Seth Greenberg calls for Hubert Davis to improve recruiting in order to remain UNC head coach

Hubert Davis made history Thursday night, but it wasn’t the kind of history North Carolina basketball fans have come to expect. Last night’s 82-78 loss to 11th-seeded VCU was the Tar Heels’ second straight first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament appearance, a first for the college basketball blueblood.

Since North Carolina established itself as a March Madness regular in the mid-1960s under legendary coach Dean Smith, the program has never had back-to-back seasons end in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament — until Thursday. For context, Davis’ predecessor, Roy Williams, experienced just one first-round loss in 18 seasons at UNC, and it happened in his final season (2020-21).

Given that history, Davis’ future at North Carolina has come under scrutiny from fans and pundits alike. In fact, ESPN college basketball analyst Seth Greenberg suggested the 55-year-old Tar Heels coach and alum needs to overhaul his recruiting approach if he hopes to remain in Chapel Hill beyond next season.

“One thing about Hubert, he has to better understand the business of college basketball and how it’s changed. And he’s got to have a staff that reflects that, that has the contacts and the network,” Greenberg said Friday morning on ESPN’s First Take. “The business of college basketball is very different than it was four years ago, five years ago, three years ago. And what they’ve got to do is they’ve got to get into the trenches. They’ve got to find a way to have the contacts and relationships to get the best players in the country.”

Of course, in a day and age when most college basketball teams annually overhaul their roster through the transfer portal, and often rely more on veteran rentals than five-star freshmen, Greenberg made it clear Davis needs to adjust his approach to roster building to the current state of play.

“Here’s the other side of that though: the best players in the country, there are more schools involved in their recruitment because of pay-for-play, and that’s just the way it is,” Greenberg added. “There are certain schools that are destinations in recruiting, and (UNC has) got to win some of those recruiting wars. … Because when you see those banners hanging in the Dean Smith Center, they’re the best players in college basketball starting with Michael Jordan and the rest.

“So they’ve got to improve their recruiting if (Davis) is going to remain the coach, and I think this (upcoming year) he’s got to get it done. Because the standard is the standard at North Carolina, and they haven’t been up to the standard.”