The world watched Sunday as Wisconsin basketball freshman star Brad Davison introduced himself as a college basketball legend in the making.
I really didn’t want to write this article, and had no intentions of doing it. However, I came into the office early this morning and ESPN was playing his highlights against Michigan State. His heroics in the heartbreaking loss had gotten much more attention than I realized.
There wasn’t a single minute of the game against MSU that I missed. It was tough to watch the Badgers fall to a team that they could have beaten. It’s been a brutally tough year for my guys in red and white. One of the few bright spots has been Davison. The kid can just play ball. He dislocated his shoulder, checked back in the game after popping it in and dropped a shot right in his defender’s grill.
.@BadgerMBB‘s Brad Davison is a WARRIOR.
He left the game to pop his shoulder back into place, then did this… pic.twitter.com/ChrkOmCung
— CBS Sports CBB (@CBSSportsCBB) February 25, 2018
13:59 — Brad Davison dislocates his shoulder
13:36 — Brad Davison returns after having his shoulder popped back in
13:25 — Brad Davison hits a jumper
This. Kid. Is. TOUGH. pic.twitter.com/CPIOwu9TWF
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 25, 2018
Davison has 20!!
INCREDIBLE pic.twitter.com/gOTvfnLDSD
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 25, 2018
He went on to drop 30. It’s crazy to think about but Brad Davison is the type of player every young kid in Wisconsin dreams about being growing up. It’s not flashy and it doesn’t draw lots of attention. He’s just a gutsy as hell guard, who plays tough as nails defense and grinds it out for every point he scores. Davison, who is from Minnesota, can also sling it from deep, which I think is legally required for guards that grow up in Wisconsin or play for the Badgers.
Lots of kids grow up dreaming about being LeBron James or some highflying ace that can pull of awesome dunks. Don’t get me wrong here. That’d be really cool too, but that’s not what most kids back home dream about as eight year olds in the driveway.
They all want to be the kid pulling up from 35 deep, posting up, rebound, drawing charges and playing lockdown defense. It’s essentially the spirit that Wisconsin has also represented, and it’s why we win so damn much. It’s a tough state full of tough people, and we represent it in our basketball game.
Like I said, this year has been tough and I really don’t like drawing attention to it. However, our future is clearly very bright with a guy like Davison at the helm. The kid can flat out play ball, and he does it the right way. I’d be very worried if I’m any other Big Ten team. He is going to destroy lives over the next few years.
