Speaker 1: I've had the great honor, the great privilege of working
Speaker 1: with some really good people. Raphel Davis is one of
Speaker 1: those guys. He is was a leader at Purdue, was
Speaker 1: the leader in the Big Ten Conference, continues to be
Speaker 1: a leader with his camps as well and on the
Speaker 1: Big Ten Network as well as a basketball analyst both
Speaker 1: in studio and at games at various arenas, and he
Speaker 1: joins us here on ex'es and bros. How are you,
Speaker 1: my friend? Happy holidays to you and your family. What's
Speaker 1: going on?
Speaker 2: I appreciate that. I appreciate that intro. I appreciate you
Speaker 2: mentioned in our camps. It's been great. I'm doing well.
Speaker 2: Glad to be talking with you. Happy holidays, see you
Speaker 2: guys as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much. You were a Big Ten Player
Speaker 1: of the Year defensively, and you were on All Big
Speaker 1: Ten defensive teams twice. Sometimes there are certain sacrifices that
Speaker 1: certain stars have to make in basketball. How do you
Speaker 1: know when to do that? Because you were a talented
Speaker 1: player in high school, you could score too, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: you could score when you wanted, But there are certain
Speaker 1: things that you needed to do in order for your
Speaker 1: team to compete for Big ten in national titles. How
Speaker 1: did you know when to do it?
Speaker 2: Oh for sure, because I mean I came in from
Speaker 2: Matt Paynter for coach Payne as a score I mean,
Speaker 2: I scored over two thousand points in high school. I
Speaker 2: tell kids all the time that, I mean I averaged
Speaker 2: thirty a game in high school. And I tell kids
Speaker 2: that I got to Purdue and I just couldn't get
Speaker 2: off the bench. I mean, I just couldn't play. And
Speaker 2: it gets to a point where it's a little bit
Speaker 2: of everything. It gets to a point where my freshman
Speaker 2: year for Due Louis is in the CBI to Santa
Speaker 2: Clara at mac Arena, and I don't even know if
Speaker 2: most people know what the CBI is. And then that
Speaker 2: next year as a sophomore, we finished last place in
Speaker 2: the Big ten. So we're at the bottom of the bottom.
Speaker 2: We had six guys transfer out, and this was before
Speaker 2: the portal. We only returned. We returned three scholarship guys
Speaker 2: and we brought in five freshmen, and then a transfer
Speaker 2: in John Knakiz came in around October around Halloween. So
Speaker 2: it was a thing where that year our assistant would
Speaker 2: tell me, hey, Ray, like, who's going to guard DeAndre Russell,
Speaker 2: who's gonna guard Tramp Petway, who's gonna guard DJ Knuble,
Speaker 2: Who's gonna guard all these guys? And if we don't
Speaker 2: have anybody to guard them, we'll finish the last place again.
Speaker 2: So that was that was a little motivation. I could
Speaker 2: be embarrassed, I guess, being one of the only older
Speaker 2: guys on that wing. But then also I just didn't
Speaker 2: play as much. I just didn't play a lot as
Speaker 2: a freshman. As a sophomore, our hand assistant coach Coach Owens,
Speaker 2: who's now a DePaul with coach Holtman. He and this
Speaker 2: was my guy. I knew Coach Owens as I was
Speaker 2: a little kid, so he looked me dead in my
Speaker 2: face after my sophomore year, said you're the worst defender
Speaker 2: I recruited, and if that doesn't change, you won't play here.
Speaker 2: But then he also set me down all summer and
Speaker 2: watched film with me. So the thing where a little
Speaker 2: bit of pride, a little bit of want to play
Speaker 2: a little bit, but then also knowing where Purdue was
Speaker 2: at that point, I used to tell my teammates if
Speaker 2: we suck, nobody's gonna want to nobody's gonna remember us
Speaker 2: when we come back here fifteen years from now. So
Speaker 2: we figured that thing out.
Speaker 1: So tough love from a coach, tough love from you
Speaker 1: as a teammate to other teammates as well, which I welcome.
Speaker 1: I think that's awesome. I think that's the way how
Speaker 1: you coach, and that's what good teammates are all about.
Speaker 1: As a guy who runs camps now and then we'll
Speaker 1: get into the big ten, do you feel that's the
Speaker 1: right way to teach campers or do you prepare them
Speaker 1: for that? And if sohow, Yeah?
Speaker 2: Especially from my campus, Like I have a one of
Speaker 2: my guys, he grew up with me. He started with
Speaker 2: us in sixth grade. He's now a junior and he's
Speaker 2: at a Cocomo High school and he has offers from
Speaker 2: Eastern Michigan. He is he's getting looked at from a
Speaker 2: lot of high major D one schools. But I tell
Speaker 2: him all the time, if you he's a guard, he's
Speaker 2: a he's a point guard. He's about six to two.
Speaker 2: He's athletic, he could jump, he can finish at the realm.
Speaker 2: And that's fine for high school. That's great for high school.
Speaker 2: You go get in the lane and make a play.
Speaker 2: But I tell him, if you can't make a stand
Speaker 2: still catching shoe jumper, if you can't make a fifteen
Speaker 2: foot off a ball screen when they're playing drop coverage,
Speaker 2: if you can't take care of the ball, you just
Speaker 2: won't play. Because for players like him, he's a little
Speaker 2: high level, he has a chance. So it's about for us,
Speaker 2: we got to prepare them. We got to prepare him
Speaker 2: to go play two minutes a game and be really
Speaker 2: effective in that two minutes, so he gets ten minutes
Speaker 2: with rises and rises. So we're in the same way.
Speaker 2: But for our kids that we do have kids that
Speaker 2: are just there for fun, the kids that they may
Speaker 2: not make their high school team. So for those kids,
Speaker 2: we show them different ways how to stay in basketball.
Speaker 2: We may introduce them to a manager and produced staff.
Speaker 2: We may take them to Michigan State and let them
Speaker 2: talk to NEX or something like that and just learn
Speaker 2: a different role within the sports program where you don't
Speaker 2: have to be a player. So it just we meet
Speaker 2: you where you are. But if you're a guy and
Speaker 2: we think you have a chance and we think you're
Speaker 2: going to go make some hay, we keep it real
Speaker 2: with you. We don't sugarcoat anything, even with the parents.
Speaker 2: And I tell the parents all the time, We're not babysitting.
Speaker 2: I'm not a guy that's trying to live through your kid.
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to get them to the next level,
Speaker 2: prepare them.
Speaker 1: I love that. Man, what a great message. I wish
Speaker 1: more people would would take that role on in life,
Speaker 1: not just in basketball and not just in sports. Rofel
Speaker 1: Davis joining us here on Ex's and Bros. You watched
Speaker 1: the Michigan Arkansas game last night. It was a back
Speaker 1: and forth affair. Michigan and Michigan stay both bumping in
Speaker 1: of the top twenty five this week? How good do
Speaker 1: you think Michigan can be? And then we'll focus on
Speaker 1: the Spartans.
Speaker 2: I don't want to overdo it, but I think Michigan.
Speaker 2: Michigan is talented enough to be a Final four team.
Speaker 2: I mean, you look last night. They had that defensive
Speaker 2: laps as part that second half where he was going
Speaker 2: to keep the ball out of the lane. But Michigan
Speaker 2: is going when they have when they have all of
Speaker 2: their players clicking on the same page, they're one of
Speaker 2: the best teams in the country. I mean, Danny Wolf
Speaker 2: is just a hard guard. He's just a hardcover seventh
Speaker 2: foot I mean, I think he had nine tests this
Speaker 2: last night, and I just don't remember the last seven
Speaker 2: foot guy to have ten assists in the game. So
Speaker 2: I think with Danny leading the offense, I just wish,
Speaker 2: I wish at the end of that game he would
Speaker 2: have been able to make a play because they were
Speaker 2: kind of going through him a little bit. But I
Speaker 2: think with Roddy Gal, Danny Wolf Lad Golden, that gives
Speaker 2: you one of the better trios in the country. And
Speaker 2: then you look at if Nabari Burnett can make shots,
Speaker 2: if Trade Donaldson continue to make shots, if you get
Speaker 2: Rubin Jones going a little bit, I mean, obviously Sam
Speaker 2: Watsons can shoot the ball from deep. So I think
Speaker 2: this Michigan team, as long as they committed defending like
Speaker 2: they had been. They had their little lapse yesterday where
Speaker 2: they went to that zone to kind of struggle, but
Speaker 2: if they can rebound and defend, they could definitely run
Speaker 2: a table in a big ten to be one of
Speaker 2: those final teams standing in the tournament.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing how different they are just from a
Speaker 1: year ago. Michigan a loser last night to Arkansas, but
Speaker 1: had won seven in a row. Michigan State is a
Speaker 1: team that's going to be off for a little bit now.
Speaker 1: They don't play again until Tuesday, I think against Oakland
Speaker 1: at LCA, where you and I called a game earlier
Speaker 1: this year for Big Ten Network. They're a team that
Speaker 1: they're back in the mold of what tom Izzo has built, toughness,
Speaker 1: rebounding defense. Right, they have to say they've fallen in
Speaker 1: love is probably unfair. But they shoot a lot of threes,
Speaker 1: a little bit more than I thought they would, And
Speaker 1: I don't know if they have truly high skilled three
Speaker 1: point shooters. What do you think Michigan State is made
Speaker 1: of so far?
Speaker 2: No, I agree with you, and I'm just happy they're
Speaker 2: back to that. I'm happy they're back to that that
Speaker 2: when I when I came into the Big Ten, even
Speaker 2: watching the game in high school college game and it's
Speaker 2: not like it's not like you're a punk or you're
Speaker 2: a chump or anything, but when you see Michigan State
Speaker 2: on the schedule, you you tense up a little bit.
Speaker 2: It was a thing where you were you weren't scared
Speaker 2: of Michigan State, but you were you were a little
Speaker 2: worried about Michigan State. So I think so. I think
Speaker 2: it's one of those things where I think they're back
Speaker 2: to who they were just identity wise. It's physically toughness,
Speaker 2: rebounding the ball. I think they're running the transition extremely well.
Speaker 2: I mean, being able to get out on the run
Speaker 2: has been really impressive to me playing those two guards
Speaker 2: or Trey Hollerman and Jeremy Fear and I think they're back.
Speaker 2: Once I saw I saw, I mean I saw Trey
Speaker 2: Holloman throw out of you to coin car from half court,
Speaker 2: and that's when I was kind of like, Okay, this
Speaker 2: Michigan State team is back. But I do think, like
Speaker 2: you said, they do shoot a bunch of jumpers sometimes
Speaker 2: I can kill you on the road. But this this
Speaker 2: team from compared to last season. Last year, when they
Speaker 2: shouted a bunch of jumpers and they missed them, they
Speaker 2: would lose those games. They had no chances, they had
Speaker 2: no chance to win games if they didn't shoot it well.
Speaker 2: This year, they can beat you in different ways. They
Speaker 2: can beat you with the defense and get on the
Speaker 2: glass to get out the transition. I think that's gonna
Speaker 2: bogue well for them.
Speaker 1: Look it's pretty early seven eight games, depending on which
Speaker 1: team you're following. But the Big Ten has six teams
Speaker 1: ranked in the top twenty five. I've never been a
Speaker 1: big believer in preseason top twenty fives or really you
Speaker 1: don't get there until you're at least into conference play
Speaker 1: because they just don't think we know what teams are
Speaker 1: just yet. But when you gloss over the Big Ten
Speaker 1: and you see the depth of this conference, and it's
Speaker 1: always been deep when you played as well, what's your
Speaker 1: overall impression early on, maybe a third of the way
Speaker 1: through the season or not quite at the third way
Speaker 1: three cup point part of the season in the conference overall,
Speaker 1: man think.
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be one of the better Big
Speaker 2: Ten seasons that we've seen in a long time. I mean,
Speaker 2: you just the parody in the league. I think you
Speaker 2: look now you see these games on a row. Rather
Speaker 2: if it's Illinois going to Northwestern, or last night you
Speaker 2: have Penn State going to Rutgers. I mean Northwestern at Iowa.
Speaker 2: It's just I mean Perdue at Penn State. It's just
Speaker 2: so it's so tough to win on the road. The
Speaker 2: teams are so talented. I think this year in the
Speaker 2: big team. When you look across the league, I think
Speaker 2: this is one of the more talented leagues that we've
Speaker 2: had in a while, especially this freshman class. I mean
Speaker 2: CA Spara and Jackie Shonas has just been special. Derrick Queen,
Speaker 2: he's just been special. I mean Dylan Harper's first overall
Speaker 2: draft pick in my opinion. So I think talent level.
Speaker 2: Talent level is special. I think the coaches in this
Speaker 2: league this season are special. I just I think this
Speaker 2: is one of those years where you have a bunch
Speaker 2: of maybe two of the six seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 2: The last few years we've had a bunch of eight
Speaker 2: to nine and ten seeds, if that makes sense. So
Speaker 2: I think this is going to be a really good year.
Speaker 2: I think we have a couple teams that can make
Speaker 2: a real deal shot to that final four. It reminds
Speaker 2: me of of that twenty fifteen season where you had
Speaker 2: Wisconstant make it all the way, but Michigan State was
Speaker 2: really good. You had Maryland that was really good. We
Speaker 2: were really good. So I think this is one of
Speaker 2: those seasons where Big ten gets back to kind of
Speaker 2: that national dominance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that twenty fifteen season, you were the Big Ten
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year. Raphael Davis Joiners from Big
Speaker 1: Ten Network. You mentioned your alma mater, Perdue going into
Speaker 1: Penn State, and really that game wasn't close. I mean
Speaker 1: Penn State, how they got the energy and you know
Speaker 1: what it's like playing there, that's usually a dud of
Speaker 1: a place to play. Does that show you that on
Speaker 1: any given night or does it show you the depth
Speaker 1: of this conference in general? And we saw it again
Speaker 1: last night Wisconsin losing their third straight game to Illinois.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's a good indication of the depth
Speaker 1: or is it just one of those situations where you're
Speaker 1: going to find some upsets once in a while.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just the depth of the conference.
Speaker 2: And also just be given night, anybody can beat you,
Speaker 2: I think. I think when you look about you think
Speaker 2: about the twenty fifteen season, like we were just talking,
Speaker 2: I mean, I can remember going in that year. You
Speaker 2: just had to get to that Rutgers game. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you remember how good Rutgers was, and there
Speaker 2: was Eddie Jordan's years where Yeah, after that Rutgers game,
Speaker 2: it was kind of that get right game. You know
Speaker 2: what I mean, or you could get you can get
Speaker 2: pinsed State, you get pinned State at home. It was
Speaker 2: kind of one of those get right games there. I
Speaker 2: think this year, you look across the league, there's not
Speaker 2: many of those. There's not many opportunities where you're going
Speaker 2: to go somewhere and expect to win. I mean, even
Speaker 2: if I know Minnesota isn't a great team this year,
Speaker 2: but Dawston Garcia is a really good player. If you
Speaker 2: catch Dalston Garcia on a night where he can give
Speaker 2: you forty, Minnesota could beat some people. So I think
Speaker 2: this year the depth is serious. I think it's one
Speaker 2: of those years where if you want to compete to
Speaker 2: win the league, you really got to take care of
Speaker 2: your home court. If you can win all your home games,
Speaker 2: you can win half your road games. I think that
Speaker 2: there will be enough to win the league this season.
Speaker 2: So I think the road beings are top. I think
Speaker 2: this year, and also you look back to when I play,
Speaker 2: I mean, Northwestern will be a home game for Purdue.
Speaker 2: At times, Penn State would be dead, Minnesota would be dead.
Speaker 2: But you look across the league now, Nope, Western has
Speaker 2: a real home court advantage. I mean Nebraska's rocket. I
Speaker 2: think you look at these teams, and you look at
Speaker 2: the West Coast teams and you look at their crowdside this,
Speaker 2: I think with those teams coming to the come of
Speaker 2: East and come up playing the big can Arenas, that
Speaker 2: may throw them off. So I think it's going to
Speaker 2: be a lot of a lot of things going on
Speaker 2: this season. But I think the team that takes care
Speaker 2: of homes and sneaks someone away on the road, takes care.
Speaker 1: Of business last thing for you before we let you go.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate the time. I want your opinion on
Speaker 1: the hardest places to play in the conference. I have
Speaker 1: had this conversation through my experiences in calling Big Ten
Speaker 1: basketball for fifteen to twenty years. My experience was that,
Speaker 1: and I don't say this because you're here, I mean
Speaker 1: our producer Trent Pali can verify this. I always felt
Speaker 1: like Mackie Arena was the loudest place to deal with
Speaker 1: in your opinion, give me the top five or top
Speaker 1: three if you want loudest places in the Big Ten
Speaker 1: to play as a visitor, your barn Macki Arena. If
Speaker 1: we can agree, we would put in one who's close
Speaker 1: after that, Yeah, I put.
Speaker 2: Mack Arena first for sure. I think mackiw When it
Speaker 2: gets going in there, man, it's tough to hear with
Speaker 2: that old skilled build, with that concrete behind the wall,
Speaker 2: that gets really loud. But then I think I put
Speaker 2: Michigan State right there. You get Michigan State on a
Speaker 2: noon tip on a Saturday, and the A zone is
Speaker 2: going crazy. They're they're not all white. I mean they
Speaker 2: especially when they're good. When they have an exciting team
Speaker 2: like they have this season, they really get behind it
Speaker 2: and it's a lot of it's a fun brand of basketball.
Speaker 2: So I put Michigan State right there. I put when
Speaker 2: I played, when I was in the Big Ten, I
Speaker 2: would have put Maryland right there. And I think we
Speaker 2: could have a chance we put Maryland back into that mix,
Speaker 2: just because they're good at getting this season. But you
Speaker 2: get to that under sixteen time out in that second half,
Speaker 2: when they bring down that flag over the student section,
Speaker 2: it gets it gets rockets in there. It hasn't been
Speaker 2: a great crowd the last couple of years, but I
Speaker 2: think they can get back. I think nowadays nowadays that
Speaker 2: when I played. When I played, it was more of
Speaker 2: a high school type of environment. But Rutgers is really
Speaker 2: good now. Their environment is crazy. Rutgers has definitely one
Speaker 2: of the better home course advantages in this league, which
Speaker 2: is going to really help. It's really helped on freshmen
Speaker 2: because you see last night Penn State was on that run.
Speaker 2: They had a chance to win that game at the end,
Speaker 2: and the fans. The fans really got Rutgers over the
Speaker 2: top of my opinion. But I think those those three,
Speaker 2: you had Indiana in there. Where Indiana has it going
Speaker 2: this year, the fans seem to be a little upset
Speaker 2: at coach Wilson, so it hasn't been great. But I
Speaker 2: think Indiana when they're they're really good, they're right there.
Speaker 2: But I put Nebraska. Nebraska's in that mix. I don't
Speaker 2: care what anybody says, whether they're good, whether they're not good.
Speaker 2: It's the best show in town that Pinnacle Bank Arena
Speaker 2: when Nebraska has a good team come to town and
Speaker 2: they fill that thing up. So I think those will
Speaker 2: be that. I list Illinois maybe in there, but I
Speaker 2: think Perdue, Michigan State, Rutgers, Maryland when they're good in Nebraska,
Speaker 2: those would be mine. Because Nebraska, they start shooting off
Speaker 2: that cannon and that it gets met.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, those are good choices. My choices have always
Speaker 1: been Mackie and then MSU, you know, Breslin, and then
Speaker 1: I usually put Indiana in there. Maryland's a really good
Speaker 1: one because it's the largest I believe it's I think
Speaker 1: maybe North Carolina might be a little bit larger, but
Speaker 1: Maryland is the largest arena in the Big Ten and
Speaker 1: it's one of the largest in the country. So it's
Speaker 1: really good stuff. It's great information. Congratulations on the success,
Speaker 1: not just on the floor but with the camps and
Speaker 1: on TV. Appreciate the friendship very much. Have a great
Speaker 1: holiday for you and your family. And thanks for the
Speaker 1: time today, Bud.
Speaker 2: You guys have a happy holiday to enjoy it. We'll
Speaker 2: do man.
Speaker 1: Thanks again.