What to know about UNC basketball roster rebuild under Hubert Davis

R.J. Davis, despite Hubert Davis’ wishes, is not coming back to Chapel Hill. Well, sort of.

“He’s coming back,” Hubert Davis joked on Tuesday afternoon. “He was here this weekend. I’m not letting him go to the Lakers. I’ll call JJ Redick later today.”

Many former Tar Heel players, including R.J. Davis, were in town over the weekend for Bill Belichick’s college coaching debut — a whopping 48-14 loss to TCU. And if coach Davis is searching for an extra year of eligibility for R.J. Davis, he’ll probably have as much luck as Belichick’s squad did on Monday night.

R.J. Davis is one of 11 players UNC lost in the offseason, which has seen the biggest roster overhaul of Hubert Davis’ tenure. The head coach hosted a preseason press conference on Tuesday — his first media availability since March — and made his rebuilding approach, more or less, clear: the Tar Heels had to get bigger.

“We needed more size,” Davis said. “I think the number one determining factor of an outcome of the game is rebounding. I thought defensively we were OK, rebounding percentage-wise, but offensive rebounding was nothing near where we wanted to be. I wanted to become more versatile... I feel like with this roster, we’ve been able to identify both of those things.”

The Tar Heels’ roster, nearly unrecognizable from last season, reflects both lessons learned from recent campaigns and the broader trends shaping college basketball in the transfer portal era. Only one starter returns in senior guard Seth Trimble, who started 18 games last year. Even his role is shifting, from a core rotation player to foundational leader. Davis has imported a wave of length and flexibility to go alongside Trimble — the sort of positionless players elite programs like Duke have targeted in recent years.

Here are things to know about this year’s UNC roster so far:

Trimble takes the lead

With the departure of R.J. Davis (yes, Hubert, he really is gone), Trimble is the most tenured player on this North Carolina roster.

Hubert Davis didn’t hesitate to highlight the senior guard’s importance Tuesday.

“For him to stay at one institution is not normal,” Davis said, “and his leadership has been off the charts this summer, not only verbally, but also just the way he has led on the court in regards to extra workouts, conditioning, drill work, practice. It feels really good to have Seth be our leader of our team.”

Trimble’s responsibilities extend beyond his practice habits. Just as Armando Bacot became a North Carolina envoy of sorts — famously saying he ‘would die for this school’ in 2022 — Trimble has taken on a comparable role.

“He’s an ambassador for this program,” Davis said. “He really is... he’s seen a lot, and within his personality, he has done similar things as Armando. One of the things that’s really important to Seth is not only for Carolina to be good, but for Carolina to be good when he leaves. This place means something to him.”

Building around size, versatility

If Trimble is the cultural anchor, the newcomers are the blueprint for how Davis wants to play this year. North Carolina added frontcourt heft in Arizona transfer Henri Veesaar — a seven-foot rim protector and versatile defender. Junior Jarin Stevenson, who originally committed to Alabama over North Carolina, also boasts defensive range. Hubert Davis mentioned he was particularly impressed by Stevenson’s ability to guard R.J. Davis when the Crimson Tide and Tar Heels clashed in their December ACC/SEC challenge matchup.

Montenegro native Luka Bogavac is a 6-foot-6 combo guard Hubert Davis believes can be “impactful in a number of different areas.” Davis certainly hopes Bogovac, alongside Colorado State transfer Kyan Evans, can bring their shooting acumen to Chapel Hill.

“I like that too,” Davis added Tuesday when a reporter asked about Evans’ 3-point percentage, which was 44.6% last season.

Davis continued, explaining how crucial shooting is to spacing — not just to his team, but basketball in general. North Carolina struggled last season with stagnant stretches on offense, largely because the Tar Heels didn’t command attention in the post. Poor perimeter shooting caused similar issues for UNC in the 2022-23 campaign.

“The only way you can get spacing is to have good shooting,” Davis said. “You could put five guys and spread them out all over the floor, and if they can’t shoot, there are going to be five defenders in the lane. And so you have to have guys that have the ability to shoot the basketball. Throughout [Evans’] career, he’s been a great 3-point shooter.”

Recruiting and a GM’s touch

Though Davis’ roster looks quite different this season, at least initially, he stressed his recruiting process has stayed the same. He joked about scouting Bogovac, claiming (sarcastically) that he just happened to discover the new Tar Heel while in Montenegro.

“I was at the beach and I saw him shooting threes and I was like, ‘Hey, how are you?’” Davis joked.

“It’s the same as anything when you’re evaluating talent, whether it’s high school, transfer portal, internationally... it’s two boxes that need to be checked,” Davis continued. “I’ve told you this before, it has to be a want and a need.”

This time, though, Davis had help navigating the process in newly-installed general manager Jim Tanner, hired in February. Davis didn’t go into specifics about Tanner’s role, but characterized the partnership as seamless.

“He was an agent and he’s a lawyer, so this is someone that obviously has connections with a number of different other agencies [and] the NBA,” Davis said. “He’s someone that can write, read and understand contracts, so that is a skill set that is a huge benefit for us.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2025 at 4:53 PM.