Q&A with Doug Davis

THE PAST

It was a long time ago, but can you talk about your first game at Princeton?

I give a lot of credit to Sydney Johnson [’97] for putting faith in me as a freshman to come in and start. I remember I was nervous about that game. I was thinking about it a week in advance. Normally I’m pretty nervous before a game, but especially that one — my first collegiate game. But after the first shot went up — and I think I made it, my first shot — after that I was fine. [Ed. note: Davis missed his first shot, but he made a jumper less than 30 seconds later.] Even with a missed shot after that, I was in a groove. It’s a groove that comes with playing a lot. A groove that comes once you get on the court, once you play a lot, once you do a move, things start becoming a whole lot smoother. That’s what happened that night, and it was a big night. I think I made 25. It was special.

What were those times like, the early years, with the struggles?

Freshman year, it was rough, especially for the seniors now. All three of us came from winning programs. We were used to winning. We came here, and we had won six games the previous year. We were 13-14 freshman year, so we didn’t have a winning season. It was a little tough for us to get rolling. Later on in the season we hit a point where we won pretty tough games in the Ivy League. I think we beat Cornell at home our freshman year. We beat Cornell at home our freshman year, and that was special because it showed that we had potential. My sophomore year we built on the previous season and we went to the CBI. I remember that just being a long season because we played Duquesne, then we played IUPUI. Then we went on to lose to St. Louis. It was fun; it was great to play with the guys — Marcus Schroeder, Pawel [Buczak], Zach Finley, Nick Lake [all Class of 2010] — those guys were great, and they really helped mold us into the players we are now.

What convinced you to come to Princeton?

A lot of it had to do with the coaching staff and getting us on board. They put a lot of faith and trust in us and our abilities — that we could be a major part of turning this team and this program around. We bit, I mean, I bit. Coach Johnson put it in a way, "We’re already here; there’s nowhere to go but up."

How has Jadwin changed since your freshman year?

We always said we had to win in order to get people to the stands. I remember my first game out, against Central Michigan. We walked out there, and there was literally nobody. The music is going off, everybody’s warming up, and there’s no one in the stands. I think my family came a little late, and some other guys [were] in the stands, but that was it. I was like, “Wow. This has to change.” It only took us winning. That Cornell game, it really showed people that we could beat tough teams. We ended up doing that, and it just carried on.

You’ve been a key part in rebuilding this proud program. What has that been like?

It’s been a lot of hard work. It’s not just one class. It’s a bunch of classes. It’s Michael Strittmatter and Jason Briggs [Class of 2009] when I was a freshman. They really helped to mold us into the sophomores that we were. Then the 2010 class helped mold us into juniors. Bob Foley, Kareem Maddox, Dan Mavraides [Class of 2011] — they definitely helped us all out, pushing us to the limits that we weren’t used to being pushed to. The coaching staff really helped facilitate that as well.

What are your favorite parts of this program?

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All the support that you get from alumni, that’s definitely great. We have Friends of Princeton Basketball — those guys are awesome. But just getting out there and getting a chance to play with everybody. Princeton ball, it just represents a grind that you have, because you’re doing schoolwork, you’re doing everything that you have to do off the court, and then you have basketball. You think, “Oh my gosh, this is tough.” But looking back on it right now, you think, “Man, it was special.” Those times were special because nobody else will ever fully understand the situation that you’re in. Not even the other Ivy League players will understand. The athletes here at Princeton, and being able to talk to them about getting up early, and doing work, and writing a thesis, and writing a JP, your independent work — you only get that here at Princeton. I’m definitely proud about that.

What are your favorite moments on the court at Jadwin?

When I think about Jadwin, I think about the game we won our freshman year against Cornell because that was the first time I had the chance to see Jadwin — the jungle. That was like, “Wow. This place is really rocking.” Then our sophomore year, we played Cornell again, and it seemed like it was even more packed. And then definitely beating Harvard here, senior night, my 1,000th point, of course — there’s just a lot of memories here.

Can you describe what was going on in your head during the playoff against Harvard, before the game, during the game and after?

Before the game, I was thinking, "This is going to be tough." I remember talking to Isaac Serwanga [a senior wide receiver on the football team], who told me, “This is going to come down to the last shot. You guys are both really good.” I was like, “Yeah, man, you’re right.” He said, “You just got to win it.” I remember going into the game with that same mindset. And we did.

During the game, it was like, “Wow.” It seemed like we were going tit for tat. Shots were made at both ends. There was one point where they made one, we came down, Ian made a shot, they came down and made a three, Kareem came down and made a layup. We just couldn’t stop each other, and it was really fun to play in that environment because you’re just going back and forth. Then after awhile, it’s like, there’s time on the clock and somebody’s got to make the shot, somebody’s going to miss, or something’s going to happen.

So when they went up with 11 seconds left, Dan threw me the ball, and I’m looking at Coach Johnson for a timeout. I’m thinking, “Are you going to call something?” And he just looks at me like, “What are you going to do?” So I had to do something. I ended up getting fouled, and I landed on my wrist, so I was in pain. I’m rolling on the ground, and then we get up. Coach designs a play for Ian or Kareem to get the ball and for Will to set a pick for me on the weak side. And I’m like, “Oh my gosh, there’s like 2.8 seconds left. I don’t know how the shot’s going to go. We got to do something quick.” So Will ended up setting a screen on the weak side, and I ended up breaking through. Dan didn’t hesitate and threw me the ball. I caught it and tried to get away from [Harvard guard] Oliver McNally as fast as I could. I threw a pump fake, and he bit on it. I knew I had to get a shot up quick, and I shot it and it fell. I was counting in my head; there were basically three seconds. If I get it off a little bit before three, I’m fine. I did, and my counting was pretty good.

How about the aftermath?

That was more pain [referring to the court storming and subsequent dogpile]. Everyone jumped on me, including a bunch of football players. It was fun, but then I was like, “Guys, ok, get off of me. We still have another game to play." But it was fun — I’ll never forget it.

I got a lot of phone calls to say that much. A lot of phone calls, Twitter. I think I was trending on Twitter, which was ridiculous. So there was Twitter, and on Facebook everyone was just hitting me up. It was fun, and I really enjoyed it. I used it as a platform, a confidence builder to carry me into the summer playing basketball with some good players.

What was going through your head in Tampa against Kentucky?

Before the game, I knew that if we just played our brand of basketball, it would be hard for them to play us. We offered a lot of matchups, issues, things like that for them. I knew we would be a lot of trouble for them. I wasn’t too nervous, but on that big stage, it’s ridiculous because you have everyone watching you, you have all the cameras. You can’t go anywhere without a camera following you. It’s fun, and it definitely can get the nerves flowing a little bit. But when you’re on that stage, you have to produce, you have to play well. It’s kind of what’s expected of you. I remember the West Virginia fans wanted us to win, so they were yelling at us, “Come on, Princeton, you’ve got this.” That encouragement — I don’t know why they were cheering for us. I guess they wanted to play us in the second round, but I don’t know why they would want to do that. But it definitely helped. You had a lottery pick in Brandon Knight, who ended up making that layup, which is crazy. Only two points — wow, I still can’t believe that. It’s crazy. It happens in basketball.

THE PRESENT

What was it like adjusting this year, both to a leadership role and with a new coach?

It was difficult. Having three years under Coach Johnson, you kind of knew what he wanted from us and what he wanted from the team and me as captain. It was a little different having Coach [Mitch Henderson ’98] as our leader and our coach. But I think we hit a point where we started winning a bunch of games, and I think that that came with the guys, especially with me and Pat [Saunders] as captains and John [Comfort] as a senior. We showed leadership and really started getting what he wanted from us, and that was just to play hard and play Princeton style basketball — the basketball that he would like us to play. I think that’s what happened, and that was what was working for us. It was a tough process getting to that point, but we got there, and I’m glad we got there.

What was going through your head those last minutes in Jadwin against Penn, a hated rival?

It was great; it was my last game. At the time, I didn’t know if there were going to be any tournaments. I didn’t know if there was going to be a CBI, CIT, NIT bid. I’m kind of thinking, this could be my last half. I’m looking at Pat and I’m looking at John, and this is it, this could really be it for us. When you’re in that situation, you want to go out with a win. You don’t want to go out on senior night with a loss. I know we’ve done it to some teams, where we’ve beat them on senior night, and it must suck, but I didn’t want to be in that situation. We helped Harvard out, but I really felt that I wasn’t going to help Penn win the Ivy League or share the Ivy League title on our floor, like we did last year to them. I didn’t want them to beat us. [This season] was the second time I lost to Penn, and I didn’t want to lose to them for a third.

What was it like, in your last game in a Princeton uniform, becoming the second leading scorer in Princeton history?

The last game was tough. I talked to Pat as we were coming out for the second half, and I think we were down by a good amount. I looked at him and said, “This could be it; this could be our last half.” And he looked at me, and then we both agreed. We both smiled and decided that we were going to have fun. We were both trying to win, and we were going to have fun trying to win. When John got in, I know he felt the same way. We played, and Pitt’s a very good team. They shot the ball very well. I was not expecting them to shoot the ball that well. I was expecting it to be a little bit closer. But yeah, it was tough, it was definitely tough for it to sink in that that was my last game.

THE FUTURE

What are your plans for the future?

I plan on playing, wherever it may be. It’s a process that I have to start the ball rolling. Spring break just happened, I just wanted a chance to chill with my family and relax for a little bit, work on my thesis, get some things out of the way. When I’m dealing with what I’m doing after graduation, I want to be fully focused on that, not really worrying about something else like a thesis. I just want to knock some things out and focus on what’s next, like getting an agent, things like that. I’m looking forward to it, seems like it will be fun. I’m up for the challenge, wherever.

Do you have any idea where you want to go?

Somewhere warm, somewhere hot. I’m tired of snow and this crazy weather in Jersey.

How about beyond basketball?

I’m not sure yet. I’m still ... I don’t know yet. I have no idea.

What do you see as the future for Princeton basketball?

I think that you’re going to see Princeton basketball in the next couple of years as long as Coach Henderson keeps doing what he’s doing. We’re going to see Princeton basketball run at its best, and we’ve got a lot of guys to do that. We’ll continue to have success with some bigger teams, and I think we’re going to sneak up and bite some teams in the butt. It’s going to be fun to watch Princeton, but now that I’m gone, it’s weird. But it will be fun. I think you’re going to see Princeton playing its best basketball late. It’s always good to have a team playing really well late in February and early March, because then the sky's the limit when you get into a tournament, the tournament, NIT, CIT, whatever else.

I’ve got two more years at Princeton. Do you think I’m going to get another chance to see Princeton in the tournament?

I think so, yeah — in the next year or the year after.

OFF THE COURT

What has been your favorite moment off the court?

My freshman year, I will never forget filing into the old Fields Center and watching the election — all that process in 2008 with Obama. I think we had practice the next morning. We were out kind of late because Obama had been elected president. We were going crazy in the Carl Fields Center, and I’m like, “Wow, this is unbelievable! It’s a part of history!” I’ll never forget that.

There are a lot of things I remember. I won’t forget my freshman year, because my freshman year was tough. I was away from home; it wasn’t the first time, but I was away from home. Princeton takes some getting used to and adjusting to. My family was really supportive and they came up. My brother came up whenever he could to visit me. I’ll never forget that.

And the FSI [Freshman Scholars Institute]. I will never forget FSI. That was the most fun I had in two months at school probably ever. It was an introduction to Princeton. I met a lot of people who I am still cool with now.

What has been your favorite class so far at Princeton?

[SOC 250: The Western Way of War] with Miguel Centeno, I liked his class a whole lot. [AAS 201: Study of African American Cultural Practices] with Eddie Glaude is a great class. Eddie Glaude is a faculty fellow with us, and it was a great class. Believe it or not, there was [SOC 346: Sociology of Sports] that I took here with a visiting professor, William Kornblum. Great class, not just because I’m an athlete, but it really focused on all the things that people overlook about athletes and the things they go through. It was really real and great stuff.

What’s your thesis about?

Public-school education and how it relates to the prison system — the imprisonment of the public school student. So I’m talking about a lot of different things, and I had a draft due today. Wasn’t great.

But you got it in?

I got it in. It was 75 pages ... I turned in 73. It’s just a lot. For you, man, start it over the summer, get it over with. When you come back, you have a foundation to build on. I think that’s what I did. It helped a great deal. Definitely do that, and you’ll be fine.

Can you talk about the talk you gave at the panel about diversity during freshman week in 2010?

It was definitely a new challenge. I remember somebody threw me off. I had everything planned out; I had it all lined up. And then, I don’t remember what I said — I started talking, and then someone yelled out, “You’re a sexy beast!” I’ll never forget it. I was like, “What?!” And it threw everything off, and I couldn’t get it back. But I used it as a learning tool, so now every time I speak now, I think about that.

What will you miss most about Princeton?

It definitely will be basketball because it takes up so much time, takes up so much space during your day. I can’t say I’m going to miss writing a thesis; I can’t say I’m going to miss writing a JP. But basketball and the people. Coming here, sitting in Frist and watching TV, all of us having to worry about writing papers or doing problem sets. I’m really going to miss the people I met here, and I know I’m probably not going to see some of these guys again. I hope we can keep in touch, but I’ll definitely miss the friendships.