When a team suffers an excruciating and inexcusable loss on a big stage, fans will look for every reason imaginable to eviscerate the head coach. That anguish cannot be mended during a postgame press conference, but it can certainly be magnified. Following an improbable implosion versus No. 11 seed VCU in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina's Hubert Davis inadvertently poured gasoline on the fire that social media had already ignited.
The Tar Heels overpowered the Rams for most of the matchup and held what should have been a safe 19-point lead, but missed free throws and a failure to contain Terrence Hill Jr. gave way to a devastating 82-78 overtime loss. When asked what went wrong, Davis had an interesting response.
“What do you mean?..Just because you miss a shot doesn't mean something is wrong,” the 2024 ACC Coach of the Year said, per OutKick's Trey Wallace. “We had shots at the basket, executed plays and missed eight free throws. Sometimes the ball doesn't go in.”
Davis is not entirely wrong. The NCAA Tournament is not called March Madness solely for branding purposes. The better team loses all the time in this chaotic postseason, as logic and body of work get supplanted by those pesky bracket busters. But this feels different. North Carolina basketball fans have experienced too many of these losses. They are not going to chalk up this collapse to an unkind rim.
Hubert Davis is already getting battered with criticism after this early exit. It is important to note that the Tar Heels were severely hampered by Caleb Wilson's hand injuries. This game was in their grasp, though. Simply put, North Carolina coughed this one up.
Momentum is bound to shift in an NCAA Tournament contest. The Tar Heels were not prepared to withstand VCU's rally despite building up a sizable advantage, and now they are heading back to Chapel Hill.
Davis will face more tough questions in the coming days, but regardless of his response, it will be quite difficult for him to win back public support.
