OXFORD — The timing couldn’t be better.
Kermit Davis still has a lot to learn about the Ole Miss men’s basketball program he inherited in March when he replaced Andy Kennedy as coach.
The Rebels also have a lot to learn about Davis. Instead of digesting those things in the preseason in October and at the start of the 2018-19 season in November, they will get a head start this month.
Ole Miss will have an opportunity to build chemistry and a better understanding of Davis’ style and system next week in a five-day trip to Canada. It will kick off the trip with an exhibition game against McGill University on Aug. 5. Ole Miss also will play Concordia University (Aug. 6), Carleton University (Aug. 8), and the University of Ottawa (Aug. 9).
“What these trips do is they fast-forward you to a lot of different things,” Davis said. “You have to work on zone offense. You never had to put zone offense in in July. You have to worry about press offense because you know what some Canadian teams do and you have to be prepared for it.
“It’s unbelievable the help it gives you in October and November.”
The schedule is more compact than most. Ole Miss will have one team-building day — the players chose to spend it at a theme park in Montreal — but there will be little extra time to travel or to sightsee. Davis organized the trip that way to limit time away from the recruiting trail and to give the players a good break before they start fall classes.
Davis still plans to learn a lot in that tight schedule. He intends to use multiple lineup combinations to test ideas. The power forward spot could face the biggest experimentation, as Ole Miss tries to find a solution.
“Blake Hinson would start at the four and KJ Buffen is really skilled,” Davis said when asked about the position. “Both of those guys are what we would play with, those kind of hybrid forwards. We told Bruce (Stevens) if he can get down to a certain weight, Bruce would also play the four. The whole thing about playing the four is you have to guard the four.”
Stevens, a 6-foot-8 senior, is listed at 252 pounds.
A native of Leakesville, Davis guided the Middle Tennessee State men’s basketball team to league titles in seven of the last nine years, between Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference. MTSU made the NCAA tournaments in 2013, 2016, and 2017 NCAA tournaments.
An eight-time conference coach of the year, Davis is 34th among active Division I head coaches with 403 career wins, including stints at Middle Tennessee, Idaho, and Texas A&M. He ranks 10th nationally in winning percentage in the last three years, and 13th over the last seven.
Davis inherits a program that went 12-20 (5-13 Southeastern Conference) last season. On Feb. 12, Kennedy announced he would step down as Ole Miss’ coach at the end of the 2017-18 season. Six days later, he announced he was stepping down effective immediately.
Davis, the son of former Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Kermit Davis Sr., played for MSU and graduated from the school in 1982. He started his coaching career at MSU as a graduate assistant.
Davis enters the season with a career record of 469-263 (all divisions in 23 seasons). He will look to senior guard Terence Davis, who paced the Rebels in scoring (13.8 points per game) last season, to lead a team that features six freshmen.
Hinson and Buffen are part of a freshman class with forward Carlos Curry and guards Franco Miller Jr., John McBride, and Luis Rodriguez. Davis said Buffen, Hinson, and Rodriguez have stood out, but Miller Jr. has participated in just six practices.
That freshman group has plenty of lessons to learn, but Davis is confident the trip to Canada will be a rude awakening if they allow it.
“Sometimes you go on these foreign trips you can play bad and win. This first team we play beat four Division I teams last year in this period,” he said. “You have to play. These teams are ready.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.