Formulas treating correctly hole excitations and the j2 term in the context of the strong coupling collective model are presented. It is found that such a treatment gives rise to appreciable differences from the usual band mixing calculations of nuclei in the 2s–1d shell. As an illustration, the nucleus 23Na will be discussed. This nucleus, with a large ground state quadrupole moment, seems to be an ideal candidate for the application of the unified model. Although the model reproduces the energy level scheme quite well, it fails, rather badly, to explain the observed electromagnetic transition properties of a number of levels.