Final Four: Hubert Davis previews Kansas ahead of North Carolina national championship appearance

"He got in foul trouble against Duke in the first matchup. He got two quick fouls and I thought that really hurt us. Moving forward in the first half, every time he gets a foul, I take him out. So just trying to manage and make sure that he's available for the most part in the second half. As a tenacious rebounder as he is, he's around bodies all the time. And offensively we want to throw the ball to him in the post at all times. So I understand that there's going to be contact there. And it's just plain and simple, we're a better team with him on the floor. So it's just managing his fouls to make sure that he stays in the game."

"The '91 game? I appreciate you bringing that up. I appreciate it. (Laughter). Prior to us winning the national championship in 2017, from 1991 to 2017, I had watched that game at least once every year.

"It's the best team that I ever played with, with King and Rick and Pete Chilcutt as the seniors and George Lynch, we were as connected as this team is connected now. And we really felt like we had a chance to win the national championship and we came up short. And that was a game that Coach Smith got two technical fouls and got kicked out, and it was an emotional game and an emotional end to a season.

"And playing at Carolina, the thing, for me, that I always wanted was to cut down those nets as a player. And we were so close and weren't able to be able to have that experience. And that was the toughest loss that I've ever experienced in my entire life. And thankful that I had an experience that -- or an opportunity to be an assistant coach and be part of this again and to be able, as an assistant coach, be part of the championship of 2017. But that loss was a hard one to take."

"It's been great. I'm so glad that nationally people are seeing how good a defender Leaky is. He's not just a good defender, he's elite. He's next-level defensively. His length and athleticism, his versatility. Last night he was guarding A.J., he was guarding Paolo, he was guarding Wendell. Throughout the year we've tried to split him in half to be able to guard two people at once. He's fantastic.

"And it's not just his defense; it's his experience and leadership and his ability to make plays. Like he has the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the team. When we needed somebody to step up and make some jump shots, Leaky did that. It's just all year long, when we have needed Leaky to make a play, he's always stepped up and made a play. But defensively you guys have seen nationally -- there can't be more than two or three better wings defensively than Leaky."

"That's a great question. Interesting. Last night, when Caleb was at the free-throw line and we were up by two and I told the assistants, if he makes the first one, I'm going to call timeout. And the reason -- well, you might ice your player. I was, I'm calling timeout. The reason I called timeout I was in the same situation as a JV coach. We were playing a prep school team and I decided not to call a timeout. He made the first one. I didn't call timeout. He missed the second one. They came down and I did not talk to them about when to foul, the process defensively, what we're doing on a made or missed shot. They came down hit a 3 and we lost in overtime. I was thinking that exactly last night in the semifinal game. I said I'm not making that mistake again.

"And so to think that seven years as a head coach for the JV program obviously is on a much lesser scale, but you're put in positions to make decisions, whether it's in practice, games, shoot-arounds. And that experience that I had on JV, that's the first thing I was thinking about in that situation when Caleb went to the free-throw line, and that's why I made that."

"It's a number of things. Number one, to me, as an assistant and us scouting teams, that was the most difficult scout to prepare for a team that had a big guy that had the ability to stretch the floor off of ball screens or in transition. And so instead of me stressing going through the scout about how do we defend this guy, how do we play ball screens, how do we match up with them, do we put a small, do we put a big -- it would be great if we had one of those guys.

"We also had the experience of having Luke Maye and Brice Johnson. Both of those guys could step out on the floor and make plays, especially Luke Maye, being able, as a 4, to be able to shoot the ball from 3. I thought it was really beneficial for us, especially winning the 2017 championship.

"And then just talking about where basketball is today. For me, from an offensive standpoint, it's fun when you have spacing and balance and a combination of ball and player movement.

"The only way you have spacing is you have to have shooters. You can have five non-shooters in the stands, and if they're non-shooters, they're still going to -- the defenders are still going to be in the lane. I just felt like having that 4 that has the ability to play on the outside opens up our offense, makes us more versatile, and I don't think there's anybody better in the country at being able to do that than Brady."

"He's going to practice today. But our practice is going to be very limited. Even if he didn't twist his ankle, it's going to be limited. They did X-rays and they were all negative. Obviously he's a little sore. But he was walking around and feeling good and was very encouraged with the amount of swelling from his ankle sprain. And he's ready to play tomorrow night. Obviously it's a great matchup in the post. Two unbelievable post players that can rebound the basketball, can score consistently down low in the paint. It's a big emphasis for us as well as Kansas. And it could ultimately come down to the winner of that matchup being the determining factor of who wins the championship.

"But Armando looks really good and he's very encouraged and ready to play tomorrow night."

"Well, one of the many things I love about Caleb is he wants to be on the biggest stage. And so I've been a part of a number of, like, in terms of the atmosphere, big-time atmospheres as a player and as a coach. Last night it was right there. And that's where Caleb wants to be. And there's very few players that want to be on that stage all the time. And Caleb does.

"The other thing is, he has an unbelievable ability to move on to the next play, next possession. So I think he air-balled in the second half. And then he came down and shot that ball over Mark Williams. He could turn the ball over and next day make a really great pass. His ability to move on to the next play is brilliant.

"I'm really happy for him. He's always wanted to be in this position. He's always wanted to make big shots in big-time situations. And I'm just really proud of him. And I'm happy for him and his family."

"It really is. Not just in our last game. It was the most important thing throughout the entire season. This program is built on relationships. That's the foundation of what has made Carolina basketball, Carolina basketball. One of the things throughout the summer that I made the guys do, is they have a requirement to stop by my office at least three times a week.

"And so when you stop by my office you cannot talk about basketball. And so we talk about video games and TV shows and they talk about Snapchats and Instagrams and all kinds of stuff like that.

"And then during the season, where it's a little bit more difficult with classes and everything, I say you have to stop by the office at least once. So just being able to have those experiences away from the court, I always tell them that the only communication that I have with you is out there on the floor, I'm not doing my job.

"So just being able to talk with them outside of the court makes it so much better to communicate when we're on the court. And I always say you can't play for me unless you know me. And I can't coach you unless I know you. So the only way I can get to know you and you get to know me is we've got to spend time together. And that's what we have done this year. And that's what makes times like this playing for a national championship so impressive, so much fun."

"It was interesting. It was during the live period in recruiting and I actually was in Kansas City looking at the Under Armour circuit. And I flew in, took a red-eye to get to the Nike circuit for one day. And the EYBL had a series of games from 8 in the morning to 12:00 and that was it. I said, in order to be able to see everybody, I couldn't sit at just one game and watch one game. I needed to just walk around.

"That's all I did was just walk around. And then I turned around and saw RJ. He was playing for the New York Renaissance. Hit a 3. Then I was looking at another game and just turned around. I saw him get a steal and a lay-in. I'm watching another game turned around he hit another 3. And then I kept looking and walking around to other games. And I turned around and he hit another 3.

"And I came back to Coach Williams. I said he's not the tallest guard, but I said he's tough, he's gritty, he's from New York. And I've always enjoyed guys that played from the New York/New Jersey area because I feel like they have a sense of toughness that you have to have out there on the floor. And eventually, later in the summer, Coach Williams offered him. That's how I saw him.

"He just kept making winning plays every time that I watched him on the floor. And I just felt like that would be the perfect fit for us, because he was making plays on the ball and off the ball. And I just felt like that's one of the things that we needed. We needed a guard that could make plays in many different areas. And that's what RJ did in that game that I saw him that morning. And that's what he's done throughout his brief career here at North Carolina."