DETROIT — In preparing for last year’s NCAA Tournament, Bucknell coach Nathan Davis had one wish going into Selection Sunday: Please don’t give us West Virginia. Lo and behold, the Bison drew the Mountaineers. Bucknell held its own, but lost 86-80.
This year, he told people that the two teams that he would not want to face were Arizona and Michigan State. The Bison play the Spartans on Friday.
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“I should probably just keep my mouth shut about that,” Davis said on Wednesday. “That’s not a knock on our guy, though. We’re a very good team.”
Davis said that the case could be made that this Bucknell team is the best in school history, and if anyone would know, it would be him. Davis was an assistant at Bucknell when the Bison knocked off Kansas in 2005 as a 14-seed and when the school knocked off Arkansas the next year as a nine-seed. Two years later, Davis left to become the coach at his alma mater, Randolph-Macon, where he led the Yellow Jackets to six straight Division III NCAA Tournament appearances before coming back to Bucknell in 2015. Since his return, the Bison have gone 45-9 in Patriot League play.
“This is as talented of a roster as I’ve seen here from top to bottom,” Davis said. “We’re a confident group and we’ve playing well.”
Part of the reason they have been playing well as of late is that the Bison are finally healthy. Guards Kimball Mackenzie and Avi Toomer both missed significant time over the course of the season, and Toomer just had his minutes restriction lifted during the conference tournament.
“Over the last few weeks was the first time we’ve had all our guys together and been able to show what we can do,” Davis said.
Davis got his break in the coaching ranks from after the retirement of Hal Nunnally, who roamed the sideline at Randolph Macon from 1975 to 1999. Davis cut his teeth under Nunnally, first as a player from 1992-96 and then as a student assistant the following year. Nunnally’s coaching tree is quite impressive for a school the size of Randolph-Macon. Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, VCU’s Mike Rhoades, former Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds, former Tulane head man Shawn Finney and Davis all played for or coached under Nunnally. He died in 2004, but his legacy lives on the coaches that he mentored.
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“He was just a really good coach who taught a style that was successful,” Davis said of Nunnally, who won 431 games in his 24 seasons. “The program is not as well-known around the country, but in basketball, it’s well-known. It’s become a place other schools will look to try to find people who will help them win. Everyone being around Coach Nunnally gives us something to talk about, a common background. We all stay in touch regularly. And we all follow each other’s careers. It’s great seeing them out on the road and catching up.
If Davis and his charges can upset the Spartans, he’ll have quite the tale to tell at the next Randolph Macon reunion.
(Top photo by Jeremy Brevard/Getty Images)