IDS photographer James Brosher saw sophomore point guard and IU recruit Jeremiah Davis in action yesterday. Brosher, who shot the above photograph, put together this write-up about the game:
PORTLAND, Ind. - IU prospect Jeremiah Davis led the Muncie Central Bearcats in scoring, but couldn't lead them to a win.
The Class 4A Bearcats (4-4) dropped their second straight, losing to Class 4A Jay County (5-0) 53-40 on Saturday, Jan. 3 at the Jay County High School gymnasium in Portland, Ind.
Davis was 3-of-17 from the floor with 11 points in the overtime loss.
The sophomore hit a fade-away three pointer with 39.6 seconds left to tie the game at 38-38, eventually leading to overtime when both teams missed opportunities to put the game away in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.
In overtime, the Patriots pulled away at the free-throw line as Central only scored two points in the extra period.
The Bearcats looked fatigued throughout the game, possibly a result of a crushing 96-75 loss to Pike the night before.
Davis received his first scholarship offer from Kentucky's Billy Gillespie at the end of his freshman year, last May. Later that month, IU coach Tom Crean was next to offer, and he has since been offered by Ball State, Purdue and Tennessee.
It has been rumored that Tennessee is the later, but Davis has not confirmed that he has a leader. I spoke with the 6-foot-3 185b-lb. sophomore and his high school coach Matt Fine back in October, and here is an excerpt from the article which never ran:
His size and strength, therefore, have led to comparisons to NBA stars and recent Olympic gold medalists Deron Williams and Jason Kidd.
"Those guys are bigger, stronger guards," Fine said. "You know, especially Jason Kidd, he's a great rebounding guard, and that's the same thing with Jeremiah. He rebounds and goes. When he's in the open floor, he's tough to contain."
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The sophomore says his strengths are his shooting, dribble penetration, and finishing around the basket, but his high school coach would like to see him improve his outside game.
"His outside perimeter shot is one area that he's got to improve on, but you can see that he's made strides in that from month to month," Fine said. "He's much improved from this summer...he's a guy that loves the gym, so he'll improve on that."
At this point in his recruiting, Davis says he is simply "going with the flow."
"I'm talking to coaches and building a relationship with the coaches," he said on Tuesday.
Although Davis says he has no leader at this point, there are certainly factors of each school he likes.
He mentioned the facilities and friendly people down at Kentucky. He said he likes Crean "a lot" and said the IU coach is "real cool," while he's also familiar with IU assistant Tim Buckley, a former Ball State coach.
Davis also had positive things to say about Ball State's Billy Taylor and Tennessee's Bruce Pearl, and he also likes Purdue's Matt Painter, a Muncie native himself.
As far as IU goes, Davis said he likes both the school and the tradition of the basketball program. Last year, Davis was on campus for a game, and also was impressed with the fans and "everything about" Assembly Hall.
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Despite all that happened within the IU basketball program in the last year, Davis said it would be a "great honor" to get the chance to play for IU.
"It's still a great school," he said. "I think Coach Crean is going to get it together."
With five scholarships offers in the fold for Davis, the guard said he won't rule out an early commitment, but he also isn't in a rush.
"I'm going with the flow (and) when everything lines up right, I'll make a decision right then," he said.
