Lucas: Peer Appreciation

By Adam Lucas

WASHINGTON, D.C.—You and I can see that Hubert Davis has this year's edition of the Tar Heels playing very much in his image. That much was obvious during Carolina's 92-67 obliteration of Florida State in Thursday's ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

The media can see it. That's why they voted Davis the ACC Coach of the Year.

But it means a little something else when his peers can see it.

Leonard Hamilton is the longest tenured coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference. His first year in the league was the 2002-03 season. To put that into perspective, at that point in time, the league had nine teams, Maryland finished second in the regular season standings and Roy Williams had turned down Carolina and seemed unlikely to ever leave Kansas.

Not saying Hamilton has been in Tallahassee a long time, but it wouldn't surprise me if Packer and Thacker were on the call for his first ACC Tournament.

Now he's coached in 22 of these events. So he's earned the right to make some observations about the rest of the league. He also coached a certain NBA player named Hubert Davis during Davis' tenure with the Washington Wizards. And this is what Hamilton said after watching his team lose to the Tar Heels for the third time this season:

"Hubert brings a passion to the club that is impressive. The players feed off his energy."

We see that every game. We've seen him convey that passion to his players this year, and we've seen them learn from it—and get better from it. A couple months ago, Elliot Cadeau sometimes looked a little tentative. Thursday, he was throwing his body all over the court to secure loose balls, sticking his nose into the play defensively and energizing a Carolina fast break that rolled up a 26-6 edge in points in transition.

So no offense, Coach Hamilton, but we already knew that.

Maybe you didn't know this part, though.

"It's very difficult as a coach, especially when you're just getting started, to develop your culture," Hamilton continued. "There's a lot of tradition at North Carolina. I grew up in North Carolina. I'm kind of part of it…I grew up an ACC fan."

And that's why what he says next is so important. Remember, Hamilton has to recruit against Carolina, so he's not just handing out bouquets to everybody.

"North Carolina represents the best of college basketball," he said. "How they've conducted themselves over the years and the standard that Dean Smith set for many, many years. I think Hubert has them playing with that level of pride that the school and the community deserves."

That's an opposing coach—"the best of college basketball." That's an opposing coach, still mentioning Dean Smith more than 25 years after he last coached a game for the Tar Heels.

That's why it matters that Davis regularly has former players address the current team at practice. That's why it matters that Davis has stacked his staff with former Tar Heel players. That's why it matters that Davis goes to extreme measures—including the occasional use of "fart" and "bejeebies"—to make sure he doesn't curse around his players, because he wants them to have the same experience he had while playing for Smith. That's why it matters that Monday's team meeting to tell the squad about All-ACC honors started at 3:51, because that's the kind of attention to time detail fostered by Bill Guthridge, who reasoned 4:00 might mean 4:02 or 3:58, but 3:51 could only mean 3:51.

All of it matters. Every single little detail. It will sound arrogant to say this, but it is simply factual: Carolina is different. The way they travel. The way they are treated in Chapel Hill. The way the fans pack an NBA arena in the middle of a Thursday afternoon 275 miles from home. And, too, the expectations that come with all of that treatment.

You can play college basketball. Or you can play Carolina Basketball. It's not the same experience, and those who have chosen the latter know exactly why.

Hamilton continued his thought about the Tar Heels playing with pride.

"In order to do that, you have to connect with your team, and you've got to have a relationship," he said. "It's not always easy to do things that require a lot of effort. In other words, unfortunately, none of us want to be uncomfortable. Nobody wants to be hot, nobody wants to be cold, nobody wants to be tired. Nobody wants to push themselves when they're a little fatigued. So you have to have a relationship with your players that they relate to you because they have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

"I think Hubert has the ability—the relationship with his guys where he's challenging them to be better than what they could be because they're responding to his instruction."

Carolina is better. That's a fact. The Tar Heels who played Thursday in DC would destroy the Tar Heels who played in the Bahamas four months ago. Cadeau is better and Seth Trimble is better and Jae'Lyn Withers is better and RJ Davis is the Player of the Year. It's true that the win over FSU might have been Carolina at their best, and they won't play that way in every single game. But somebody had to persuade them that their ceiling was not actually—I'm sorry—the roof, and that they could get better. Hubert Davis did that, every single day in practice. What is it Hamilton said? He "challenged them to be better than what they could be because they're responding to his instruction.'

You know another way to say that? He coached them.

After every single win, before they could become too pleased with themselves, there was Hubert Davis, barking, "I'm not satisfied!" He truly believes the Tar Heels are supposed to win every single game they play, and has never been impressed with any victory. "We are North Carolina!" he reminds his players at every opportunity. He knows it's different. And he wants them to understand that it doesn't matter how big the conference gets, or how much NIL money is at stake, or who the opponent might be or where the game is being played or what time it starts. It is different here, every single day, and he wants them to revel in that difference and excel because of it.

So what does all this mean, Coach Hamilton? What are we talking about here?

He put it very simply. He has seen 22 of these ACC Tournaments. He has outlasted multiple other coaching regimes at multiple other schools. He knows what works. This is what he sees when he looks at Carolina under Hubert Davis:

"That's the makings of a great coach and a great program."

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Seth Trimble

Jae'Lyn Withers

Related Videos