Davis Ready for Success at Another Level
7/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Success breeds success.
That maxim has been proven time and again in almost every facet of the sports world. Those who have been successful in the past are most likely to be successful in the present and future.
Building that cornerstone of success on which to build future achievements has been what Alabama women’s basketball head coach Stephany Smith has been attempting to do since taking over the program last spring. And one of the best ways to establish a tradition of success in a program that hadn’t achieved it for some time is to bring in players who have been successful in their career prior to their arrival at the Capstone.
“It’s funny how much more importance I have placed on a player having success in high school than I did before,” Smith said. “Winning has a lot to do not only with talent, but character, so a recruit’s ability to help her team win has grown in importance for me over my career.”
Perhaps no player Smith has ever recruited in her nine year career meets that criteria better than incoming freshman point guard Nikki Davis. Davis, a native of Lexington, Ky., will enter her initial intercollegiate season with as many accomplishments as any recruit in the nation.
A quick glance at her credentials will confirm that fact. Indeed, if there is one thing that Davis has done above all others in her already remarkable career is win.
“We had some great talent on our teams in high school,” Davis said. “We got to do a lot of great things that other players maybe didn’t get to do, like play in the state championships and play in front of huge crowds. I think that helped me get ready for college.”
Nothing better indicates her tremendous ability to lead her team to victory than her appearance among the all-time record books in the state of Kentucky. As a senior, Davis became just the second player in Kentucky high school basketball history, male or female, to participate in four state championship games in a career.
Considering all of the talented players to have hit the hardwood over the years in the hoops-crazed Bluegrass State, becoming just the second player to achieve anything is impressive. But becoming the second to ever compete in the state’s ultimate game is even more incredible. To add luster to this already fabulous achievement, Davis was a starter in each of those four games.
Not only did Davis just start and compete in those games, she was able win them. Her Lexington Catholic teams won two state titles, taking home trophies in 2005 and 2006. Davis was a member of the Kentucky Sweet Sixteen all-tournament teams two times as well, earning the honor in 2004 and 2006, her sophomore and senior seasons.
Her leadership not only made Lexington Catholic champions of the state of Kentucky, they propelled her alma mater into the very upper echelon of women’s high school basketball. Davis and her teammates pushed Lexington Catholic into the USA Today top-five power rankings in her final two seasons.
The numbers are quite impressive. Davis led her teams to a 132-15 mark in her four seasons that were capped by regional championships and trips to the state finals. In her high school postseason career, Davis lost just twice.
Just like all great point guards, the individual honors for Davis followed the team achievements. En route to establishing her team as one of the best in the nation, she was able to rack up some pretty impressive numbers for herself.
Davis was able to set all-time marks in assists (802) and steals (530) in her four years at Lexington Catholic while scoring an impressive 1,263 points. She also established new single-season marks in assists and steals at the school.
For her efforts, Davis was named to the state’s first team All-State teams by the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Louisville Courier-Journal as a senior and was a four-time 11th Region All-Tournament team selection.
The list of accomplishments could go on indefinitely. What matters most to the coaching staff at Alabama was that Davis demonstrated time and time again that not only did she possess superior physical skills to compete in major collegiate basketball, her mental abilities made her truly a special recruit.
“Nikki knows how to win,” Smith said. “She has the intelligence and the ability to communicate with her teammates and can really direct traffic for us. That is why we chose her over some others, is because I believe that she has that forethought and vision in her basketball intelligence.”
Those mental attributes will be put to the test early. As most basketball fans know, the point guard shoulders the majority of the mental load on the floor, becoming in essence an extension of the coaching staff. Most great point guards in fact become another coach on the floor.
With the intricate triangle offense Smith implements, Davis will certainly rely upon that intellect early and often in her career.
“We do run some pretty complex things on the floor in our offense and on the secondary break,” Smith said. “All of those things are reads that the point guard needs to make, so her decision-making will be key.”
Thankfully, though, the freshman has learned to utilize a unique hobby to maintain her mental edge.
In addition to starring on the basketball floor, Davis has learned to excel in the ultimate thinking game: chess.
It’s not often that an incoming freshman lists chess as one of her hobbies. But Davis has come to love the game and in fact started playing alongside several of her high school teammates.
“I think we started around our sophomore year,” Davis said. “No one really knew how to play, but we all got together and learned it with each other. We had a chess board in our locker room before a lot of our home games and that was fun. It is just a relaxing game for me and it helps me calm down before basketball games.”
However, she is a bit unsure of how much of her new hobby will be present at Alabama.
“I haven’t asked anyone here to play yet,” Davis said. “I don’t want to be the dork from Kentucky asking people to play chess, so I’m not sure yet. We’ll see what happens and maybe somebody will want to play for fun some time.”
Along with her choice of hobbies, Davis has also chosen some unique career goals for herself, demonstrating in yet another way this bright young player differentiates herself from her peers.
Listed among her future plans are to become a dentist, a fairly common goal for an incoming Alabama student. What makes Davis different is where she wants to practice.
“I have always wanted to be a dentist,” Davis said. “But I’m really interested in working in a country where the health system isn’t as strong as here in America, so I’ve always looked at Africa. I would love to do some work there.”
Davis, then, appears to be a point guard to the core. Always giving, always distributing wealth to those around her. Those attributes have brought her nothing but success on the floor.
What makes this point guard unique is her ability to do all of those things even after she steps off the court.
And that might just be the greatest success any athlete can achieve.
