There are moments in a college basketball season when something subtle begins to shift—moments when a team starts to reveal what it truly is, long before March comes calling. For North Carolina, that moment arrived far earlier than expected. In fact, many didn’t even recognize it at first. The Tar Heels entered the season with questions, doubts, new faces, and a new identity still taking shape. But after nine games, all that has changed. Suddenly, the whispers are back. The comparisons are starting. And a familiar phrase is echoing around the college basketball world: “North Carolina looks like North Carolina again.” One major college basketball analyst believes Hubert Davis has passed the first major test of the season—and in dramatic fashion.
What follows is the story of why the Tar Heels have reawakened something vintage, something powerful, something fans have been begging to feel again.
A Season Defined by Questions — and Doubts
The 2024–25 season was never supposed to be easy for Hubert Davis. Just months earlier, he had watched key production walk out the door, faced an offseason full of criticism, and entered a summer in which even the idea of Carolina “returning to form” felt distant.
The narrative around Davis was loud and unrelenting:
Could North Carolina still play like North Carolina under his leadership?
It wasn’t an unreasonable question. The Tar Heels had struggled with consistency. The identity that once defined the program—pounding the offensive glass, running opponents out of the building, dominating with size, and suffocating in big-moment physicality—had gone missing for stretches.
This wasn’t just about winning games. It was about regaining who they were.
Hubert Davis didn’t run from that challenge. He rebuilt. He retooled. He found the right mix. And most importantly, he demanded the standards return.
Through nine games, it’s beginning to look like that belief was not misplaced.
Jon Rothstein’s Eye-Opening Assessment
One of the most respected voices in college basketball recently said something that caught the attention of Tar Heel Nation. Jon Rothstein, known for his brutally honest analysis, made it clear:
Hubert Davis is passing the early-season test with flying colors.
Rothstein pointed directly to the biggest offseason storyline involving North Carolina:
Would Davis finally reaffirm that North Carolina could still look—and play—like North Carolina?
And according to him, the answer is not only “yes,” but an emphatic one.
Rothstein praised the team’s start, noting their 8–1 record and the way they’ve navigated a schedule designed to challenge them early. But it wasn’t just the wins that caught his attention. It was the style. The identity. The energy pouring out of every possession.
For the first time in several years, he believes UNC is embodying the traits that made the program iconic—traits rooted in decades of tradition, dominance, and unmistakable Carolina DNA.
Life Without Seth Trimble — and Why It Matters Even More
Perhaps the most overlooked element of this resurgence is that the Tar Heels are doing all of this without one of their key rotational pieces: Seth Trimble.
Trimble’s absence could have been a major setback. His defense, pace, and athletic ability were expected to be crucial for a team trying to reestablish its edge. Many fans feared UNC would struggle to maintain defensive discipline and transition speed without his presence.
But instead, something else happened.
The team didn’t crumble.
They didn’t lose rhythm.
They didn’t show vulnerability.
They grew stronger.
That ability—to elevate despite missing a key player—is a classic hallmark of vintage North Carolina teams. When one piece goes missing, another steps up. When the rotation shifts, the standard does not.
Hubert Davis has created a roster where everyone must contribute, and everyone must rise to the moment. And that resiliency has become one of the team’s defining traits.
Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar — The Dominant Duo Leading the Charge
If there is one reason analysts are suddenly saying “this looks like the old UNC,” it starts with the Tar Heels’ towering frontcourt. The combination of Henri Veesaar and star freshman Caleb Wilson has become the engine driving Carolina’s dominance.
These two have been nothing short of spectacular.
Wilson is averaging over 19 points and 10 rebounds per game. He plays with an effortless blend of finesse and physicality—something that has drawn comparisons to some of the best big men in UNC history. His versatility stretches defenses. His rebounding revives the Carolina break. His instincts make him the kind of player who changes not only possessions, but games.
Veesaar, meanwhile, has been a revelation. At over 16 points and 9 rebounds per game, he’s becoming the perfect complement to Wilson: long, skilled, polished, and able to score at all three levels. Together, they punish defenses in ways that echo the glory days of UNC frontcourts.
Rothstein specifically called out this duo as the foundation for Carolina’s identity. And he is absolutely right.
For decades, Carolina basketball has been synonymous with elite big men. Sean May. Marvin Williams. Tyler Hansbrough. John Henson. Tyler Zeller. Kennedy Meeks. And now, this new pair is sending early signals that they might carve out their own chapter in Carolina lore.
This is not simply good big-man play.
This is vintage Carolina big-man play.
Derek Dixon’s Emergence — The “Glue” Carolina Desperately Needed
While the attention has been on Wilson and Veesaar, analysts aren’t ignoring one more critical piece of the resurgence: Derek Dixon.
Dixon brings something every great North Carolina team has had—a guard who stabilizes the tempo, makes smart decisions, takes and hits big shots, and never gets rattled when the pace shifts into Carolina’s classic sprint.
He doesn’t need to be a 25-point scorer. His value is in the intangibles: the calm, the poise, the maturity.
Rothstein singled him out because Dixon represents exactly what Carolina lacked at times the last few seasons—a guard who understood the Carolina pace without losing control of the game.
And so far, Dixon has become the quiet backbone of this team’s stability.
Rebuilding the Carolina Identity — One Possession at a Time
To understand why analysts are calling this team “vintage,” you have to look beyond the box score.
There are specific traits—almost spiritual qualities—that separate a Carolina team from just another good ACC squad:
1. Relentless rebounding dominance
For decades, UNC measured its success on the glass. This year’s team is back to punishing opponents with second-chance points and volume rebounding.
Wilson and Veesaar set the tone, but the guards are crashing, wings are clearing space, and the entire team is treating rebounding as a collective mission.
2. Fast-break pressure that wears teams down
Vintage Carolina break pace is about force. About rhythm. About breaking opponents mentally before breaking them physically.
This team has rediscovered that gear.
3. Offensive flow built on movement, trust, and selflessness
Some teams pass the ball as a strategy.
Carolina, at its best, passes as a belief system.
Hubert Davis has rekindled that belief.
4. Defensive intensity that fuels everything
UNC’s best teams made defense their foundation, not an afterthought.
This team, surprisingly early, has embraced that identity.
5. The “Carolina toughness” that always appears in big moments
You can’t coach this.
You can only demand it.
And Davis has.
When things get rough—when runs go the wrong way, when shots stop falling—this year’s Tar Heels respond. They do not waver.
That is what vintage UNC looks like.
The Biggest Test Still Awaits — The ACC Gauntlet
North Carolina has passed the early test, but a much bigger one looms: an improved ACC. This is not last year’s conference. Multiple programs have made major jumps. Depth is stronger. Competition is sharper. No one is sneaking up on anyone.
And the Tar Heels are about to enter a stretch of games where brutal physicality, seasoned coaching, and high-pressure atmospheres will test their newfound identity.
But here’s the key difference this year:
North Carolina doesn’t look unprepared for that challenge.
They look built for it.
The roster fits. The identity fits. The chemistry fits. The energy fits.
And most importantly, the confidence fits.
This is the kind of team that grows stronger as the season progresses—something UNC fans haven’t consistently felt in recent years.
Why This Feels Different — and Why Analysts Are Buying In
It isn’t just the record.
It isn’t just the talent.
It isn’t just the big-man dominance.
It’s the trajectory.
This team is improving at a rate that mirrors some of the special Carolina squads of the past. They aren’t peaking early. They aren’t simply catching teams off guard. They are building something foundational. Something sustainable. Something rooted in the traditions that made UNC one of the greatest programs in college basketball history.
Hubert Davis didn’t just pass an early test.
He stamped his identity onto a team that desperately needed direction.
And analysts have noticed.
A Vintage Carolina Season in the Making?
There is a long road left.
There are bigger moments ahead.
There are storms coming that will test UNC in ways December never could.
But right now—right now—this team has earned the right to be called “vintage.”
Not because of nostalgia.
Not because of hope.
But because of results, identity, toughness, and undeniable early-season dominance.
Hubert Davis is proving something powerful:
North Carolina can absolutely still look like North Carolina under his leadership.
And with Wilson, Veesaar, Dixon, and a roster buying into the blueprint, this might be only the beginning of something special.
The early test no one expected is now officially passed.
And the rest of the college basketball world has been put on notice.
