By Rex Kirts
Dee Davis "usually starts laughing" when he watches the tapes of him in action.
It's not the reaction South basketball fans experience. With them it's an amazed look and wonderment at how in the world he makes all those shakes-and-bakes.
"It's just stuff I work on and think about the next time I can use it," he said.
So now we know - he does plan some of that stuff. From the stands it
Dee Davis "usually starts laughing" when he watches the tapes of him in action.
It's not the reaction South basketball fans experience. With them it's an amazed look and wonderment at how in the world he makes all those shakes-and-bakes.
"It's just stuff I work on and think about the next time I can use it," he said.
So now we know - he does plan some of that stuff. From the stands it
Dee Davis
all looks like completely unrehearsed moves, reactions from what the defense does, something he was born with.
There's one particular move that brings derisive comments from his teammates.
"When I flop," Davis smiled. That's normally on 3-point shots.
"Spencer, everybody comments. I'm more dramatic with it. I've been voted the best actor of the night," he laughed.
Spencer Turner shouldn't really be giving Davis grief because Turner is pretty substantial with the drama on the flop himself.
WHATEVER MOVES Davis is making, Bloomington basketball fans who haven't seen him should do so soon because his sparkling high school career is just about over. Then it's off to Xavier University in Cincinnati for basketball and studying sports administration.
"Time goes fast," Davis said. "It feels like last year we won state."
It was two years ago, and Davis was voted the Most Valuable Player in unbeaten South's championship game victory over Fort Wayne Snider.
It was not his first MVP award. That came with his nine-year-old baseball team. He is not, however, planning a return to the diamond this spring.
Davis said he's enjoying his senior season "a lot," and it's been his best statistically. He's averaging 22.1 points a game and has moved up to sixth in Monroe County's all-time career scoring list with 1,441 going into Thursday night's regular season finale at Decatur Central.
Leading the county in boys' scoring is Garrett Butcher of Edgewood with 1,820, followed by Sean May of North with 1,664, Jon Holmes of South with 1,536, Duany Duany of North with 1,532 and Chris Lawson of South with 1,481.
ONLY THREE SOUTH players have averaged more than 20 points in a season. Lawson tops the list at 26.6 in 1988-89. Chris Brand averaged 20.6 in 1990-91 and Chris Miskel 20.5 in 1991-92.
"I knew I had to step up the scoring, me and Spencer," Davis said. "J.R. said I had to be more selfish."
Well, selfish isn't exactly what was meant. More aggressive offensively is a better description.
And Davis has accomplished that. Always a great penetrator, he's become more of a 3-point threat this year.
"After the state game J.R. told me I had to shoot better and we'd have a better relationship," Davis laughed. I thought about that when I was shooting 50 per cent at one point this season (he's at 47 now)."
His 3-point improvement didn't just happen, either. It's the result of a great deal of practice in the summer. There's a mechanical device called "the gun," which collects shots and shoots them back out to the shooters. Davis became real familiar with it.
"I USED IT A LOT," he said. "Five hundred to a 1,000 shots every day. Three thousand one day."
Good Lord! Three thousand!
He's been sick lately, so his 3 wasn't falling. No legs. That's OK, Davis just turned to his driving. Last Saturday against LaPorte LaLumiere, which started a 7-foot center and 6-9 forward, he took the ball right at them. Go left, go right, spin and lay the ball up soft as a cotton ball. What a show, way worth more than the price of admission.
And afterwards the 6-foot Davis wanted to know how many rebounds he had (six).
"I was trying to get 10 rebounds. I wanted to go two nights with a double-double," he grinned. He had 13 points and 11 rebounds the night before at Perry Meridian, a Panther win that meant their fourth straight Conference Indiana championship.
Davis started at North as a freshman and transferred to South as a sophomore. Holmes put him into the starting lineup immediately.
"He gave me a lot of structure," Davis said of the veteran Panther coach. "He gave me the chance to run the team, let me make decisions on the court, gave me the freedom."
It's worked out real well.
Two Davis stories:
Story one: Dee took his little sister, Dominique, to South's football game at North last fall. Now, some guys might not feel comfortable taking their little sister to a game like that, but Dee doesn't.
"I don't mind," he said. "She's the coolest person I know."
Story two: The Panthers attended a big IHSAA function last year that celebrated 100 years of Indiana high school basketball. Dee and Turner went up to Oscar Robertson, probably the greatest player in the state's history after leading the 1956 Indianapolis Crispus Attucks team to the state title.
"We asked for his autograph, and he snapped at me and Spencer for asking," Dee said. The Big O walked away without giving his autograph.
There's one particular move that brings derisive comments from his teammates.
"When I flop," Davis smiled. That's normally on 3-point shots.
"Spencer, everybody comments. I'm more dramatic with it. I've been voted the best actor of the night," he laughed.
Spencer Turner shouldn't really be giving Davis grief because Turner is pretty substantial with the drama on the flop himself.
WHATEVER MOVES Davis is making, Bloomington basketball fans who haven't seen him should do so soon because his sparkling high school career is just about over. Then it's off to Xavier University in Cincinnati for basketball and studying sports administration.
"Time goes fast," Davis said. "It feels like last year we won state."
It was two years ago, and Davis was voted the Most Valuable Player in unbeaten South's championship game victory over Fort Wayne Snider.
It was not his first MVP award. That came with his nine-year-old baseball team. He is not, however, planning a return to the diamond this spring.
Davis said he's enjoying his senior season "a lot," and it's been his best statistically. He's averaging 22.1 points a game and has moved up to sixth in Monroe County's all-time career scoring list with 1,441 going into Thursday night's regular season finale at Decatur Central.
Leading the county in boys' scoring is Garrett Butcher of Edgewood with 1,820, followed by Sean May of North with 1,664, Jon Holmes of South with 1,536, Duany Duany of North with 1,532 and Chris Lawson of South with 1,481.
ONLY THREE SOUTH players have averaged more than 20 points in a season. Lawson tops the list at 26.6 in 1988-89. Chris Brand averaged 20.6 in 1990-91 and Chris Miskel 20.5 in 1991-92.
"I knew I had to step up the scoring, me and Spencer," Davis said. "J.R. said I had to be more selfish."
Well, selfish isn't exactly what was meant. More aggressive offensively is a better description.
And Davis has accomplished that. Always a great penetrator, he's become more of a 3-point threat this year.
"After the state game J.R. told me I had to shoot better and we'd have a better relationship," Davis laughed. I thought about that when I was shooting 50 per cent at one point this season (he's at 47 now)."
His 3-point improvement didn't just happen, either. It's the result of a great deal of practice in the summer. There's a mechanical device called "the gun," which collects shots and shoots them back out to the shooters. Davis became real familiar with it.
"I USED IT A LOT," he said. "Five hundred to a 1,000 shots every day. Three thousand one day."
Good Lord! Three thousand!
He's been sick lately, so his 3 wasn't falling. No legs. That's OK, Davis just turned to his driving. Last Saturday against LaPorte LaLumiere, which started a 7-foot center and 6-9 forward, he took the ball right at them. Go left, go right, spin and lay the ball up soft as a cotton ball. What a show, way worth more than the price of admission.
And afterwards the 6-foot Davis wanted to know how many rebounds he had (six).
"I was trying to get 10 rebounds. I wanted to go two nights with a double-double," he grinned. He had 13 points and 11 rebounds the night before at Perry Meridian, a Panther win that meant their fourth straight Conference Indiana championship.
Davis started at North as a freshman and transferred to South as a sophomore. Holmes put him into the starting lineup immediately.
"He gave me a lot of structure," Davis said of the veteran Panther coach. "He gave me the chance to run the team, let me make decisions on the court, gave me the freedom."
It's worked out real well.
Two Davis stories:
Story one: Dee took his little sister, Dominique, to South's football game at North last fall. Now, some guys might not feel comfortable taking their little sister to a game like that, but Dee doesn't.
"I don't mind," he said. "She's the coolest person I know."
Story two: The Panthers attended a big IHSAA function last year that celebrated 100 years of Indiana high school basketball. Dee and Turner went up to Oscar Robertson, probably the greatest player in the state's history after leading the 1956 Indianapolis Crispus Attucks team to the state title.
"We asked for his autograph, and he snapped at me and Spencer for asking," Dee said. The Big O walked away without giving his autograph.
