Saturday, November 7
Davidson, N.C.
7:00 p.m.
Davidson College Athletics
vs
Lenoir-Rhyne (Exhibition)
Will Archambault
Good Shooters, Running Big Men, Team Defense Could Carry ‘Cats
11/7/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Now in his 21st season as Davidson's head basketball coach, Bob McKillop knows something about reloading. It ought to come in handy when you consider what he's facing this season. Davidson has sustained significant personnel losses from its last two teams, which won a cumulative 56 games. The list of players no longer available reads like a Who's Who of Davidson Basketball.
The Wildcats lost graduates Jason Richards, Thomas Sander and Boris Meno from the 2008 team that reached the glory land of the NCAA Elite Eight. Davidson somehow managed to overcome those losses to post 27 wins last season, but the personnel losses from last season might be even more severe. Gone are Stephen Curry, the leading scorer and assist man; Andrew Lovedale, the second-leading scorer and top rebounder; and Max Paulhus Gosselin, whose defensive prowess earned him honors as the Southern Conference's Defensive Player of the Year.
It's a lot to overcome as McKillop's Wildcats wade into the 2009-10 season. Curry left one year of college basketball eligibility behind to join the NBA draft, where he was the seventh player chosen overall. His college career had so much sparkle and produced such excitement that historians will surely include his name on a short list when attempting to name the greatest Davidson basketball player of all time. Curry now belongs in that conversation along with Fred Hetzel, Dick Snyder and the late Mike Maloy.
It's hard to overstate Curry's importance to Davidson's success. Each opponent stacked its defense hoping to at least slow him down, and in the process, usually gave his primary defender plenty of help. His mere presence on the court provided his teammates with many more open shot opportunities. The missing trio of Curry, Lovedale and Paulhus Gosselin scored 45.6 of the 77.8 points a game that Davidson averaged a year ago. They recovered 17.1 of Davidson's 38.8 rebounds a game. They took more than half the team's shots from the field and made 60 percent of Davidson's field goals.
Reload, did we say? Sounds more like a major overhaul.
McKillop is not asking for pity and wouldn't get any if he did. Not after his last three Davidson teams compiled an overall record of 85-20 and ran roughshod through the Southern Conference in compiling an astounding 62-4 record against league foes.
McKillop likes challenges, always has. After his Wildcats graduated seven seniors from their 2006 Southern Conference championship team, league coaches picked Davidson to finish fourth in the conference's South Division. Not fourth in the conference but fourth in the South Division. Davidson responded by winning a school-record 29 games, went 17-1 in the SoCon to run away with the regular-season title, and then swept the tournament championship to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats have played in the postseason for five straight seasons and have a record of six wins and five losses in March during that period. There have been six postseason appearances in the past eight years. So don't look for McKillop to surrender, or concede an inch of territory, and you certainly won't hear him making any excuses no matter how the season turns out. It's not in his DNA.
Furthermore, don't think that Davidson's cupboard is bare. Far from it. Davidson has enjoyed much recruiting success over the past several years. It keeps a healthy pipeline of talent in the program. In addition, McKillop leans heavily on senior leadership to build team chemistry and this year's seniors should be outstanding in that regard. The Wildcats have a bevy of excellent shooters, good depth in both the frontcourt and backcourt, big men that are capable of running the court and willing to do it, and an excellent blend of veterans and young players.
Instead of dwelling on what might have been, McKillop prefers to keep it real. Not to do so would be a waste of energy that is not his style. The program has set new school and conference standards for winning over the past five seasons.
Is there enough talent available to keep the ride going? Many experts say no, but the Wildcats are pretty good at surprising people when they're supposed to go quietly.
“We're not going to be ranked high in the preseason or get much national recognition early on,” McKillop acknowledged. “That's because of the personnel losses we've had over the past two seasons. But the players no longer with us mentored the ones that return. That's a big part of our program. We'll blend the experiences with the outstanding talent we have and see where it takes us.”
The Frontcourt
“We'll need a distribution of points from a variety of sources,” McKillop said. “We will attempt to manufacture points by running the court, posting up, rebounding effectively and stretching defenses with the ability our big men have to shoot from the 3-point line.”
McKillop calls senior Steve Rossiter, 6-7, 234, “one of the best leaders in my tenure as Davidson's head coach. He is experienced in winning and is capable of having an impact season. He has played a supporting role for us and will be expected to play a more prominent role this season.”
An unselfish player who never spends a moment worrying about his individual statistics, Rossiter started all 35 games for Davidson last season while averaging 6.1 points and 5.9 rebounds and proved to be one of the team's most reliable defenders.
Dan Nelms, 6-10, senior, is an experienced player who has worked relentlessly to improve his basketball skills. He saw action in 29 games as a junior.
“Dan's work ethic puts him in position to fight for a spot in our rotation,” McKillop said. “He knows our system inside and out and because of his unselfishness and team-oriented attitude, is willing and capable of playing a valuable supporting role.”
Ben Allison, 6-9, sophomore, is one of the team's best athletes. His potential is unlimited and he works at the game as hard as anyone on the team.
“He's just scratching the surface and could become an impact player,” Coach McKillop said. “He is athletic and skilled enough to play inside and outside. He will challenge for significant playing time.”
Allison played in all 35 games last season and averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds while playing an average of 12 minutes a game. He had a tendency to get in foul trouble last season and hopes to correct it this year.
Frank Ben-Eze, 6-10, sophomore, spent much of the offseason recovering from another knee surgery. He missed most of preseason practice last year and joined the team for 22 games before hurting his knee in the semifinals of the SoCon tournament. If he stays healthy, he could be a major rebounding and defensive force for the Wildcats.
“When healthy, his play has been remarkable,” Coach McKillop said. “He's had three knee surgeries in the last 18 months, but he continues to show a great desire to help the team. He has a chance to be an extraordinary player.”
Jake Cohen, 6-10, is a highly-recruited and skilled player who joins the Davidson program as a freshman. He averaged 17.6 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots a game as a senior at Conestoga High School in Pennsylvania. Eager to learn and with a passion for playing basketball, Cohen's potential is exciting.
“Jake is long, lanky and highly skilled,” McKillop said. “He has a superb shooting touch that extends from inside the paint out to the 3-point line. His ability to score in such a variety of ways could be a big plus for us this season. He's a sponge when it comes to soaking up information about our system and what we expect.”
Clint Mann, 6-8, is a talented player who will not be available to play in games for the Wildcats this year, although he will practice with the team. NCAA rules require him to sit out a year after transferring to Davidson from Iowa State, where he played his freshman season. He is a powerful player with the versatility that McKillop seeks from his big men, in that he can score inside and out and runs the floor extremely well.
“Clint is a top recruit from two years ago, a recovered jewel,” Coach McKillop said. “He played in the Big 12 last season and would have a significant impact on our team this season if he were eligible. He will spend the season learning our system, practicing with us and further developing his own skills.”
The Backcourt
Will Archambault, 6-6, senior, is another Wildcat capable of having a breakout season. He played in all 35 games last season, averaged 8.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and had 54 assists.
“He is one of our most gifted players both athletically and physically,” Coach McKillop said. “He is experienced enough to know how to blend his talents within the framework of our system.” Archambault seems healthy now after being slowed by injuries for much of his Davidson career. He's one of the team's best passers.
One of the most dangerous perimeter shooters on the team is Bryant Barr, 6-5, senior. He averaged 7.1 points and two rebounds a game last season. He started 26 of the 35 games in which he played and shot 34.6 percent from 3-point territory. Barr is confident he can improve upon that shooting percentage.
“Bryant is a long-range threat who is becoming more comfortable with his mid-range game,” McKillop said. “He has been a major contributor to the program's 85 wins since he's been on our team.”
Aaron Bond, 6-5, sophomore, is another Davidson player that has vast potential. His goal is to avoid injuries that have slowed him. Bond has undergone shoulder and knee surgery since coming to Davidson but went into preseason practice feeling the best he has in years. He is hopeful that the good health will continue and he could earn his chance to get on the court. Bond is a redshirt sophomore who has played in only 11 games in his first two Davidson seasons.
“The injuries kept him out of practice and games,” Coach McKillop said, “and cost him valuable learning time. He worked hard in rehabilitating those injuries and is ready to take the court and utilize his many talents. He has the potential to be a defensive stopper as well as a consistent scoring threat. Gaining experience is pivotal for him to turn that potential into production.”
Brendan McKillop, 6-1, junior, played behind and learned from two of the best point guards in Davidson history in Jason Richards and Stephen Curry. Now he's ready to apply those lessons.
“Brendan has worked feverishly to tone his body and get himself ready for a more significant role,” Coach McKillop said. “He responded well when asked to play quality minutes during his first two seasons. He has a great work ethic and is ready to apply lessons he learned from Richards and Curry.”
McKillop played in all 35 of his team's games last season and averaged 4.9 points. He's an accomplished 3-point shooter, and his 36 percent accuracy from beyond the arc last season is expected to go up as his playing time increases.
The Wildcats have two sophomore walk-ons in Will Reigel, 6-5, and AJ Atkinson, 6-6. Reigel played at Charlotte Latin High School and played in 16 games as a Davidson freshman. His main action last year came in Davidson's comeback win over West Virginia in Madison Square Garden. His father also played basketball at Davidson.
“Will has a high basketball IQ as well as toughness, a nose for the ball and an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time,” Coach McKillop said. “These are skills that could get him more playing time.”
Atkinson, who played at RJ Reynolds High in Winston-Salem, worked hard over the summer to improve his skills after playing in 13 games as a freshman last season. His father, who graduated Davidson in 1981, was a running back on the Davidson football team.
“AJ is tough and aggressive and has been a valuable member of our scout team,” Coach McKillop said. “His contributions in practice have a great deal to do with our team's success. He's also a terrific mentor to our younger players.”
JP Kuhlman, 6-4, is one of three promising freshmen on this year's Davidson team. He comes from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., where he averaged 18.2 points, 6.4 assists and 6.2 rebounds as a senior. His father and two of his brothers played college basketball.
“JP knows how to play the game,” Coach McKillop said. “His skills as a ballhandler and shooter give him a chance to play significant minutes as a freshman. He can play on the ball or off the ball and will play each of our three guard positions.”
Nik Cochran, 6-3, freshman, played at Champlain St. Lambert High in Montreal, the same school that produced former Davidson standout Max Paulhus Gosselin and current star Will Archambault. He averaged 23 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals a game as a high school senior.
“Nik is the third player in our program from the highly-acclaimed and well-coached program, led by John Dangelas at Champlain St. Lambert,” Coach McKillop said. “He will fight for backcourt playing time because of his excellent skills as a shooter and ballhandler.”
The Davidson Way
A coach doesn't win as many games as Bob McKillop without a willingness to change with the times. Still, there are certain constants in his program that won't be compromised, such as team defense, unselfishness, sharing the ball, running the court and stressing the importance of senior leadership.
He and his players have their work cut out for them this season as they try to overcome the loss of Curry plus three seniors from last year's outstanding team. But they will look ahead, not back, and there is an excitement among this year's team members to create their own Davidson legacy.
These Wildcats won't be ranked nationally in the preseason polls like last year's team, but preseason rankings mean virtually nothing in college basketball. The national champion in this sport is named on the court, not in some popularity poll.
McKillop isn't boasting when he says he thinks his team can be a good one.
“Excellent depth will allow us to be very aggressive defensively on the inside,” McKillop said. “Anchored by Steve Rossiter, our big guys can run and we have enough talented bigs to keep fresh players on the court.”
Davidson's backcourt will be led by seniors Archambault and Barr and junior McKillop. It's a good passing backcourt with highly-skilled perimeter shooters.
“We need to convert our 3-point shooting potential into game production,” McKillop said. “All of our backcourt players can shoot from 3-point range, and our goal is to develop consistency in that art.”
McKillop points out that Davidson's assist to turnover ratio over the past two years has been excellent. “We hope to be equally adept in that area this year,” he said.
Defensively, the Wildcats need to stress team defense, which is a McKillop trademark. Three players from last year's team – Lovedale, Paulhus Gosselin and Curry – were superb defenders. It will take dedicated team defense from this group to make up for their absence.
“Our defense will have to mature quickly in order for us to be as good as we were a season ago,” McKillop said. “But we have the potential to be a very good defensive team again this season.”
Last year's Wildcats held opponents to less than 40 percent accuracy from the field, an outstanding mark. However, Davidson's rebounding advantage over opponents last year averaged only one a game, and that's an area that these Wildcats might be able to improve.
It's obvious that Davidson's offense will have to be a shared responsibility this season. The talented and explosive Curry took 687 of Davidson's 2,194 shots last season. That was almost one-third of the total shots taken by the team. Others will have to step up and knock down shots this season if Davidson is to continue its path to the postseason.
McKillop very much likes his three-man freshman class, calling it “skilled and highly rated.”
“They are capable of having an immediate impact on our program,” he said, “and will be counted on for playing time immediately. In order to accomplish it, they will have to fast forward their understanding of the Davidson system. That's always a challenge, because our attention to detail is at the foundation of all that we do. The more repetitions they get in practice and games, the better the system will be ingrained in their game.”
Davidson's schedule is challenging. It will take Davidson to Seattle to play talented Gonzaga, to Madison Square Garden to play in the Holiday Festival and to Indianapolis to play against perennial powerhouse Butler. The Wildcats will also play in the Charleston Classic and host on-campus games against Rhode Island and UMass of the Atlantic 10. There will be 18 games against Southern Conference opponents in addition to the conference tournament, set for March 5-8 in Charlotte.
“While some of the traditional basketball powers are not on this year's schedule, we have games outside the conference against consistently-successful programs,” McKillop said. “Many of our opponents will have a good chance of playing in the postseason. We'll see every playing style imaginable as we take on opponents from the Northeast, Midwest, Far West and Southeast. Going against these different styles should help us prepare for the difficult games in our own conference.”
He says the schedule “should provide us a laboratory that helps us learn and improve so we can realize our goal of playing our best basketball at tournament time.”
There's one change in McKillop's coaching staff. Matt Matheny, who served as McKillop's associate head coach, was named head coach at Elon University last spring and was replaced on Davidson's staff by former Wildcat player Landry Kosmalski, who graduated from Davidson in 2000. Jim Fox, Matt McKillop and Terrell Ivory remain on the staff.
“We're excited about our team and the potential it has,” McKillop said. “I'm looking forward to coaching them and seeing how much we improve as the season progresses.”
It's one of the good things about college basketball. Coaches must accept the challenge of having a new team each and every season. It's a challenge Bob McKillop welcomes.
The Wildcats lost graduates Jason Richards, Thomas Sander and Boris Meno from the 2008 team that reached the glory land of the NCAA Elite Eight. Davidson somehow managed to overcome those losses to post 27 wins last season, but the personnel losses from last season might be even more severe. Gone are Stephen Curry, the leading scorer and assist man; Andrew Lovedale, the second-leading scorer and top rebounder; and Max Paulhus Gosselin, whose defensive prowess earned him honors as the Southern Conference's Defensive Player of the Year.
It's a lot to overcome as McKillop's Wildcats wade into the 2009-10 season. Curry left one year of college basketball eligibility behind to join the NBA draft, where he was the seventh player chosen overall. His college career had so much sparkle and produced such excitement that historians will surely include his name on a short list when attempting to name the greatest Davidson basketball player of all time. Curry now belongs in that conversation along with Fred Hetzel, Dick Snyder and the late Mike Maloy.
It's hard to overstate Curry's importance to Davidson's success. Each opponent stacked its defense hoping to at least slow him down, and in the process, usually gave his primary defender plenty of help. His mere presence on the court provided his teammates with many more open shot opportunities. The missing trio of Curry, Lovedale and Paulhus Gosselin scored 45.6 of the 77.8 points a game that Davidson averaged a year ago. They recovered 17.1 of Davidson's 38.8 rebounds a game. They took more than half the team's shots from the field and made 60 percent of Davidson's field goals.
Reload, did we say? Sounds more like a major overhaul.
McKillop likes challenges, always has. After his Wildcats graduated seven seniors from their 2006 Southern Conference championship team, league coaches picked Davidson to finish fourth in the conference's South Division. Not fourth in the conference but fourth in the South Division. Davidson responded by winning a school-record 29 games, went 17-1 in the SoCon to run away with the regular-season title, and then swept the tournament championship to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats have played in the postseason for five straight seasons and have a record of six wins and five losses in March during that period. There have been six postseason appearances in the past eight years. So don't look for McKillop to surrender, or concede an inch of territory, and you certainly won't hear him making any excuses no matter how the season turns out. It's not in his DNA.
Furthermore, don't think that Davidson's cupboard is bare. Far from it. Davidson has enjoyed much recruiting success over the past several years. It keeps a healthy pipeline of talent in the program. In addition, McKillop leans heavily on senior leadership to build team chemistry and this year's seniors should be outstanding in that regard. The Wildcats have a bevy of excellent shooters, good depth in both the frontcourt and backcourt, big men that are capable of running the court and willing to do it, and an excellent blend of veterans and young players.
Instead of dwelling on what might have been, McKillop prefers to keep it real. Not to do so would be a waste of energy that is not his style. The program has set new school and conference standards for winning over the past five seasons.
Is there enough talent available to keep the ride going? Many experts say no, but the Wildcats are pretty good at surprising people when they're supposed to go quietly.
“We're not going to be ranked high in the preseason or get much national recognition early on,” McKillop acknowledged. “That's because of the personnel losses we've had over the past two seasons. But the players no longer with us mentored the ones that return. That's a big part of our program. We'll blend the experiences with the outstanding talent we have and see where it takes us.”
The Frontcourt
“We'll need a distribution of points from a variety of sources,” McKillop said. “We will attempt to manufacture points by running the court, posting up, rebounding effectively and stretching defenses with the ability our big men have to shoot from the 3-point line.”
McKillop calls senior Steve Rossiter, 6-7, 234, “one of the best leaders in my tenure as Davidson's head coach. He is experienced in winning and is capable of having an impact season. He has played a supporting role for us and will be expected to play a more prominent role this season.”
An unselfish player who never spends a moment worrying about his individual statistics, Rossiter started all 35 games for Davidson last season while averaging 6.1 points and 5.9 rebounds and proved to be one of the team's most reliable defenders.
Dan Nelms, 6-10, senior, is an experienced player who has worked relentlessly to improve his basketball skills. He saw action in 29 games as a junior.
“Dan's work ethic puts him in position to fight for a spot in our rotation,” McKillop said. “He knows our system inside and out and because of his unselfishness and team-oriented attitude, is willing and capable of playing a valuable supporting role.”
“He's just scratching the surface and could become an impact player,” Coach McKillop said. “He is athletic and skilled enough to play inside and outside. He will challenge for significant playing time.”
Allison played in all 35 games last season and averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds while playing an average of 12 minutes a game. He had a tendency to get in foul trouble last season and hopes to correct it this year.
Frank Ben-Eze, 6-10, sophomore, spent much of the offseason recovering from another knee surgery. He missed most of preseason practice last year and joined the team for 22 games before hurting his knee in the semifinals of the SoCon tournament. If he stays healthy, he could be a major rebounding and defensive force for the Wildcats.
“When healthy, his play has been remarkable,” Coach McKillop said. “He's had three knee surgeries in the last 18 months, but he continues to show a great desire to help the team. He has a chance to be an extraordinary player.”
Jake Cohen, 6-10, is a highly-recruited and skilled player who joins the Davidson program as a freshman. He averaged 17.6 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots a game as a senior at Conestoga High School in Pennsylvania. Eager to learn and with a passion for playing basketball, Cohen's potential is exciting.
“Jake is long, lanky and highly skilled,” McKillop said. “He has a superb shooting touch that extends from inside the paint out to the 3-point line. His ability to score in such a variety of ways could be a big plus for us this season. He's a sponge when it comes to soaking up information about our system and what we expect.”
Clint Mann, 6-8, is a talented player who will not be available to play in games for the Wildcats this year, although he will practice with the team. NCAA rules require him to sit out a year after transferring to Davidson from Iowa State, where he played his freshman season. He is a powerful player with the versatility that McKillop seeks from his big men, in that he can score inside and out and runs the floor extremely well.
“Clint is a top recruit from two years ago, a recovered jewel,” Coach McKillop said. “He played in the Big 12 last season and would have a significant impact on our team this season if he were eligible. He will spend the season learning our system, practicing with us and further developing his own skills.”
The Backcourt
Will Archambault, 6-6, senior, is another Wildcat capable of having a breakout season. He played in all 35 games last season, averaged 8.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and had 54 assists.
“He is one of our most gifted players both athletically and physically,” Coach McKillop said. “He is experienced enough to know how to blend his talents within the framework of our system.” Archambault seems healthy now after being slowed by injuries for much of his Davidson career. He's one of the team's best passers.
One of the most dangerous perimeter shooters on the team is Bryant Barr, 6-5, senior. He averaged 7.1 points and two rebounds a game last season. He started 26 of the 35 games in which he played and shot 34.6 percent from 3-point territory. Barr is confident he can improve upon that shooting percentage.
Aaron Bond, 6-5, sophomore, is another Davidson player that has vast potential. His goal is to avoid injuries that have slowed him. Bond has undergone shoulder and knee surgery since coming to Davidson but went into preseason practice feeling the best he has in years. He is hopeful that the good health will continue and he could earn his chance to get on the court. Bond is a redshirt sophomore who has played in only 11 games in his first two Davidson seasons.
“The injuries kept him out of practice and games,” Coach McKillop said, “and cost him valuable learning time. He worked hard in rehabilitating those injuries and is ready to take the court and utilize his many talents. He has the potential to be a defensive stopper as well as a consistent scoring threat. Gaining experience is pivotal for him to turn that potential into production.”
Brendan McKillop, 6-1, junior, played behind and learned from two of the best point guards in Davidson history in Jason Richards and Stephen Curry. Now he's ready to apply those lessons.
“Brendan has worked feverishly to tone his body and get himself ready for a more significant role,” Coach McKillop said. “He responded well when asked to play quality minutes during his first two seasons. He has a great work ethic and is ready to apply lessons he learned from Richards and Curry.”
McKillop played in all 35 of his team's games last season and averaged 4.9 points. He's an accomplished 3-point shooter, and his 36 percent accuracy from beyond the arc last season is expected to go up as his playing time increases.
The Wildcats have two sophomore walk-ons in Will Reigel, 6-5, and AJ Atkinson, 6-6. Reigel played at Charlotte Latin High School and played in 16 games as a Davidson freshman. His main action last year came in Davidson's comeback win over West Virginia in Madison Square Garden. His father also played basketball at Davidson.
“Will has a high basketball IQ as well as toughness, a nose for the ball and an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time,” Coach McKillop said. “These are skills that could get him more playing time.”
Atkinson, who played at RJ Reynolds High in Winston-Salem, worked hard over the summer to improve his skills after playing in 13 games as a freshman last season. His father, who graduated Davidson in 1981, was a running back on the Davidson football team.
“AJ is tough and aggressive and has been a valuable member of our scout team,” Coach McKillop said. “His contributions in practice have a great deal to do with our team's success. He's also a terrific mentor to our younger players.”
JP Kuhlman, 6-4, is one of three promising freshmen on this year's Davidson team. He comes from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., where he averaged 18.2 points, 6.4 assists and 6.2 rebounds as a senior. His father and two of his brothers played college basketball.
“JP knows how to play the game,” Coach McKillop said. “His skills as a ballhandler and shooter give him a chance to play significant minutes as a freshman. He can play on the ball or off the ball and will play each of our three guard positions.”
Nik Cochran, 6-3, freshman, played at Champlain St. Lambert High in Montreal, the same school that produced former Davidson standout Max Paulhus Gosselin and current star Will Archambault. He averaged 23 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals a game as a high school senior.
“Nik is the third player in our program from the highly-acclaimed and well-coached program, led by John Dangelas at Champlain St. Lambert,” Coach McKillop said. “He will fight for backcourt playing time because of his excellent skills as a shooter and ballhandler.”
The Davidson Way
A coach doesn't win as many games as Bob McKillop without a willingness to change with the times. Still, there are certain constants in his program that won't be compromised, such as team defense, unselfishness, sharing the ball, running the court and stressing the importance of senior leadership.
He and his players have their work cut out for them this season as they try to overcome the loss of Curry plus three seniors from last year's outstanding team. But they will look ahead, not back, and there is an excitement among this year's team members to create their own Davidson legacy.
McKillop isn't boasting when he says he thinks his team can be a good one.
“Excellent depth will allow us to be very aggressive defensively on the inside,” McKillop said. “Anchored by Steve Rossiter, our big guys can run and we have enough talented bigs to keep fresh players on the court.”
Davidson's backcourt will be led by seniors Archambault and Barr and junior McKillop. It's a good passing backcourt with highly-skilled perimeter shooters.
“We need to convert our 3-point shooting potential into game production,” McKillop said. “All of our backcourt players can shoot from 3-point range, and our goal is to develop consistency in that art.”
McKillop points out that Davidson's assist to turnover ratio over the past two years has been excellent. “We hope to be equally adept in that area this year,” he said.
Defensively, the Wildcats need to stress team defense, which is a McKillop trademark. Three players from last year's team – Lovedale, Paulhus Gosselin and Curry – were superb defenders. It will take dedicated team defense from this group to make up for their absence.
“Our defense will have to mature quickly in order for us to be as good as we were a season ago,” McKillop said. “But we have the potential to be a very good defensive team again this season.”
Last year's Wildcats held opponents to less than 40 percent accuracy from the field, an outstanding mark. However, Davidson's rebounding advantage over opponents last year averaged only one a game, and that's an area that these Wildcats might be able to improve.
It's obvious that Davidson's offense will have to be a shared responsibility this season. The talented and explosive Curry took 687 of Davidson's 2,194 shots last season. That was almost one-third of the total shots taken by the team. Others will have to step up and knock down shots this season if Davidson is to continue its path to the postseason.
McKillop very much likes his three-man freshman class, calling it “skilled and highly rated.”
“They are capable of having an immediate impact on our program,” he said, “and will be counted on for playing time immediately. In order to accomplish it, they will have to fast forward their understanding of the Davidson system. That's always a challenge, because our attention to detail is at the foundation of all that we do. The more repetitions they get in practice and games, the better the system will be ingrained in their game.”
Davidson's schedule is challenging. It will take Davidson to Seattle to play talented Gonzaga, to Madison Square Garden to play in the Holiday Festival and to Indianapolis to play against perennial powerhouse Butler. The Wildcats will also play in the Charleston Classic and host on-campus games against Rhode Island and UMass of the Atlantic 10. There will be 18 games against Southern Conference opponents in addition to the conference tournament, set for March 5-8 in Charlotte.
“While some of the traditional basketball powers are not on this year's schedule, we have games outside the conference against consistently-successful programs,” McKillop said. “Many of our opponents will have a good chance of playing in the postseason. We'll see every playing style imaginable as we take on opponents from the Northeast, Midwest, Far West and Southeast. Going against these different styles should help us prepare for the difficult games in our own conference.”
He says the schedule “should provide us a laboratory that helps us learn and improve so we can realize our goal of playing our best basketball at tournament time.”
There's one change in McKillop's coaching staff. Matt Matheny, who served as McKillop's associate head coach, was named head coach at Elon University last spring and was replaced on Davidson's staff by former Wildcat player Landry Kosmalski, who graduated from Davidson in 2000. Jim Fox, Matt McKillop and Terrell Ivory remain on the staff.
“We're excited about our team and the potential it has,” McKillop said. “I'm looking forward to coaching them and seeing how much we improve as the season progresses.”
It's one of the good things about college basketball. Coaches must accept the challenge of having a new team each and every season. It's a challenge Bob McKillop welcomes.
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