The revelations inside Hubert Davis’ North Carolina office

HUBERT DAVIS RISES from his desk, all 6-foot-5 of him, and greets me with a smile that reaches his eyes. I had been told before I arrived that he didn’t like to be called Coach, because that title was reserved for somebody else. So I ask what he goes by.

He looks briefly puzzled before laughing, “Just call me Hubert.”

He — Hubert — settles into a Carolina blue armchair in the sitting area of his spacious, sunny office in the Dean E. Smith Center. He’s relaxed in a blue quarter-zip, and leans back as if he has all the time in the world to chat. We talk about our families, our favorite local fishing holes and the blue classic pickup truck he drives around town.

Behind him, jerseys and photos from his UNC and NBA playing career hang in matching black frames. In front of him, oversized prints fill a wall and showcase the best moments from last year’s NCAA tournament run — including, of course, North Carolina’s victory over Duke in the Final Four. From where he sits while we talk, he is positioned right in the middle of his basketball past and present.

It is a fitting place for Davis, who visits often with his nostalgia for the program and his beloved coach Dean Smith, but who also knows that he must keep the 112-year-old program and its players moving forward, which in this moment means distancing himself and the team from the high expectations coming off last year’s successes.

In his first season as head coach, following nine seasons as an assistant under Roy Williams, Davis led the Tar Heels from the bubble to a national championship appearance. The run surprised everyone except Davis, who had taken a page out of the book of Smith and taped a photo of the New Orleans Superdome, the site of the 2022 Final Four, inside the players’ lockers before their very first practice in September.

This year, however, has been a…