Welcome to the heartbeat. Take a seat.

The Davis family living room in their White Plains, N.Y., home is, in many ways, ordinary. Two well-worn, cream-colored sofas directly across from each other. A circular coffee table between them. Floor-to-ceiling bay windows, with decorative candles on the ledge. And the soundtrack to it all? Usually, barking, courtesy of the family Yorkshire terrier, Diggy.

“Any life decisions we make,” RJ Davis said, “yep, in that living room.”

About five years ago, there was something else in that space, too: a poster board. On it, Davis, then a high school senior, had written the names of each of his four college finalists, the schools the four-star guard was considering attending. To make his choice, Davis used one of his mother Venessa’s favorite practices. “Pros and cons,” she said. “As a psychologist, it’s something you use a lot.” With Venessa and the rest of his family — father Rob, younger brother Bryce and, of course, Diggy — gathered in the living room, Davis worked through his options.

When he’d finished writing, the decision was obvious: North Carolina.

If he only knew then what the next four years would hold.

An up-and-down freshman season that ended with Roy Williams’ shocking retirement. Then a slog of a sophomore year — until the Tar Heels turned into a rocket ship and manufactured one of the most miraculous Final Four runs in March Madness history. That led to hype entering Davis’ junior year, all of which promptly went up in flames as UNC became the first preseason No. 1 team in the modern era to miss the NCAA Tournament. And, finally, Davis’ senior season, when he sprouted into a full-blown star, posting one of the best individual campaigns in the baby blue blood’s storied history.

𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚.@ariidavis_ is the 2024 ACC Preseason Player of the Year!

🔗 https://t.co/eeqt3A1Enc pic.twitter.com/pMR3OiwYtT

— ACC Men’s Basketball (@accmbb) October 15, 2024

This spring, at the end of April, the Davis family once again gathered in their operations center. Another decision needed to be made: Would Davis — a first-team All-American last season and one of college basketball’s most recognizable figures — return to college for a fifth season, available because of the COVID-19 pandemic, or go pro?

Because Davis is only 6 feet, the feedback he received from the NBA Draft advisory committee suggested he’d go late in the second round or undrafted entirely. But coming off his best season, what more could he prove to scouts?

“I’ve always had dreams and aspirations of playing at the next level, of playing in the NBA,” he said, “and it’s like, why not right now?”

Davis settled into one of the sofas. Time to talk.

The first weekend of April, Davis was exactly where he’d dreamed of being: Phoenix, the site of the Final Four.

Just not for the reason he’d hoped.

That’s because the past two seasons, Davis had a singular motivation: a redo. Ever since North Carolina magically stormed through the NCAA Tournament in Hubert Davis’ debut season, advancing all the way to the 2022 national title game, he wanted another crack at college hoops immortality. He was 20 minutes and a 15-point halftime lead versus Kansas away from hanging a seventh NCAA championship banner in the Dean Smith Center, and then, whoosh, everything evaporated. He’s one of five active players left from that team but the only one still wearing Carolina blue.

Last season, Davis unequivocally became “the guy” for the first time in his college career, especially after his three-year backcourt mate, Caleb Love, transferred to Arizona. And he did everything in his power to will the Tar Heels back to that stage while rewriting UNC’s record books. Davis went from averaging 12 points and three assists per game during his first three seasons in Chapel Hill to setting career highs in points (21.2 per game), 3-point percentage (39.8), assist-to-turnover ratio (better than 2-1) and steals (1.2). But most importantly, he led UNC to its first ACC regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 2019.

A redo, suddenly, seemed like a very realistic possibility.

Then came the Sweet 16. Red-hot Alabama. And Davis, for the first time all season, went cold. He’d made at least one 3-pointer in all 36 games to that point but went 0-for-9 from deep in a 2-point loss to the Crimson Tide.

“Shots I normally make,” Davis said. “Had I made one 3 …”

His voice trailed off.

“I kind of felt like it was my fault, just because we were so close to reaching … everything.”

A week later, Davis was there in the desert as a finalist for the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, presented annually at the Final Four. Even brushing elbows with the biggest names in the sport, being recognized for his on-court excellence, Davis couldn’t shake one underlying thought: I’d rather be playing.

He couldn’t bring himself to turn on any of that weekend’s Final Four games.

On one hand, Davis’ jam-packed trophy case spoke for itself, including ACC Player of the Year and the Jerry West Award (given annually to the nation’s top shooting guard). He etched himself into North Carolina lore, in the same stratosphere of excellence as some of the school’s best guards, names such as Phil Ford, Ty Lawson and, yes, even Michael Jordan. By virtue of his accomplishments, his jersey is going the same place theirs did: the Smith Center rafters.

But at the same time, he couldn’t stop ruminating. On the loss to Alabama. The what-ifs. Every minute detail that added up to defeat.

By the time he landed back in Chapel Hill, offseason roster-building was already in full swing. Hubert Davis was holding end-of-season meetings with all his players. And Davis knew what his head coach was going to ask, whenever they sat down:

So, RJ, what are you going to do?

Tyler Hansbrough doesn’t play much basketball these days.

“My knees,” the now-39-year-old joked. “If I’m on the court, my knees are gonna have some issues.”

But Hansbrough still works out regularly, even sneaking over to the Smith Center for a lift when he can. One day in April, he was finishing a session when a familiar face approached.

“Rarely do I try to give anybody advice,” Hansbrough said, “but he actually asked me.”

It makes sense why Davis sought Hansbrough out. The star guard spoke to plenty of people in his circle about what he should do: Armando Bacot, his four-year teammate and close friend; Cam Johnson, arguably UNC’s top active NBA player; Theo Pinson, who won the program’s last championship in 2017; and even Marcus Paige, now on North Carolina’s coaching staff. But nobody could offer the perspective Hansbrough could.

That’s because about 15 years ago, Hansbrough was in the same bind. After his standout junior season, when the 6-foot-9 forward was the unanimous national player of the year, averaging a career-best 22.6 points and 10.2 rebounds, he, too, had a pro decision to make. Had he declared, based on feedback that then-coach Williams had gathered, Hansbrough learned he likely would’ve been a late lottery pick.

But like Davis, he couldn’t get his mind off a recent NCAA Tournament heartbreak. UNC had just lost to Kansas in the 2008 Final Four, only its third defeat all season, and Hansbrough hadn’t been at his best.

“Everyone thinks that whenever you get a chance to go to the NBA, you have to go. But if you believe in yourself and you think you can be a pro, one more year in college, that’s not going to derail your pro chances,” Hansbrough said. “One more year wasn’t going to change anything for me, and I felt like I could improve.”

And?

“And we had a chance to win a national championship.”

The rest is history. Hansbrough came back, and his decision was validated when UNC did win the national title his senior season. Hansbrough was right about his pro prospects, too; the Indiana Pacers selected him 13th in the 2009 NBA Draft, the same late-lottery range that was forecast for him a year prior.

The other consideration Hansbrough mentioned to Davis? Name, image and likeness, which didn’t exist in his heyday. Davis knew NIL wouldn’t be the primary factor in his decision — “If money wasn’t involved, I’d still be playing basketball,” he said. But by virtue of his record-setting senior season, he’d earned a bevy of endorsement deals: Crocs, Verizon and one of his favorites, JBL. (Although it probably wasn’t his neighbors’ favorite; Davis’ JBL speaker may or may not have earned him a noise complaint at his apartment complex. “There’s a bass boost, so I always press that,” Davis said with a wry smile, “and the next thing you know, it’s boom.”)

Hansbrough explained his thought process to Davis in UNC’s weight room and left him with one final thought.

“You can listen to all the most important people in your life,” Hansbrough said, “and you can take their advice — which you should value — but you’re the only one that has to live your life.”

Not long after his talk with Hansbrough, Davis returned to White Plains.

“I like to go home and get grounded,” he said, “because that’s where I feel safe, and that’s where my heart lives.”

Still unsure of what he’d do, the guard continued training. Most days, he met with his skills trainer, Ross Burns, at the local Life Time Fitness, and he regularly drove to Connecticut to meet with a strength and conditioning specialist. And between those sessions, it wasn’t uncommon for Davis to swing by his old high school, Archbishop Stepinac, for an early morning or late-night shooting session.

“My good companions here in the building are our maintenance guys,” said Patrick Massaroni, Davis’ high school coach at Stepinac. “We make it work.”

Other schools poked around Davis, his parents said, seeing if he’d consider entering the transfer portal, but UNC and the NBA were the only options he considered. Whenever he thought he’d made up his mind, that lingering memory of not winning a championship reared its head.

“My mind,” he said, “was changing every day.”

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With the May 1 deadline for Davis to decide rapidly approaching, he had to stop waffling. So, back to the living room for final deliberations.

Bryce — now a freshman at Albany — wasn’t in town, so Davis FaceTimed his younger brother and put the phone in his lap. Rob and Venessa sat across from him on the opposite sofa. Diggy scurried across the hardwood floor.

Rob and Venessa reiterated what Hansbrough said: It’s your life, and you have to live with your choice.

With his mind racing, Davis stepped outside to gather his thoughts. He sat down on the family’s front porch steps and made a phone call.

To Williams, the coach who recruited him to UNC in the first place.

He walked around the block on the phone, and then came back to the family living room. “Whatever they talked about, he didn’t share,” Venessa said, “but it seemed to settle him, for sure.”

Davis didn’t make up his mind right then, but a few days later, Davis came downstairs from his bedroom and announced he’d made his decision.

Davis kept his decision close to the vest. He told his parents, obviously. Hubert Davis. But he didn’t even text his teammates.

“I wanted,” he said, flashing a toothy grin, “to keep people on their toes a little bit.”

So on the night of April 30, Davis set a timer on his phone for 3 a.m. and went to sleep. When the alarm went off, he woke up and posted a highlight video to Instagram with a simple two-word caption: “I’m back.” And then … Davis put his phone on “Do Not Disturb” and went back to bed.

The ultimate mic drop, letting the college basketball world stir while he slept.

“It wasn’t like I was saying no to my dreams (of playing in the NBA); it’s more so, I’m putting them on pause,” Davis said. “Besides the year I had this past year, there was no greater feeling than playing in that Final Four and playing in that national championship my sophomore year. I just remember watching the ball go up, and the buzzer sound hit, and we were on the losing side. … I want to be on that winning side.”

His decision finally behind him, Davis drilled down on his shooting the rest of the summer, motivated by that 0-for-9 showing against Alabama.

How much of his training was done through an NBA lens, knowing he’ll likely have to play point guard because of his size? Not much.

“That’s where guys get in trouble: They start listening to critics or scouts and start thinking they’ve got to change something,” Burns said. “No. Really, just keep being the dominant, elite shooter and scorer you are — and because you’re going to have more eyeballs on you, be a facilitator.”

So far, so good on that front: Through three games, Davis has 14 assists against just three turnovers. No. 10 UNC plays Hawaii on Friday and begins play Monday in the Maui Invitational.

There is so much still on the table for Davis this season, but three things stand above the rest.

A December rematch with Alabama as part of the ACC-SEC Challenge. The chance for Davis, if he scores the same number of points he did last season, to tie Hansbrough atop UNC’s, and the ACC’s, all-time scoring list (albeit with an extra season). “That’s hard to put into perspective,” he said. “Once I graduate and officially leave, then it’ll hit me. Like, wow, I really accomplished a lot of great things here.” And finally?

Hang a banner. Complete the redo.

“I’m just going to fulfill this moment,” Davis said, “and make the best of it.”

(Top photo of Elon’s Nick Dorn and UNC’s RJ Davis: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)

MALAGA, Spain — Sara Errani stands at the baseline and exhales deeply. She is about to hit a second serve, with Italy up match point against Poland. A place in the Billie Jean King Cup final is at stake. So Errani does what she has done many, many times before: she hits an underarm serve.

The ball floats into the service box and onto the racket of Iga Swiatek, one of two women’s players who can claim to be the best in the world. Swiatek is on to it in a flash and hits her return deep to Errani’s forehand. Errani again does what she has done many, many times before: she gets the ball back.

She does the same on her opponent’s next shot, hoisting a backhand lob into the air. Swiatek loops a forehand volley long and Italy is through to the final for the second year in a row.

Errani collapses to the ground in relief, celebrating with her partner Jasmine Paolini and shaking hands with the defeated opponents a few seconds later, before allowing herself a what-have-I-just-done smile.

For Errani, 37, it was another successful heist in a career full of them.

On Wednesday, she added a fourth Billie Jean King Cup title (three of which came when it was the Federation Cup) to the career Golden Grand Slam in doubles she completed this year by winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics alongside Paolini. It has been a stunning year for Errani, who also won the mixed doubles title at the U.S. Open with another Italian, Andrea Vavassori. She thought 2024 would be her last on tour, having won her last major 10 years ago.

“My thought last year was to play in the Olympics and then stop playing tennis, but we’re playing great in doubles and I’m having so much fun,” she said in an interview in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the WTA Tour Finals earlier this month.

Completing the doubles Golden Slam in Paris put Errani in an elite group of just seven women. When looking back on her career, the underarm serve to Swiatek on Monday will feel like a defining moment for a player who uses the contentious tactic more consistently and more particularly than anybody else.

Her story with the underarm serve goes to the heart of her tennis life.

The underarm serve is one of tennis’s most curious shots, caught between the poles of disrespectful trick shot and tactical masterstroke. Big servers like Nick Kyrgios can use it to take advantage of opponents who are standing back anticipating a 140mph rocket. There is an element of showmanship too; this is very much the case with Alexander Bublik. He might be blessed with a big serve, but he is also the current player probably most synonymous with the cheeky alternative.

Other players use it against specific opponents. World No. 68 Alexandre Muller told The Athletic at Wimbledon that he had specifically practised the shot to use it against Daniil Medvedev, who has one of the deepest return positions in the sport.

Corentin Moutet, a master of the shot, started practising underarm serves after a shoulder injury. He has since incorporated them into his game, doing so to great acclaim at this year’s French Open. He used the underarm serve 12 times in his third-round win against Sebastian Ofner, winning nine of those points. He is the opposite of a player like Kyrgios, using the underarm serve because he doesn’t expect to win free points behind his first serve; there is no drop-off in expected value.

Errani’s reason for using the shot will be familiar to many amateur players: she just doesn’t trust her serve.

Errani stands at 5ft 5in (164cm) which is diminutive by modern tennis standards — just like her partner Paolini, whose serve has some heat despite her height of 5ft 4in. Errani does not have this pace, and her height has contributed to a shot often derided as the worst serve in the sport.

Smiling, she says it would be amazing to be a bit taller. “Many times, I think about that.”

Instead of letting her serve become a complete albatross, Errani has used her ground skills, tactical nous and the shock factor of a serve that regularly registers around 60mph (96.5kph) on the speed gun to reach the very top of tennis in singles and doubles.

She reached the 2012 French Open final in singles and cracked the world’s top five a year later, despite her opponents feeling that they ought to break her every single game. Instead, they are bamboozled by her incredible dexterity at the net or from the back of the court, as well as struggling to read and return her serve.

Sara Errani has struggled with her regulation serve throughout her career (Thomas Samson / AFP via Getty Images)

“It comes so slow and it kind of floats in the air,” Mirjana Lucic-Baroni said in a news conference after losing to Errani in the 2014 U.S. Open fourth round, a match in which Errani’s average serve speed was 76mph.

“It was really difficult to time the balls.” Errani’s serve became something of a meme in 2024 after Daniil Medvedev completely failed to return it at all during a mixed doubles match at the Paris Olympics.

Errani herself said in a news conference after that match that she has a different approach to serving from most players: “I don’t try to make winners,” she said.

“I just try to make kick, make slice, try to change my game. I need to start the point where I want. So sometimes is better for me to serve not that fast, because if you serve fast the ball is coming (back) faster.”

That conviction hasn’t always been there. Her serve reached a nadir in April 2019 when she was only recently back from a 10-month doping suspension for ingesting letrozole, which was increased from an original two months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Errani said she was “really disgusted” by the length of the ban, saying that her case was because of contamination after her mother, who was taking letrozole for breast cancer, dropped pills on their kitchen counter where they prepared meals.

At the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, Colombia, Errani served 18 double faults per match in three consecutive matches (all of which she won) before hitting around half her serves underarm in a quarter-final defeat to Astra Sharma. Later that year at a low-level event in Asuncion, Paraguay, Errani took the nuclear option by serving underarm for the entire tournament. She reached the final, copping a huge amount of social media abuse in the process.

In response, she wrote on Instagram: “In Italy, I keep being insulted by a lot of people, regarding mainly my serve.

“If it is not ok for you, send a letter to WTA asking to change rules about serve or ask them to disqualify me for awful serve. If instead you just have other problems with me, send a letter to Santa.”

Five years on, she says her serve had completely overtaken everything else.

“I couldn’t compete. I was thinking all the time about my serve,” she says.

“My coach said: ‘Do one tournament all underarm and just compete.’ It was to try to make my head free from, not panic, but the tough moments.”

Despite recovering from those yips, Errani then endured an anxiety dream of a service game at the 2020 French Open during a second-round defeat to Kiki Bertens. Errani was given two time violations after five aborted ball tosses and landed only one overarm serve, with one attempt missing the baseline. Serving for the set, she was broken to love.

“Sometimes it’s there and it can come out, but I try to manage it,” she says of the nerves that can grip her when serving.

“When I was practising, my serve was good. But then in matches, I was feeling the block, the panic. I know it’s still there. It’s not like it’s in the past.”

Errani, an unwitting trailblazer, can laugh at the fact that the underarm serve has come back into fashion, certainly on the men’s side, over the past few years. “If it can be a good tactic, why not?” she laughs. Against Swiatek, the decision was more of a vibe.

“I just advised Jasmine after the first serve, so it’s just I feel it and I did it, just like that, not thinking too much,” she said in a news conference after the match.

At 37, Errani is the Italian team’s most experienced player, and as her team-mates chorused in Wednesday’s celebratory news conference she is “the brain of the team”.

Errani resembles her compatriot Jorginho, the Brazilian-born Italy and Arsenal midfielder who is so intelligent that he is a reference point for everybody else despite not being the most physically gifted.

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Paolini, who is the world No. 4 in singles and a two-time Grand Slam finalist this year, constantly looks to Errani for guidance on the doubles court.

“She wants me to tell her what to do every point – even when she serves, she likes me to tell her where to put it and I’m trying to push her to tell me what she’s feeling more,” Errani said.

Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini have formed a formidable partnership on the doubles court. (Robert Prange / Getty Images)

Whatever the tactics, the Errani-Paolini partnership is contributing to a golden period for tennis in Italy.

On the men’s side, Jannik Sinner is the world No. 1 and has won two Grand Slams this year. He is part of an Italy team that is hoping to defend the Davis Cup this week and make it a double with the victorious BJK Cup group. Errani, who lived through a period when she was one of the ‘Fab Four’ Italian women who all reached a Grand Slam final and the world’s top 10 between 2010 and 2014 (Francesca Schiavone, Roberta Vinci and Flavia Pennetta were the others), believes that all the current top players from her country are pushing each other to greater heights.

And Errani has no desire to leave the golden age behind just yet.  “I said to Jasmine: ‘I’ll continue next year for sure and then we’ll see,’” she says.

After the genre-defining underarm serve against Swiatek, this wily veteran still has at least one last heist in her.

(Top photo: Fran Santiago / Getty Images for ITF)

FAU football, which rose to national relevance under Lane Kiffin, has backslid over the last five seasons under Willie Taggart and the recently fired Tom Herman. The Owls’ new coaching search, though, might be the most interesting one of this year’s coaching carousel.

And it got a little more interesting this week, as Miami great Ray Lewis has made it known that he really wants to be the Owls’ next coach, a source briefed on Lewis’ thinking said Wednesday.

The 49-year-old Lewis, a 13-time Pro Bowl linebacker, has observed the model of what Deion Sanders has done transforming Colorado football in the past two years and is expected to present a plan to the Owls’ leadership in the next week for how he’d do something similar at FAU.

Lewis’ old buddy, fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter, is the Owls’ executive director of player engagement and is expected to be a good resource for Lewis. A big hurdle for Lewis is, unlike Sanders, he doesn’t have any previous college coaching experience.

“Ray wants it bad,” the source briefed on Lewis’ thinking said. Lewis lives five minutes from the FAU campus. “He really wants it.”

Lewis, however, is not considered a serious candidate at this point, according to a source involved in the coaching search.

The frontrunner for the FAU vacancy, according to multiple sources involved in the search, is Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. The 31-year-old son of former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, who lives a half-hour from Boca Raton, is the play caller at a hot Rebels program and runs the nation’s No. 2 offense, putting up 7.58 yards per play.

The younger Weis was Kiffin’s former offensive coordinator at FAU and knows the program well. He has a lot of support from some key FAU people, according to sources involved in the search. Kiffin has strong influence back at FAU and will push Weis for the job, those sources said. Financially, Weis — who makes $1.65 million at Ole Miss — might have to take a pay cut to go back to FAU but a source briefed on the matter said he doubted that would stop Weis from wanting this job.

Other expected candidates for the FAU job

Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner might make more sense for the Owls. The 43-year-old helped turn Tech from the ACC’s No. 11 offense to No. 3 last year. In 2022, the year before he was hired in Atlanta, Georgia Tech ranked last in the ACC in red zone offense. His offense is No. 2 in the ACC in red zone TD percentage.

Penn State assistant head coach/co-OC Ja’Juan Seider is a well-regarded coach with deep local ties and is expected to get some consideration. The 47-year-old Belle Glade, Fla., product was a star quarterback at Florida A&M and is well-connected around South Florida. Players really respond to him. He also has been a key assistant in Happy Valley, at Marshall and West Virginia.

UCF offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr. has spent his whole coaching career in the state. He was a four-time NCAA All-American in track at Miami and then spent five years as a successful high school coach in South Florida at Miami’s Booker T. Washington High before spending seven seasons at FIU. Since then, he’s coached at Miami and UCF, where he has produced the Big 12’s most prolific offense at 6.76 yards per play.

UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, a former Miami Dolphins wideout who lived in Boynton Beach, not far from the Owls’ campus, might be an intriguing option. He has proven to be a terrific offensive coordinator in two stops at the FCS level before an excellent two-season run of transforming the Rebels into a winning program. Last year he led the Rebels to No. 6 in the country in third down offense and No. 8 in red zone offense despite his starting QB going down early and having to turn to an unproven freshman in Jayden Maiava, who went on to win Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors. This year, the Rebels, with Maiava having left for USC, are No. 6 in the nation in scoring at 39.9 points per game.

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FSU defensive backs coach Pat Surtain could be in play at his alma mater Southern Miss, but he also has strong ties here. He played a decade in the NFL before becoming a top high school coach in South Florida. The 48-year-old spent one season with the Miami Dolphins as an NFL assistant before joining FSU’s staff in 2023.

Georgia assistant head coach Todd Hartley, 39, spent three years coaching in South Florida on the Canes’ staff. He is someone Kirby Smart has leaned on in elevating the program since Hartley’s return to Athens in 2019. Southern Miss also has a lot of interest in Hartley for its head coaching vacancy.

Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke, a Manny Diaz protege who was on the staff at Miami, is a rising star at defensive coordinator. He’s had a strong debut season in Durham and also could be in play.

Miami defensive ends coach Jason Taylor. The Pro Football Hall of Famer, who had been a high school assistant for five seasons at powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, is a legendary figure around South Florida. In 2007, Taylor won the NFL’s prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year honors and has been an excellent addition to the Canes staff the past two seasons.

— Chris Vannini contributed to this report

Required reading

(Photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)