From Dean Dome to Superdome, UNC Tar Heels focused on Final Four matchup against Duke

CHAPELHILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- The day before the UNC Men's Basketball head coach was set to fly down to New Orleans with his team, Hubert Davis said he was surprised North Carolina and Duke had never faced off in a Final Four, but that was about as enthusiastic as he got over the matchup.

"There's nothing to be nervous about, there's nothing- there's no anxiety, there's no conversations to be had with the players other than what's most important to us," Davis said. "And the most important thing to us is how we're going to prepare this week, how we're going to practice, and how we're going to play. Everything else is insignificant."

To Davis, his team is exactly where they should be at this point in the season.

"At the beginning of the year, I felt like we had a chance and that's what you want- you want to have a team- coach a team that has a chance to get to a Final Four and win a national championship," he said.

Long before the Tar Heels hit the hardwood for their first practice, the players remember seeing pictures of the Superdome inside their lockers; Coach Davis had hung them there.

"He told all the parents back then to book hotels and flights to New Orleans and he was like dead serious too when he said it," recalled Armando Bacot. "When he said it at first, I'd be lying if I thought automatically we would go there but once we all got together and I saw our team I knew we had the talent that was good enough to go."

RJ Davis said he still has that Superdome picture up in his locker.

"For him to have that confidence in us and actually believe in us early in the year- it's actually crazy," Davis said. "It's something that I'll definitely remember forever just him telling us that we have the ability to be worthy enough of a national championship team."

In Mike Krzyzewski's last NCAA Men's Final Four appearance as Duke's head coach, it's Davis' first at the helm of UNC's storied program-North Carolina has had 21 Final Four appearances, more than any other Division 1 team.

"My job is to help, encourage, love, coach, support- that's my job," said Davis. "I love these kids. They've given themselves, this team, this program, this university, this community everything that they've had and they've trusted me. It's been my first year as head coach and they've trusted me."