The latest reminder of North Carolina’s descent came Monday, as the Tar Heels eked into the preseason men’s basketball AP poll with a No. 25 ranking.
Coach Hubert Davis is on the hot seat, and a former national champion for the Tar Heels doesn’t mince words when it comes to the program’s future.
“It’s a whole revamp, a whole rebuilding situation down in Carolina,” said Rashad McCants, who won a title with UNC in 2004-05. “The culture of college basketball has changed with the NIL. Michael Jordan needs to throw some money in there. (Jerry) Stackhouse, Vince Carter, all these guys that are alumni. They say it’s a brotherhood. You’ve got to offer the bread.”
“These kids want to know why they should go to Carolina. The tradition is no longer where it was. We were winning through our talent and our recruiting, and now the standard of Carolina basketball is ‘Come play, graduate, then go on to play overseas ball.’ Getting back to understanding how to get recruits to your university – you’ve got to start throwing some money around now.”
McCants: Change ‘Definitely’ Needed at Head Coach
Davis went just 23-14 last season in his fourth year as coach, and expectations for the Tar Heels are muted again this year, as they are no longer among the perennial national championship contenders of yesteryear.
“Hubert Davis, as good as he is, it’s an outdated system,” McCants said. “You need to get some fresh blood in there that understands what these kids are looking for, while also maintaining the integrity of the game – playing hard, playing smart and playing together. I don’t know who that is, but there definitely needs to be a change, and it has to happen fast.”
McCants said certain programs have made a smooth adjustment to the NIL era, while North Carolina and others have tried to rely on their tradition rather than becoming proactive with NIL.
When asked if North Carolina has a sense of entitlement, McCants said that was “100%” the case.
“And that goes for the Kansases and Kentuckys of the world,” McCants said. “‘We are who we are. You should want to come here.’ The parents are now doing a better job of vetting programs, seeing where they’ve been and where they’re going.
“It’s at a place where you have to adjust, and they brought it on themselves about not understanding what to do with the structure of the NIL.”
McCants points to recent champions like Villanova and UConn as traditionally strong programs that have successfully made the transition to the new college basketball landscape.
“The guys that win – Villanova, UConn – these are people that have always done right by the players, the university and the integrity of the game,” McCants said. “And now with NIL, you can throw the money around. You don’t have to hide your hands anymore, bring in the falsified documents.
“Now that everything is moving the way it’s been moving, you’ve got to adjust. There hasn’t been any adjustment by certain programs, and you can tell, because they haven’t won since.”
