Why is the outlook bright for the Davidson Wildcats?

The Davidson Wildcats just completed a season during which they won 24 games and played in a postseason tournament for the 23rd time in program history.

Still, there was a sense that something was missing.

“Twenty-four wins is 24 wins. That’s a very productive season,” said coach Bob McKillop. “But there’s an emptiness right now about the way it ended. You look at the number of close games we had. The emotional drain that was on us was a constant demon that was with us all the time. It wears you down.”

Indeed, the Wildcats lost their final two games – in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament and a few days later in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Five of Davidson’s 10 losses were by four points or less. Winning two or three of them would have given the team a shot at an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. Losses at Massachusetts, Saint Joseph’s and La Salle, and at home against Dayton – all second-division teams in the A-10 – also hurt Davidson’s tournament resume.

So there remains the feeling that despite the all those wins and a second-place finish in the league the Wildcats underachieved, especially with the talent McKillop had assembled. Their starting five included the A-10’s player of the year (guard Jon Axel Gudmundsson), another first-team all-conference player (guard Kellan Grady), the league’s top 3-point shooter (Luke Frampton) and a star in the making in freshman forward Luka Brajkovic.

So here’s the good news for McKillop: All those players – in addition to starting guard KiShawn Pritchett and sixth-man Carter Collins – return.

“We’re going to be better and we have a lot of areas we need to improve on,” McKillop said. “We’re already working feverishly on that.”

McKillop said there are individual areas for the players to work on, including Gudmundsson’s leadership skills, some technical areas of Grady’s game, and Frampton continuing to expand his offensive repertoire away from the 3-point line. Brajkovic, a smooth low-post player with a variety of moves, nonetheless should add at least 20 pounds to his 6-foot-10, 220-pound frame.

McKillop said he didn’t do a good job of using his bench (the top six players were the only Wildcats who averaged double-digit minutes). So he said he’ll need players like guards David Czerapowicz and Mike Jones (who missed the season with a knee injury) and forwards Bates Jones and Nelson Boachie-Yiadom to develop. McKillop has announced the signing of one incoming freshman so far – 6-foot-10 forward David Kristensen of Denmark.

Davidson will again be among the A-10’s favorites next season, but the Wildcats aren’t the only team in the league with returning talent. Virginia Commonwealth, Dayton and St. Bonaventure – among others – also figure to be strong.

The Wildcats’ nonconference schedule includes a game at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center against Wake Forest, a home game against Nevada and a tournament in Orlando, Fla., with a field that includes Marquette, Maryland, Temple, Harvard, Fairfield, Southern California and Texas A&M.

This story was originally published March 29, 2019 at 2:28 PM.