williams and the entire tradition, and the fans would forget that he wasn’t actually family as soon as he started winning.

And he wanted to win.

If Davis leaves after this season, expect UNC to do whatever it takes to get Drew out of Waco. And our sense is that even if he wasn’t seriously considering Kentucky, he could be very interested in the North Carolina job.