Kermit Davis has a special place for any Ole Miss Rebel who doesn’t play defense up to his standards.
A seat on the bench.
Tonight’s Ole Miss-Arkansas game should be a great game that is not decided by coaching, but execution.
Davis and Arkansas’ Eric Musselman are great coaches who are teaching from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
They are both sons of basketball coaches and literally grew up on gym floors.
Both jumped from mid-major programs to the SEC.
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Of course, Musselman was successful at Nevada, and Davis became known as a giant killer at Middle Tennessee State, where in the 2016 NCAA Tournament his No. 15-seeded Blue Raiders knocked off No. 2 Michigan State 90-81, and the following year as the No. 12 seed knocked off No. 5 Minnesota 81-72.
A year later, Middle Tennessee went 25-8, and that was good enough for Ole Miss Athletic Director Keith Carter to target Davis as his next coach.
It was the culmination of a career that started fast and then spent almost 30 years of rebuilding.
At 29 years of age Davis was hired as the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies.
His instructions from his boss — as was common during the wild and woolly days of the Southwest Conference — was do whatever it takes to win.
A year later, the Aggies were being investigated by the NCAA, and Davis was headed to Chipola Junior College in Florida as an assistant. That led to an assistant job at Utah State which got him the head coaching job at Idaho.
In 1997, he became the top assistant for John Brady at LSU, and he returned to the head coaching ranks in 2002.
It started with a phone call to a friend at the NCAA Tournament, that led to a meeting with Nashville sports columnist Joe Biddle who helped him get an interview with James “Boots’ Donnelly, the Middle Tennessee athletic director.
Davis has never denied what happened at A&M or that he learned a hard and valuable lesson.
Davis, who played for and graduated from arch-rival Mississippi State, is 43-35 at Ole Miss including 8-6 this year, but the Rebels are 7-0 when they hold their opponent under 40% shooting.
One of these teams, most likely the winner, will have a shot at making the NCAA Tournament, the loser probably won’t so it is a critical game.
The Rebels’ tenacious defense forces more than 17 turnovers a game, and that has been something of an Achilles heel for the Hogs when they lose.
Protecting the ball will be a key, just as being prepared for a more physical game than they had against Auburn or Vanderbilt.
Physical teams like Missouri, LSU and Alabama have given the Razorbacks some problems.
Both teams are riding a two-game win streak.
What has played a major role in the Razorbacks’ wins was unselfish play.
Musselman stresses passing the ball until someone has a higher percentage shot, which also means more assists. Against Auburn the Razorbacks had 16, and against Vanderbilt they had 22.
That’s a great way to attack an aggressive defense, keep the ball moving.
Ole Miss likes to control the tempo, a trademark of Davis’, and they would like to keep the score low.
Arkansas will run but they have proven to be good in the half court, too, but that goes back to making passes and smart decisions.
It should be a game of runs, and both coaches will be working their tails off from start to finish.
That’s why they are in the Southeastern Conference.
The SEC has become a coach’s league, and that’s why on any given night any team can pull off a win.