CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Hard knocks.

It’s more than just a television series documenting the behind-the-scenes preseason preparations of an NFL team.

For North Carolina basketball coach Hubert Davis, the term is also an accurate description for the difficulties he experienced during his 2nd season as the Tar Heels’ leader.

Davis didn’t actually take a beating. At least not physically.

But his stock did drop dramatically, especially among the most vocal UNC fans on social media, after going from the national championship game as a rookie to becoming the 1st coach ever to have his team miss out on the NCAA Tournament after being ranked No. 1 to start the season.

It’s not as if the Tar Heels were terrible. 

They still finished with 20 victories and had a winning record in the ACC. They just fell so far below their preseason expectations, fueled by team members making “championship or bust” proclamations, that it’s tough to consider the season anything less than a disappointment.

The best thing that can be said for the 2022-23 campaign is that it’s now a thing of the past. And that it provided Davis with an opportunity to reflect, learn and continue the process of growing into one of the highest-profile jobs in the college game.

It’s a process whose seeds were planted long before he inherited the position upon the retirement of Hall of Famer Roy Williams in April 2021.

“I talk about what an unbelievable and great experience I had here (as a player),” the former Tar Heel shooting guard said Thursday during his annual mid-summer media availability at Smith Center. “That being said, in my time here there were rainy and windy days. There were some hard times.

“The feeling I have about this place is not just because of the sunny days. It’s also about perseverance through the rainy and windy days. It’s a great opportunity to grow, a great opportunity to learn and I feel like we’re all in a great position to get better from last year, improve upon that and have the type of season we want.”

The 1st step toward accomplishing that goal was taken shortly after the Tar Heels found themselves on the outside looking in at the NCAA Tournament bracket.

It began with a series of meetings Davis described as “great, long, straightforward and direct conversations” with his returning players. 

Particularly stars Armando Bacot and RJ Davis.

Among the main topics of those conversations were chemistry and playing for the name on the front of the jersey rather than the back, issues that plagued the Tar Heels from the jump last season despite having virtually everyone back from their Final 4 run.

The dynamic of this year’s team will be different thanks to the departure of inconsistent point guard Caleb Love among others, the addition of 4 veteran transfers and the arrival of 2 highly rated freshmen.

In order to build the kind of relationships Davis hopes will translate into a more cohesive unit on the court, he’s had his players spend “a ton of time together” this summer – including frequent “breakfasts, lunches and dinners.”

Chemistry, however, is only 1 of the subjects the UNC coach studied during last year’s term at the school of hard knocks.

He also learned about construction. Specifically how to build a roster so that the pieces fit together better.

Davis brought in sharpshooters Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame and Paxson Wojcik from Brown to address a perimeter game that ranked last in the ACC in 3-point shooting and had 5-star freshman point guard Elliott Cadeau reclassify to arrive a year early and help improve ball movement.

Harrison Ingram from Stanford and Jae’Lyn Withers from Louisville will add size and versatility around elite big man Bacot in the front court while the return of a fully healthy Jalen Washington, fellow holdover Seth Trimble and 4-star freshman power forward Zayden High will provide Davis a deeper bench than he’s had to work with in either of his 1st 2 season.

That is assuming he learned to do a better job of using it.

And he says he has.

“I know that I’m a better coach this year compared to last year because I’ve been doing it longer,” Davis said. “The more you do it, the more comfortable you get. That comes with experience.”

With 1 more scholarship still available and some attractive graduate transfers still on the market, Davis might not be through adding to his roster for the coming season.

Whether he does or not, he said that he likes the makeup of his team and he’s anxious to get it back out onto the court.

“We’re in a great spot,” he said.

Of course it’s easy to be excited when it’s still only July.

The challenge for Davis and the Tar Heels is to be in the same positive frame of mind 4 months from now when the games begin and the pressure is on.

Because if there’s 1 lesson we’ve all learned by heart, it’s that everything always seems better when you’re out for summer vacation than it is once school starts back up in the fall.