Despite uncertainty, Bob McKillop’s Davidson basketball team preparing for season
There’s not much known yet about how the college basketball season will take shape in these days of the coronavirus, so Davidson coach Bob McKillop isn’t taking any chances.
“We’re preparing as if the season is taking place as scheduled,” McKillop said this week. “It’s full speed ahead. We’re adhering to the restrictions and the protocols, doing everything we should be doing.”
Like on most college campuses, this fall will be different at Davidson. No sports will be played, after the Pioneer Football League postponed play until the spring and the Atlantic 10 (where most of the Wildcats’ other teams play) will do the same for its fall sports.
No decision has yet been made by the A-10 about winter sports, however.
So McKillop’s men’s basketball team — as well as the Wildcats women’s squad — has been working out on a restricted basis since late July.
“We’re adding a little each day in that regard,” McKillop said. “The first week was one man, then two men; now we have multiple players out there who can actually pass to each other. But it’s step by step. It’s been a great laboratory for our guys to understand the details. Our assistant coaches have been spectacular. They’ve mandated, taught and cultivated all that it entails. Now it’s a process of putting it all together.”
McKillop, beginning his 32nd season at Davidson, said he hasn’t paid much attention to how the season might take shape. If, for instance, nonconference, conference and postseason tournament games can be played in a “bubble,” like the NBA is doing this summer.
“I don’t know anything about that,” McKillop said, laughing. “We’re just concentrating on what’s in front of us right now.”
Davidson hasn’t released its basketball schedule yet (which includes a tournament in Maui), due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus.
McKillop lives with his wife, Cathy, across the street from the Davidson campus, where online and some in-person classes began Aug. 20.
“It’s kind of a strange situation,” McKillop said. “I’m actively involved in walking around here all the time, and not seeing a whole lot of activity on campus. It’s a reminder of what summer is like here.”
McKillop said there have been conversations around the Wildcats team during the summer about addressing racism and social injustice. Senior guard Kellan Grady, who launched an initiative called CARE (College Athletes for Respect and Equality) in June, was recently involved in a verbal confrontation during a protest in downtown Davidson with a counter-protester.
“If ever there was an environment where this kind of thing can be discussed, it’s in our environment, with the dramatic diversity that exists in our team,” said McKillop, whose team routinely features several international players. “It’s been a message they embraced. There’s evil everywhere, and we saw it front and center last week in our own backyard with Kellan. There’s constant mention of needing to wash our hands of the virus, but we also need to wash our hearts and souls.”
Davidson also canceled its summer sports camps because of the coronavirus. That got McKillop to thinking about a stretch of four or five summers in the early 1990s, when among his campers were local kids by the names of Will Grier, Will Gordon and Luke Maye.
The three youngsters went on to have outstanding high school and college careers in their respective sports — Grier in football at Davidson Day and West Virginia; Gordon in golf at Concord’s Cannon School and Vanderbilt; and Maye in basketball at Hough and North Carolina.
Grier is playing for the Carolina Panthers. Gordon recently earned special temporary membership on the PGA Tour when he tied for third at the Travelers Championship in June. Maye signed recently to play professionally in Italy.
“Here they were, 6, 7 or 8 years old, but you saw glimpses of what they could do that was transferable to the sports they eventually played,” McKillop said. “How they competed, hand-eye coordination, natural ability.
“Will Grier was competitive, tough, skilled and changed speed and directions very well. Will Gordon was a guy who could shoot it very well and loved to play a role. We all know how Luke turned out on the basketball court.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 4:03 PM.