BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
Watch the 2022 NBA Draft on Thursday, June 23 beginning 7 p.m. CT on ABC and ESPN.
MADISON, Wis. — On the eve of the Big Ten showdown with Purdue, Johnny Davis collided with a teammate under the basket and fell to the floor awkwardly on his right ankle. After removing his shoe and stretching at courtside, he left practice early – limping to the training room in the Kohl Center.
Later, he was seen walking forlornly to his campus apartment with an ice bag in his hand and a blue boot on his foot – casting some doubt on his availability for the Boilermakers in a wildly anticipated rematch with Jaden Ivey who was battling Davis for Player of the Year recognition in the conference.
Reminded of those circumstances nearly four months later, Wisconsin's Greg Gard confirmed Monday, "There was some doubt'' about Davis' status. He went on to say, "The next day, I talked to him in the morning, and he felt better. It was highly unlikely that he was going to miss that game.
"I've said all along that his number one skill is his competitiveness.''
Although he wasn't at 100 percent physically against the Boilers, Davis still answered the bell. But unlike his national TV advertisement for a fast-food chain, he didn't leave the stage to feed a craving. Instead, he played nearly 34 minutes, the most on the team, and had 16 points and 8 rebounds.
Davis craves competition. More than even chalupas.
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After a sluggish first half – 6 points (1-of-5 field goals) – he made 4 of 7 shots following intermission, including a step-back banked jumper that gave the Badgers a 67-64 lead with 25 seconds left. After Ivey tied the game with a triple,
Chucky Hepburn won it by banking a 3 from the left wing.
The 70-67 victory came in front of one of the most emotionally charged Kohl Center atmospheres ever and triggered a court-storming as the Badgers clinched a share of the Big Ten championship. Afterwards, Davis told the media, "It's all about being mentally tough. Gritty not pretty.''
Many NBA scouts and general managers may have also used the word "gritty'' in compiling their reports on Davis in advance of Thursday night's draft. In all likelihood at some point in the lottery phase (first 14 selections), these words will ring out, "And the next pick in the NBA 2022 draft is
Johnny Davis.''
Life does imitate art. Like the Taco Bell script, Sarah Davis will be at her son's side. Whereas the commercial was filmed in Los Angeles, the real thing will take place at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York. Johnny's dad Mark will be there, along with twin brother Jordan, a junior guard at Wisconsin.
Team Davis features another set of twins, too, Samantha and Maxwell. And, for the record, Johnny will not be the first Davis drafted. In the '85 draft – forever known for the Knicks taking Patrick Ewing with the overall No. 1 – Mark Davis, an Old Dominion wing, went in the fourth round to Cleveland.
Back then, there were seven rounds. Mark Davis was selected at No. 79 overall, three picks ahead of the UW's Scott Roth.
Johnny Davis is expected to be the 10
th Badger to be taken in the first round; the first since 2015 when Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker went 9th and 18th, respectively.
Meanwhile, Gard will be attending his first NBA draft. Having sampled some mock drafts, he said, "I pay more attention to the people who are actually making the decision – the teams, themselves, that I've talked to. They all like Johnny. But, obviously, it's their job to put him under a microscope.''
The general consensus is that Davis will go No. 10 to the Washington Wizards. Even if that materializes, it may be only temporary. "I think in any other draft, Washington would be really excited about using that pick on
Johnny Davis,'' opined ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski earlier this week.
"But I think in this draft with the expectation that they're going to re-sign Bradley Beal in free agency … they need a veteran point guard and that's their goal to use the 10
th pick and perhaps another asset or two to get a veteran point guard to pair with Bradley Beal.''
It's something to keep in mind. Especially since in the 2004 draft, Washington took Wisconsin's Devin Harris with the 5
th overall selection and later traded his draft rights to the Dallas Mavericks. Gard has tried to stay open-minded on the myriad possibilities for where Davis will potentially land.
"Depending on what team you talk to, you get a different opinion on who they think is where,'' he said. "And they also hold their cards pretty close to their vest. Teams aren't completely straightforward and give you every detail on what they're thinking. There is a little gamesmanship.''
Gard is convinced that the NBA has done its homework on Davis. During the season, for example, Nick Collison spent the good portion of a week in Madison attending practices. Collison, a former Kansas All-American, is a special assistant to Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti.
"It was really after the season that it intensified,'' Gard said. "There were a lot of people coming through here and sitting down with everybody from academics to sports information to all the coaches. They wanted to get a really good feel for the pulse of the kid and his personality and what he's like.
"They don't ask much about basketball. They can see that by watching him play.''
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A year ago this week, Davis was auditioning for USA Basketball's U19 World Cup team on the TCU campus in Fort Worth, Texas. He was named to the squad on June 25. The subsequent exposure – in helping the Americans capture a gold medal – was invaluable to his development. And brand.
"The USA experience and how he played really put him on the (NBA) radar,'' Gard said. "And then the season that he had with us solidified and escalated it. I don't know if I've been around a guy who's skyrocketed with his next step as far as what Johnny did over the past 12 months.
"He has always played with what I call a live wire. He's got the athletic ability that not many we've had. I compare him to Devin Harris in terms of how he can change directions, stop on a dime, and accelerate from Point A to Point B as fast as anyone we've had here.
"And I think he's only scratching the surface. He's going to get stronger. He'll improve his ball-handling. He'll tighten up his shooting. And he'll speed up his release. The draft is based on potential, and I just think his potential is extremely high.''
College basketball TV analyst Jay Bilas was at courtside in Las Vegas where Davis was recognized as the MVP of the relocated Maui Invitational. Davis put on a show. Particularly against Houston. He had 30 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks. In Wisconsin's three wins, he averaged 23.7 points.
During ESPN's mock draft on Tuesday, Bilas was asked what type of player would an NBA team be getting with Davis and he said, "They'd be getting a physical wing that is athletic and can really score. He's got a really good mid-range game. Quarterback in high school, so he's got a winner's mentality.''
Bilas noted Davis had 37 points at Purdue, 30 at Indiana and 25 at Michigan State. He also pointed out, "Wisconsin has never won at all those three places in the same year. I don't think it's any coincidence that the one time they did, they did it with
Johnny Davis leading the way.''
Davis averaged 21.7 points outside of the Kohl Center (road and neutral site games).
Bilas offered this scouting report, "He can shoot it from 3. Very good at creating his own shot. He pulls up and makes difficult shots. Rebounds and can rip and run … When I saw him on the road, he relished the fact … 'Take this.' He wanted the ball at the end of the game and did something with it.''
On his makeup, Bilas concluded that Davis "is tough-minded and by all accounts unafraid.''
Gard would definitely co-sign that appraisal.
"He's wired different,'' Gard suggested. "Everybody is unique. Everybody is their own person. Between the athletic ability and how he's just mentally wired different, that's what sets him apart. That's the game-changer within him. It's as much mentally and what he can handle.''
Gard shared a story. To break the monotony of hot and cold tub sessions to rejuvenate the body after workouts, the players will occasionally test each other to see who can hold their head under the water the longest. Most of the time, they will pop up after a few seconds gasping for air. Not Davis.
After holding his breath and outdoing everyone else by sizeable margins, Gard said, "He'll pop back up and ask, 'Do you want me to go longer?' Mentally, he's not phased by things. He's rock solid. He's just got that look to him. Steely-eyed. You can't crack him mentally. And he just competes.''
Gard has already seen it with his own eyes – Davis' indelible mark on the Badger program.
"Every recruit we've talked to or has walked through our offices or has been on our campus this spring, they all know who
Johnny Davis is,'' he said. "It has already paid dividends in terms of the exposure because of the spotlight he was in and the one that we were in (as a program) this past year.''
Gard is excited by the prospect of three Big Ten players being drafted in the Top 10 picks.
"It's unique and great for our league,'' he said of Ivey, Davis and Iowa's Keegan Murray. "Keegan was probably the least recruited of the three and he could be the highest pick of the three. All three, really, were developmental guys other than maybe Jaden. That's why it's such an inexact science.
"That's why I don't like to depend or rely on stars (to rate players). There are a lot of things you can't measure until you start working with them and figuring out their desire to get better and how bad they want it. You also have to find out what's under the hood mentally.''
Singling out Ivey, Murray and Davis and their high profile in the draft, Gard said, "Those three are great examples of guys that 48 months ago, you couldn't say that about them … We've always internally said, "It's really about, 'Are you good enough?' Johnny has said that to me many times.''
And proven that he is. By ringing the bell.
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