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Deciding against NBA Draft, RJ Davis shares why he returned to North Carolina Tar Heels: “It was a hard decision”

North Carolina guard RJ Davis opened up on his decision to pass on the 2024 NBA draft in favor of returning to the Tar Heels for the 2024-25 college basketball season. The incoming fifth-year senior spoke with "The Field of 68" hosts, John Fanta, Rob Dauster, Jeff Goodman and Terrence Oglesby during the ACC Media Day on Friday and explained what made him decide to return to Chapel Hill.

Davis was part of the 2022 North Carolina team which lost the national title to Kansas. Last season, the Tar Heels had the biggest chance of winning the crown after they ranked No. 1 in the West Region.

However, they fell to Alabama in the Sweet 16 despite having veteran Armando Bacot, Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan as teammates. The loss was a bitter pill for Davis, who opted to return to finish some unfinished business.

"It was a hard decision to be made. It probably won't be the only decision and the only hardest decision I ever have to make in my life but I really took a lot of time and thought into it just to make sure I was making the best decision for me," Davis said. [3:40-3:50]
"The reason I came back was I just felt like I had some unfinished business and that is (to win a) national championship for me and for our University to go ahead and grab," he added. [3:50-4:02]

RJ Davis also recalled that he and North Carolina coach Hubert Davis communicated during the offseason. The fourth-year coach told the six-foot guard that he'll have his back whatever his decision would be.


Teammates happy with RJ Davis' decision to stay with North Carolina

The decision of RJ Davis to stay with North Carolina drew positive reactions from his younger teammates, especially Seth Trimble, who was with Davis in the interview with the Field of 68 panel on Friday.

Trimble, an incoming junior, recalled that he was extremely happy with Davis' decision to stay with the Tar Heels as they will have a veteran presence in the team as they try to win their seventh national title and first since 2017.

"We were super happy. I wasn't in the locker room at the time but I mean we were talking throughout the whole thing," Trimble said. {5:06-5:12]

Trimble also noted that he will be helping RJ Davis in leading North Carolina to the new season which will start on Nov. 4 against Elon.

The Tar Heels is set to have a Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill right after the end of the UNC-Georgia Tech football game. It will have two exhibition games against Memphis on Oct. 15 and Johnson C. Smith on Oct. 27 before going into the regular season.

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