Wildcats have long been groomed to compete with Atlantic 10 powers Written By John Kilgo
Davidson coach Bob McKillop and his Wildcats are not afraid of a challenge. Not after years of playing against the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Kansas and other nationally prominent programs.
Good thing, too, because Davidson is stepping up, leaving behind the old and familiar foes in the Southern Conference to compete on the national stage offered by the powerful Atlantic 10. Exactly what kind of leap is it? In March of last year, the A-10 was ranked as the nation's sixth strongest basketball conference while the Southern was listed as 30th of 32 conferences.
"It's certainly a challenge to jump this number of spots, conference to conference," McKillop says. "We'll be challenged like never before. It's going to be exciting for our program to play in these big markets with national media coverage and extensive television exposure. The coaching in the league is remarkable, a mixture of veterans with great backgrounds to a group of young rising coaching stars."
How about Davidson's players, how do they feel about the change of venue? Davidson will play six of its first nine games at home. "Excitement," McKillop answered. "They are working very hard to prepare for this challenge."
After a total of 74 years competing in the Southern Conference, where McKillop won more games than any coach in the league's history, the Wildcats will head to the Northeast and Midwest. They leave a conference that is a one-bid NCAA league for one that received 15 NCAA tournament invitations in the last three seasons.
Davidson will be playing in bigger arenas, new places, and before larger crowds. The style of play in the A-10, according to McKillop, ranges from A to Z. "The athleticism on each roster is very apparent from top to bottom," he says.
The Wildcats go from the Southern, a league that it dominated for years, to the A-10 where it will be their task to earn the respect of new opponents. They didn't get much of it in the preseason poll that picked them to finish 12th in the league's standings.
That's okay. McKillop has traveled this road before. When his Davidson program left the Big South for the Southern Conference 22 years ago, the popular prediction by the experts was that Davidson would struggle. That worked out fine.
Playing in new places against stronger conference teams might be a challenge, but some things won't change. Davidson's offense will play fast and try to knock opponents on their heels. Defensively, Davidson will feature man but tweak it with several different change ups.
The Wildcats have some established rivalries in their new conference that date back to years ago in the Southern, against schools such as Richmond and George Washington. New ones will emerge.
Davidson explores this new basketball terrain after extensive personnel losses over the last two seasons that include Southern Conference Players of the Year Jake Cohen and De'Mon Brooks, as well as veteran standouts Nik Cochran, JP Kuhlman, Clint Mann, Tom Droney and Chris Czerapowicz.
But the Wildcats still have talent, players good enough to compete in any college basketball league. Let's take a look at some of it.
The Backcourt
Tyler Kalinoski, 6-4, senior, is an accomplished player at both ends of the court. As much as he is a coach's dream, he's an opponent's nightmare. Since his freshman season he's had an uncanny knack of making big plays that win games.
Elon head coach Matt Matheny, whose team competed against Kalinoski for three years, said: "He is tough, competitive, always around the ball. He's a master of big plays."
Last season, Kalinoski shot 45.5 percent from long range. Those 50-50 balls that coaches always talk about, well, Kalinoski believes that most of them belong to him.
"He is the heart and soul of our team," Coach McKillop said. "He's played that way for three years, and his senior leadership will be key for us."
Kalinoski is an iron man. He averaged right at 34 minutes a game as a junior while averaging 11 points and was second on the team with five rebounds a game. He led Davidson in assists (111) and steals (42).
His tenacity makes him a standout defender, and his offensive game reveals no weakness. Last season he shot 49.4 percent from the field, 45.5 percent from 3-point land, and 75.7 from the foul line.
Brian Sullivan, 5-11, junior, played his first season of basketball at Davidson last year after sitting out a year following a transfer from Miami of Ohio.
"It always takes time to shake the rust off your game after sitting out a season," McKillop said, "but once Brian did, he became an extremely valuable part of our team."
Sullivan came to Davidson with a reputation of being a superb 3-point shooter. But as last season progressed, he proved to be much more than that. He could pull up for his jumper, take it to the rim, and became a difficult man to guard. He averaged 12.9 points, second on the team. He has a quick release on his shot, and his 33 points in a close loss at North Carolina showed what he could do when he gets hot.
"Brian has improved his ballhandling and his defense," McKillop said, "and is capable of playing any spot in our backcourt." Sullivan, who will serve as a team captain this season, drilled 90 3-pointers a year ago. Jack Gibbs, 5-11, sophomore, will be counted on to be Davidson's floor general. He eased into last season as a freshman, but as his playing time increased, so did his efficiency and confidence.
"He will be our point guard," McKillop said, "which at Davidson is the toughest position on the team to play. He's a power point guard, a good on-the-ball defender and reads defenses better each time he takes the court."
He averaged 20 minutes a game last season and gained experience at both backcourt positions. He averaged 6.8 points.
Jordan Barham, 6-4, junior, seems to have made a successful recovery from summer knee surgery. He's an exciting, athletic player who is fearless in his attack of the basket. He has the ability to score in spectacular ways that ignite his teammates and the crowd. He will play big guard and small forward, and if completely healthy should emerge as one of the best athletes in the A-10.
"Jordan had a great spring and summer and improved all areas of his game," McKillop said.
Oskar Michelsen, 6-9, freshman, comes to Davidson from Helsinki, Finland. "Once he learns our system and adjusts to the speed of college basketball, he could be a difficult matchup for our opponents," McKillop said. "He needs to get stronger but has a very good chance to earn a spot in our rotation."
An excellent shooter with uncommon range, Michelsen was captain of the U-18 Finnish National team in 2013.
Jordan Watkins, 6-1, freshman, has a quiet confidence that leads him to believe that he is ready to play at this level. He might be right, too. His improvement in preseason practice was significant.
He came to Davidson from just down the road at Providence Day High in Charlotte. "He was well coached in high school," McKillop said, "and knows our system. He has the ability to make shots and he moves his feet very well defensively."
Watkins is quick and constantly in an attack mode. He needs to get stronger to be able to defend college guards, but once he does …
Rusty Reigel, 6-2, freshman, is the brother of former Davidson player and current assistant coach Will Reigel.
"He's going to be a great teammate," McKillop said. "He's smart, tough and cagey."
He was twice all-state at Charlotte Latin High.
Walk-ons in the backcourt are sophomore Manu Giamoukis and Matt Williams. Both are excellent competitors who will be valuable members of the Scout team with a chance to improve and earn future playing time.
The Frontcourt
The chief challenge here will be to find ways to replace leading scorer and rebounder and two-time Southern Conference Player of the Year De'Mon Brooks. No small task.
It might start with Jake Belford, 6-9, junior, who struggled as a freshman mostly due to knee surgery the summer before he arrived at Davidson. But last season Belford came to camp in top physical condition. His improved play and added confidence sparked the Wildcats.
"Jake is getting better and better," Coach McKillop said. "He can score all over the court, including his ability to stretch defenses with his good 3-point shooting. He is in great physical shape, and is a perfect player for our system." Belford will look to lead the Wildcat frontcourt in 2014-15. Belford averaged 15 minutes while playing in 25 games last season. He hit 57.7 percent of his field goal attempts and 47.2 percent of his threes.
Andrew McAuliffe, 6-8, sophomore, is going to be depended on to assist Davidson's inside presence. He's certainly strong enough at 235 pounds to do it, and will need to.
"We need for Andrew to improve his stamina and strength," McKillop said. "He takes up a lot of space inside and has the ability to score with his back to the basket. We'll be asking him to contribute a lot."
McAuliffe averaged 10 minutes while playing in 31 games as a freshman.
Ali Mackay, 6-11, senior, has been involved in the Davidson system for five years. He's a player with a fine work ethic that recovered from off-season surgery.
"We certainly hope that Ali can contribute to our inside game this season," McKillop said.
Connor Perkey, 6-8, junior, has been a valuable member of the Scout team during his first two seasons. He's dedicated and hard working and could provide frontcourt depth.
Davidson brings two freshmen to its frontcourt for this season.
Peyton Aldridge, 6-7, from Leavittsburg, Ohio was extremely impressive in Davidson's preseason work. He is LaBrae High School's leading scorer and rebounder, and arrived on campus ready to show Coach McKillop and his staff that he's ready for college hoops.
"Peyton has a chance to be really good," McKillop said. "He is tough, aggressive and brings great energy to the court. He can score inside and out, has the ability to handle the ball, and should work his way into our starting lineup."
Nathan Ekwu, 6-7, joins Aldridge as a freshman frontcourt prospect.
"He is improving daily," McKillop said. "We're excited about his future at Davidson. He's a good rebounder, a capable defender, is extremely coachable and brings energy to our team."
The Davidson Way
This could well turn out to be one of the most interesting years ever for Davidson basketball.
The Wildcats will be traveling to new venues, playing against coaches and players they haven't competed against before, and finding themselves more under the media microscope than they were in the Southern Conference.
McKillop's out-of-conference scheduling philosophy over the years should pay dividends for his team this season. While the league competition will be keen and upgraded over what it was in the Southern Conference, it won't be entirely new to the Wildcats.
They have played at Cameron Indoor against Duke, at the Smith Center against Carolina, in Kansas City against Kansas, and in the Koch Center against Wichita State, so they've been tested in every sense of the word. McKillop's goal in scheduling such tough opponents has always been to prepare his team for conference play. That plan continues in effect this year with non-league games against Carolina, Virginia, Charlotte and Montana among others.
"Our roster this year is the youngest it's been in many years," McKillop said. "But our players have had a great attitude about everything. They have rolled up their sleeves and gone to work. They had a great off-season with their workouts and individual work. Now they're ready to give it their best shot. They have a real hunger to play and succeed at this level."
From Davidson's standpoint, it's a season shrouded in mystery. Speculation is rampant, but nobody really knows what to expect. This is a given, though. The Wildcats will play hard for the entire 40 minutes. The story of the season – Davidson's first in the A-10 – will probably be one of ebbs and flows, with each practice and game a new challenge.
McKillop has always coveted the Broadway Stage. He's on it now. Let's go play and see how it turns out.
