Lucas: The driving force behind Brad Davison

BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. — Sunday will mark Brad Davison's final game at the Kohl Center. One of his best friends from home will make the four-plus hour drive from Maple Grove, Minnesota to Madison. His name is Sonny. Davison's parents, Jim and Cori, bring him to most home games and select road games.

This season, Sonny has traveled with the Davisons to Purdue, Northwestern and Illinois.

"Very seldom," Jim said, "does he not come with us when we're driving."

"He just lays on the floor in the back seat," said Cori, "and he doesn't make a peep."

Sonny is an eight-year-old, 30-pound Sheltie, a Shetland sheep dog.

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"He sleeps in my bed at home when I'm there," Brad said. "He naps there when I'm not."

When the Badgers are on the road, Cori will call ahead to the team hotel to make sure Sonny is welcome to stay in their room. Need-less-to-say, the Davisons have been on the road a lot the past five years. Jim estimated they've put between 25,000 and 30,000 miles on the car in each of those seasons.

"The first couple of years, we didn't make every trip," Jim said. "But it was pretty close.

"The last three years, we've pretty much been there all the time."

Brad Davison has appeared in a school-record 157 games since his freshman year in 2017.

"I've missed three," Cori said, "due to our girls having babies and my mom dying."

Cori didn't make the trip to Rutgers on Feb. 23 because that was daughter Angie's due date.

"She had the baby at halftime," she said. "We got to watch the second half holding the baby."

The newborn, Phenix Terry Tusler, was treated to a 66-61 win. Uncle Brad had 14 points. Davison now has 1,761 points, 544 rebounds, 331 assists, 155 steals and three nephews. His older sister Stephanie and husband L.J. Fort, an NFL linebacker, have two boys, Benaiah James and Ezekiel Kane.

Pointing out that his fiancé, Tyra Buss – a UW-Milwaukee assistant coach, a two-time All-American and Indiana University's all-time leading scorer (2,364 points) – has three nephews and a niece, he positively glowed when he said, "We have a lot of little people under 3 in our families."

Stephanie and Angie Davison played basketball at Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, 230 miles from Maple Grove. Their individual careers overlapped and covered six years together (2011-2017). That was the start of Jim and Cori's road trips, now spanning 11 straight years, including Brad's run at the UW.

There were early conflicts when the girls were playing at UNI, and Brad was in high school.

"So, it was very difficult to get to every one of their games and still support Brad," Cori said. "Now Brad is kind of the grand finale. With the whole working at home thing (brought on by COVID), we've been able to work from hotels and it has been a lot easier to be able to support him."

Jim is the financial controller of a Minneapolis-based private company (TSI, Inc.). Cori is the Operations Director of the Osseo Maple Gove Basketball Association. Both played hoops at Minnesota-Duluth. Both have coached youth teams. Both have watched Brad grow up as a Badger.

"That has been one of the unspoken truths of sending a child away to college – just the maturity level that they gain living on their own and making their decisions," Jim said. "We've really enjoyed that about the college experience for all three of our kids.

"I feel like we've been closer to Brad because he's been the last one coming through.

"So, we've been a little more involved."

Confided Cori, "It's been quite the journey with Brad – the ups and downs. It has gotten to the point now where Brad keeps saying, 'The best is yet to come" every time there's an obstacle or adversity. I just feel now that this is just a stepping-stone along the journey and it's all going to be OK.

"We just really learned that everything is going to work itself out.

"Brad is a better person, definitely, because of everything that he has been through."

As a UW freshman, Davison started the final 29 games and was the team's second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg). He set personal highs, which still stand, for field goal percentage (.405), free throws attempted (110), assists (83), steals (40) and shoulder popping out of socket (multiple).

Davison dislocated his left shoulder in late November and played through the pain. Whenever it would pop out during a game, former UW trainer Henry Perez-Guerra would take him outside the bench area, just out of sight, and pop it back into place. Davison would routinely then resume playing.

In a memorable display of toughness, he scored 30 points against Michigan State, the most by a Badger frosh since Sam Okey in 1996. Twenty-three seconds after Perez-Guera had worked on him, and he had reentered the game, he was back making step-back jumpers. Like nothing had happened.

"That was really difficult for me personally," Jim said. "He couldn't block out with his left shoulder. He couldn't lean into anybody. He couldn't get around a screen. These Big Ten coaches are all smart and they're running him off screens on his left shoulder again and again and again.

"But he fought through it. He adjusted the way he played, and he made it work."

"What a lot of people didn't know," Cori said, "was that for two hours before every game he had to spend with trainer Henry and then for two hours after every game he had to spend with trainer Henry just to be able to play. It was a lot of effort.

"When Kobe (King) and D'Mitrik (Trice) decided to redshirt (because of injuries) and the season was kind of looking like it was falling apart, they told Brad that you could have surgery now and you can redshirt this season, too, and Brad said, 'You're going to have to shoot me … for me to do that.'"

It was during his sophomore year Davison became a part of the national discussion because of his penchant for drawing charges. He drew four in one game against North Carolina State. Even though they might have been legitimate calls, he still drew the ire of outsiders who questioned the tactic.

"The whole world was telling him this and that," Cori recalled. "I started to get a little worried about him and how he was going to react and how he was going to handle it. He just got off social media for a couple of years and basically ignored it. He definitely handled it better than I did.

"His motto was, 'I won't take criticism from someone I wouldn't take advice from.'"

At that, Davison has always been motivated by taunting, booing, opposing fans.

"He just kind of laughs and smiles," Jim said. "He actually kind of thrives off of it."

"We know how much Brad loves it," said Cori. "And how much he missed it last year."

Ah, yes, the COVID Year. Cardboard cutups in near empty venues. Protocols galore.

"We enjoy bringing friends to the game," Jim said. "We enjoy hanging out after games.

"We enjoy the whole social aspect of it. Boy, that was a whole change of events last year."

That extended to last season's Senior Day at the Kohl Center and what turned out to be a 74-69 loss to Illinois. Davison was one of seven players recognized during the pre- and post-game ceremonies. Joining him were Trice, Micah Potter, Aleem Ford, Nate Reuvers, Trevor Anderson and Walt McGrory.

"To me, it didn't feel like a Senior Day at all," Jim said. "We had witnessed them in the past (with the girls). And it felt like everything else with COVID – cold, distant, disconnected. Like the whole season was last year." Cori interjected, "We couldn't bring anyone but Jim and me. It was awful."

The mood will be dramatically more upbeat here Sunday. Especially since the Badgers can clinch an outright Big Ten championship with a win over Nebraska. They guaranteed themselves at least a share of the conference title Tuesday with a stunning victory over Purdue in a rockin' Kohl Center.

"I was hoping the student section would be filled long before the game and I was hoping that it would be electric in there and all my hopes were answered," Jim said. "I don't remember being at a game the last five years where the entire place was standing so many times in both halves.

"There was a connection – the fans wanted that win as much as the players."

Who will have the bigger void in their life next season? Brad? Or Jim and Cori?

"I think we have a whole new stage of life change coming," Jim acknowledged. "We've had 11 years with our winters being very, very structured and very, very managed. Our life is going to slow down considerably after this season is over."

Said Cori, "Brad is not going to have any void. He's moving on to whatever is next. If Brad decides to coach, though, wherever he's coaching, we'll definitely be part of that program, too." Asked if they felt coaching was in their son's future, Jim and Cori responded in unison, "Oh, yeah."

Cori related how Brad called each of the head coaches that had been recruiting him after he made his commitment to the Badgers. "And I think every one of them offered him a job when he was done," she said. Confirmed Jim, "They all said, 'Call us back when you're done playing.'"

Sunday will be emotional. For Jim and Cori. For Brad who'll be done playing at the Kohl Center.

"Everyone sees the final product on the court – whether it's making shots or taking charges or diving on the floor," Brad Davison was saying now. "All those opportunities and moments aren't possible without the time my parents poured into me ever since I was a young kid.

"I appreciate the wins and losses. I've loved the celebrations. I've valued the losses and lessons I've learned. But the memories that will really stick with me will be looking into the stands and giving my dad a salute or my mom a wink. Just blowing them a kiss. It means the world having them there."

Being a part of the Badger experience has meant the world to his parents, too.

"We've met so many wonderful people," Cori said. "We love Wisconsin."

You can count on one thing from the Davisons. They'll be back. Even after Brad has moved on.

"I wouldn't doubt we'll come back at least once a summer and bring the boat and do some fishing," Jim said. "I could see us coming back for a football game and tailgating with a bunch of fans we've gotten to know. We'll definitely come back for a game or two. That's definitely in our future."

Years from now, one of those grandsons might give them another reason to come back.

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Lucas: The driving force behind Brad Davison

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