Stock Watch

Hubert Davis

Tip of the cap to the North Carolina coach and former Knick. There was immense pressure on him after failing to reach the NCAA Tournament last year, a lot of people (myself included) questioning whether he could do the job. He nailed the portal — Harrison Ingram (Stanford) and Cormac Ryan (Notre Dame) have been instrumental adds — got this group to play terrific defense and has led the Tar Heels to the ACC regular-season crown. North Carolina will likely be the No. 2 seed in the East Region, although landing the last No. 1 is not out of the question. This team can win it all. Davis deserves his flowers.

Duke

From losing at home to bitter rival North Carolina to star center Kyle Filipowski pulling a Grayson Allen by tripping Harrison Ingram and the “Cameron Crazies” throwing trash at the taunting Tar Heels, it was an ugly Saturday for the Blue Devils. Coach Jon Scheyer then apologized to fans for the performance before leaving the court. Duke is now 4-3 against projected tournament teams, an uneven record that doesn’t necessarily bode well for a deep run later this month.

Tucker DeVries

Looking for a mid-major star to take March by storm? Look no further than Drake’s junior. The 6-foot-7 wing — coach Darian DeVries’ son — is a three-level scorer, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer (21.6) and distributor (3.6), and poured in 27 points along with seven rebounds and five assists in the Missouri Valley Conference title-game upset of Indiana State. After a 1-for13 shooting performance in an opening-round loss to Miami in the tournament last year, he’ll be extra motivated.

DePaul

It’s one thing to be bad. It’s another to be DePaul. The Blue Demons wrapped up a winless season in the Big East on Saturday, going 0-20. Of those 20 losses, 15 were by 19 points or more. This is a program that hasn’t had a Big East winning record since 2006-07. They are 52-257 in conference action over the last 17 years. DePaul has to nail its upcoming coaching search. The embarrassment has to stop or the Big East has to think about an unprecedented change. The Chicago school is bringing the league down.