There is a big difference between this year’s UNC men’s basketball team and groups from years past. Namely, it doesn’t have a six-foot rebounding machine that draws as much attention off the court as it does on it.

There will never be another Armando Bacot in Chapel Hill. Thanks to his five years with the Tar Heels, his rebounding record is virtually unbreakable. And Bacot’s gregarious nature in post-game interviews and other media sessions will be greatly missed by yours truly and others who cover Carolina. It’s why the 2024-25 Tar Heels — the first without Bacot since Coby White, Luke Maye and Cam Johnson played at the Smith Center — have given head coach Hubert Davis a different atmosphere.

“They’re a calmer team,” Davis said Thursday morning during the ACC Tip-Off in Charlotte. “One of the things we’re working on is… the importance of not having the same voice as previous teams, but for this team to develop their own voice. That will come with time, but I really like the direction we are going.”

In Bacot’s absence, RJ Davis has assumed the role of team leader and has been certified as “old head.” At the team’s media day earlier this month, the reigning ACC Player of the Year and first-team All-American noted how he challenges himself to be louder on the court.

“It would be very easy for him to stay in that place and lose connection with the others,” Hubert Davis said. “And his ability to reach out and connect the three freshmen, the three transfers, the four walk-ons, and bond us together as a team is something that has been really special for all of us.”

“He’s a coach I can trust,” RJ Davis said of Hubert Davis. “He put so much faith in (me). Sometimes I didn’t have that in me, but he instilled that in me… we built a relationship that goes beyond basketball.”

Thanks to his ACC Player of the Year win last season, RJ Davis’ No. 4 jersey is assured a spot in the Smith Center rafters. Whether that jersey is honored or retired depends on the outcome of the coming winter and spring. If there is any precedent, the Tar Heels will go as far as Davis takes them; his incredible regular season lifted Carolina to an ACC regular season title at the No. 1 seed, but he didn’t make a single three-pointer in UNC’s loss to Alabama in the NCAA Tournament.

That loss – and the Crimson Tide’s appearance in the Final Four the following week – left the Tar Heels wanting more. As Hubert Davis likes to say, his team is “hungry and thirsty.”

“I hear the doubt. I hear the criticism,” said junior guard Seth Trimble, who briefly entered the transfer portal in the offseason before returning to Chapel Hill. “I don’t actually listen to that. But I have a lot to prove to myself… there is a lot of motivation in this year.”

Motivation will be needed as Carolina navigates a typically treacherous non-conference schedule, with the Tar Heels traveling to Kansas in just the second game of the season. UNC also enters a Maui Invitational field alongside Auburn, Iowa State and two-time defending champion UConn. And then there’s the visit of old foes Alabama for the ACC-SEC Challenge in December. Regardless of how meekly Hubert Davis has assessed his team, the rematch against the Crimson Tide will be fiery.

For now, the Tar Heels are heading into a busy preseason schedule, starting with the Blue-White Game at the Smith Center on Saturday afternoon. And if the team may be quieter than in years past, there’s no need to worry: The fans pouring into the arena after fleeing the UNC football team’s game against Georgia Tech at Kenan Stadium will be a source of much noise concerns.

Featured image via Todd Melet

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