A.J.’s Turn
Davis All Of A Sudden JMU’s Go-To Guy
Posted: March 7, 2013
After practice one day this week, a reporter asked James Madison swingman A.J. Davis if he thought he was a top-10 player in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Davis paused and freshman teammate Andre Nation, who overheard the question, responded for him.
"Of course he is," Nation said, before instructing Davis of how to answer. "Say, 'I'm the best player in the CAA!'
"Why… would you ask him that?"
Well, because Davis won't make any of the CAA's three all-conference teams, even though - yes - he's possibly the most physically gifted player in the league. While his senior year was a gross disappointment through three months, the 6-foot-6, 210-pounder has harnessed his vast talents at the best possible time for JMU.
If the Dukes are to win the CAA basketball tournament, it will need a fine weekend from Davis.
This supposition appeared true even a month ago, but back then, the prospect of Davis stringing together three consecutive quality performances seemed idealistic, at best.
Even coach Matt Brady had little faith in Davis, whom he called "one of the greatest coaching puzzles of my entire career," during his weekly press conference on Feb. 4 - about two months after Brady limited Davis to 41 minutes over four games and then suspended him indefinitely (the suspension lasted just one game) for "violating team standards," ie. Not Playing Hard.
"If we catch lightning in a bottle, and A.J. goes for 15 the next seven games, we might have the best team in the league," Brady said that early February afternoon. "But I'm not expecting that."
The Dukes have caught lightning and more.
In the seven games since Brady's comments, Davis has come off the bench to average 20.4 points per game, and he's been as committed to defense as he is to getting buckets. The Dukes are 4-3 in the last seven, but two of those losses were tight games in which the Wyoming transfer led the team with more than 20 points. Brady said he's considering using Davis as a starter in the tournament to give an earlier boost to his typically slow-starting team.
No better example of Davis' impact was last Saturday's 36-point performance off the bench at William & Mary. That game was like the Dukes' version of the "Harlem Shake," that YouTube meme you've probably seen in a million varieties by now: In the first half, only Davis seemed alive, scoring 21 points while the rest of his team slogged through 20 minutes and trailed 47-31 at the break. In the second half, the rest of the Dukes joined in on the dance, turning what was once a 19-point deficit into a 69-67 win with wildly energetic play.
"He's certainly been a lot more engaged in the contests and in the results of the contests in this last month," Brady said with a very different tone at this week's press conference. … Strangely I have a growing confidence in A.J. Davis, and he's earned it."
Davis' parents never married, and he lived both with his mother and then in a separate Columbus, Ohio home with his maternal grandmother, because she was less strict on him. He characterizes his childhood as "spoiled," because he received whatever he wanted: "Remote control cars, video games, money, shoes."
Davis wears No. 0 to represent 0-hio, but donned No. 51 at Wyoming to honor his late uncle John, who is the twin brother of A.J.'s father, James Sr. The twins played basketball at Sinclair Community College in Dayton Ohio, and then Lemoine Owen College in Memphis, Tenn. John, who suffered a heart attack 10 years ago, was very close with A.J. and wore 51.
James Sr., a community center manager in Columbus, said he has not been able to travel to Harrisonburg for any of his son's games this year, but the two talk on the phone frequently. James Sr., coached A.J. in youth leagues and still calls his kid "James." And when Brady suspended "James" in December for lackluster effort on the court, James Sr. offered some advice.
"When things aren't going your way, you can't just turn, because it's not about you," James Sr. recalls saying to A.J.. "It's about the team, and it's the coach's ship, and you have to ride his ship.
"I told him that, look - you chose James Madison, and you have to go and talk to the coach, and tell the coach that, 'Look - I want to do whatever I can to make this team. I came here to play for James Madison, and I want to show you, coach, if you give me three minutes, six minutes, five minutes - whatever you give me, I want to show you that I can be an integral part of this team.'"
Davis showed just how integral on Saturday with the signature performance of his career. He scored everywhere from the low post to 25 feet away from the hoop, and W&M coach Tony Shaver, who must prepare his Tribe for Davis and the Dukes again in the first round of the CAA tourney, admitted this week "We had no answer for him."
While Davis and Brady have patched up their relationship, that process evolved so slowly because Davis is so hesitant to communicate. In fact, after one benching in November, Brady said he never reinserted his prolific scorer because Davis never indicated that he had any will to return.
"At that point, if there was a lack of communication, then there wasn't going to be an opportunity to play," Brady said that day.
Davis, 25, is hardly chatty with the media, either. Ask about his performances and he'll answer in platitudes: "Just tried to play with energy from the jump" … "Coach just put me in position to succeed."
JMU conducts its post-game media sessions by placing three chairs behind a table, and letting reporters fire questions at the players in those seats. Davis always insists that a teammate sits in the middle chair instead of him.
"A.J.'s just different," teammate and fellow Ohio native Rayshawn Goins said. "He don't really talk much within the group of us, when we're in the locker room he don't really talk - he's more to himself. I think that has a lot to do with him trusting people in his life. He's never trusted a lot of people in his life."
Davis' father said his midseason departure from Wyoming in 2010 had to do with a lack of trust in his coaches, along with the desire to be closer to home. Davis has always been tight-lipped about the specific reasons why he bolted the Laramie, Wyo., school in the midst of an inconsistent but somewhat productive sophomore season.
Davis said he doesn't read message boards or articles about himself. But he's still concerned with his self-image.
Any idea what people's perceptions of you are? "No." Do you care? "Yeah."
The perceptions among JMU coaches and fans earlier this season was that the often-subdued Davis didn't give a hoot about the team.
Apparently, he's long played with a nonchalant air.
"He doesn't really show emotion," Davis' father said. "There was one game in high school when I saw him play and that was the first time I've ever seen him show emotion. He was stroking the ball - I mean he had 24 at halftime. And when he was hitting everything, he was hitting his chest. That was the first time I've seen him just show some emotion."
Despite leading JMU with 15.9 points per game last year, his first as a Duke, Davis said a lack of confidence affected his overall play early this season.
"Shots that I normally knew I can make I was missing, so I'd get down on myself and it would carry on to the next play on defense and I'd make a mistake on defense," Davis said. "It was like a trickle-down effect."
The shots are falling now. And Davis is clearly playing with confidence.
He's made 53 of 93 field goals (57 percent) in the last seven games, including a 28-for-60 (46.7 percent) mark from downtown.
The stretch started with a then season-high 27-point performance at home against W&M, and also crested against the Tribe last Saturday with one of the most impressive outings in JMU history, albeit against a sub-.500 team.
He set the school's record for points in a game by a reserve (36) and made more field goals (15) than any player off the bench in all of college basketball since 2002, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
"Unbelievable," Goins said of Davis' night. "I told him, 'Listen man, I'm going to be completely honest with you,' I said, 'I know you're not having the senior season that you wanted to have,' but I just told him, 'You just played like a man. A man among boys.' I said, 'If I was you, I wouldn't send no other film but that one.' Whether it's agents or scouts, or whatever it is - we trying to play at the next level. I said, 'That's all you need to see.' Because it wasn't about getting 36 points, it was the way he got it. Knocking down shots, putting him on the block, rebounding a bit. Just felt like a man. I told him that was the best I've ever seen him play, and I was proud of him."
But it wasn't about playing to become a pro. In a time of need, Davis was carrying his team.
After that game, he chatted on the phone with his father again.
"If you were to hear him talk about the team," James Sr. recalled. "He said, 'We can beat anyone. We can get there. We can do this. That's what our focus is. Right now, I'm not thinking about [my professional prospects], I'm thinking about going to the NCAA.' So he is really fired up about where their team is right now."
The Dukes are fired up about their chances to win the CAA tournament too. Mostly because they boast one of the best players in the league. If Davis continues to play like he has, it's beyond debate.
"He's gone through a process here...what he's become is a terrific on the court teammate and role-model for our guys, which is not something I would have said to you two months ago," Brady said. "He's made the transformation from talented athlete to a really good college basketball player. I just hope it continues for a long weekend."
Davis paused and freshman teammate Andre Nation, who overheard the question, responded for him.
"Of course he is," Nation said, before instructing Davis of how to answer. "Say, 'I'm the best player in the CAA!'
"Why… would you ask him that?"
Well, because Davis won't make any of the CAA's three all-conference teams, even though - yes - he's possibly the most physically gifted player in the league. While his senior year was a gross disappointment through three months, the 6-foot-6, 210-pounder has harnessed his vast talents at the best possible time for JMU.
If the Dukes are to win the CAA basketball tournament, it will need a fine weekend from Davis.
This supposition appeared true even a month ago, but back then, the prospect of Davis stringing together three consecutive quality performances seemed idealistic, at best.
Even coach Matt Brady had little faith in Davis, whom he called "one of the greatest coaching puzzles of my entire career," during his weekly press conference on Feb. 4 - about two months after Brady limited Davis to 41 minutes over four games and then suspended him indefinitely (the suspension lasted just one game) for "violating team standards," ie. Not Playing Hard.
"If we catch lightning in a bottle, and A.J. goes for 15 the next seven games, we might have the best team in the league," Brady said that early February afternoon. "But I'm not expecting that."
The Dukes have caught lightning and more.
In the seven games since Brady's comments, Davis has come off the bench to average 20.4 points per game, and he's been as committed to defense as he is to getting buckets. The Dukes are 4-3 in the last seven, but two of those losses were tight games in which the Wyoming transfer led the team with more than 20 points. Brady said he's considering using Davis as a starter in the tournament to give an earlier boost to his typically slow-starting team.
No better example of Davis' impact was last Saturday's 36-point performance off the bench at William & Mary. That game was like the Dukes' version of the "Harlem Shake," that YouTube meme you've probably seen in a million varieties by now: In the first half, only Davis seemed alive, scoring 21 points while the rest of his team slogged through 20 minutes and trailed 47-31 at the break. In the second half, the rest of the Dukes joined in on the dance, turning what was once a 19-point deficit into a 69-67 win with wildly energetic play.
"He's certainly been a lot more engaged in the contests and in the results of the contests in this last month," Brady said with a very different tone at this week's press conference. … Strangely I have a growing confidence in A.J. Davis, and he's earned it."
XXX
Named James Arthur Davis Jr. at birth, A.J. said his identifying initials stuck because as a kid he used to always wear a shirt that read "Air Jordan" on the front. His mother, Inetta Ferguson, just started calling him A.J., rather than the J.R. he had previously been dubbed.Davis' parents never married, and he lived both with his mother and then in a separate Columbus, Ohio home with his maternal grandmother, because she was less strict on him. He characterizes his childhood as "spoiled," because he received whatever he wanted: "Remote control cars, video games, money, shoes."
Davis wears No. 0 to represent 0-hio, but donned No. 51 at Wyoming to honor his late uncle John, who is the twin brother of A.J.'s father, James Sr. The twins played basketball at Sinclair Community College in Dayton Ohio, and then Lemoine Owen College in Memphis, Tenn. John, who suffered a heart attack 10 years ago, was very close with A.J. and wore 51.
James Sr., a community center manager in Columbus, said he has not been able to travel to Harrisonburg for any of his son's games this year, but the two talk on the phone frequently. James Sr., coached A.J. in youth leagues and still calls his kid "James." And when Brady suspended "James" in December for lackluster effort on the court, James Sr. offered some advice.
"When things aren't going your way, you can't just turn, because it's not about you," James Sr. recalls saying to A.J.. "It's about the team, and it's the coach's ship, and you have to ride his ship.
"I told him that, look - you chose James Madison, and you have to go and talk to the coach, and tell the coach that, 'Look - I want to do whatever I can to make this team. I came here to play for James Madison, and I want to show you, coach, if you give me three minutes, six minutes, five minutes - whatever you give me, I want to show you that I can be an integral part of this team.'"
Davis showed just how integral on Saturday with the signature performance of his career. He scored everywhere from the low post to 25 feet away from the hoop, and W&M coach Tony Shaver, who must prepare his Tribe for Davis and the Dukes again in the first round of the CAA tourney, admitted this week "We had no answer for him."
XXX
While Davis and Brady have patched up their relationship, that process evolved so slowly because Davis is so hesitant to communicate. In fact, after one benching in November, Brady said he never reinserted his prolific scorer because Davis never indicated that he had any will to return.
"At that point, if there was a lack of communication, then there wasn't going to be an opportunity to play," Brady said that day.
Davis, 25, is hardly chatty with the media, either. Ask about his performances and he'll answer in platitudes: "Just tried to play with energy from the jump" … "Coach just put me in position to succeed."
JMU conducts its post-game media sessions by placing three chairs behind a table, and letting reporters fire questions at the players in those seats. Davis always insists that a teammate sits in the middle chair instead of him.
"A.J.'s just different," teammate and fellow Ohio native Rayshawn Goins said. "He don't really talk much within the group of us, when we're in the locker room he don't really talk - he's more to himself. I think that has a lot to do with him trusting people in his life. He's never trusted a lot of people in his life."
Davis' father said his midseason departure from Wyoming in 2010 had to do with a lack of trust in his coaches, along with the desire to be closer to home. Davis has always been tight-lipped about the specific reasons why he bolted the Laramie, Wyo., school in the midst of an inconsistent but somewhat productive sophomore season.
Davis said he doesn't read message boards or articles about himself. But he's still concerned with his self-image.
Any idea what people's perceptions of you are? "No." Do you care? "Yeah."
The perceptions among JMU coaches and fans earlier this season was that the often-subdued Davis didn't give a hoot about the team.
Apparently, he's long played with a nonchalant air.
"He doesn't really show emotion," Davis' father said. "There was one game in high school when I saw him play and that was the first time I've ever seen him show emotion. He was stroking the ball - I mean he had 24 at halftime. And when he was hitting everything, he was hitting his chest. That was the first time I've seen him just show some emotion."
Despite leading JMU with 15.9 points per game last year, his first as a Duke, Davis said a lack of confidence affected his overall play early this season.
"Shots that I normally knew I can make I was missing, so I'd get down on myself and it would carry on to the next play on defense and I'd make a mistake on defense," Davis said. "It was like a trickle-down effect."
The shots are falling now. And Davis is clearly playing with confidence.
He's made 53 of 93 field goals (57 percent) in the last seven games, including a 28-for-60 (46.7 percent) mark from downtown.
The stretch started with a then season-high 27-point performance at home against W&M, and also crested against the Tribe last Saturday with one of the most impressive outings in JMU history, albeit against a sub-.500 team.
He set the school's record for points in a game by a reserve (36) and made more field goals (15) than any player off the bench in all of college basketball since 2002, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
"Unbelievable," Goins said of Davis' night. "I told him, 'Listen man, I'm going to be completely honest with you,' I said, 'I know you're not having the senior season that you wanted to have,' but I just told him, 'You just played like a man. A man among boys.' I said, 'If I was you, I wouldn't send no other film but that one.' Whether it's agents or scouts, or whatever it is - we trying to play at the next level. I said, 'That's all you need to see.' Because it wasn't about getting 36 points, it was the way he got it. Knocking down shots, putting him on the block, rebounding a bit. Just felt like a man. I told him that was the best I've ever seen him play, and I was proud of him."
But it wasn't about playing to become a pro. In a time of need, Davis was carrying his team.
After that game, he chatted on the phone with his father again.
"If you were to hear him talk about the team," James Sr. recalled. "He said, 'We can beat anyone. We can get there. We can do this. That's what our focus is. Right now, I'm not thinking about [my professional prospects], I'm thinking about going to the NCAA.' So he is really fired up about where their team is right now."
The Dukes are fired up about their chances to win the CAA tournament too. Mostly because they boast one of the best players in the league. If Davis continues to play like he has, it's beyond debate.
"He's gone through a process here...what he's become is a terrific on the court teammate and role-model for our guys, which is not something I would have said to you two months ago," Brady said. "He's made the transformation from talented athlete to a really good college basketball player. I just hope it continues for a long weekend."