Senior Micah Davis was named an Indiana Junior All-Star after leading Franklin in points, rebounds, assists and steals last season.
Daily Journal file photo
Adrian Moss thinks back to how much he matured between his sophomore and senior years of high school.
The third-year Franklin coach has seen the same growth pattern in Micah Davis.
“We’ve had our times where it’s been a little rocky,” Moss said, “but since last season it’s just been incredible. I can’t say it enough.”
Davis has possessed Division I-level talent since his Grizzly Cub debut in the fall of 2021, but it wasn’t necessarily on display every night. There were games where he was far and away the best player on the floor — like late in the 2021-22 season, when he led the team to a surprise run to the regional final — but there were also nights where he seemed less than fully engaged.
Those ups and downs were still there at times last year, the mark of a player who still hadn’t fully matured. Davis led the Grizzly Cubs with 17.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game and was named an Indiana Junior All-Star, but he still wasn’t necessarily That Guy every single night.
Moss has witnessed a sea change in Davis’ work ethic and attitude since the end of last season, and says that it translated through a summer season in which he was consistently scoring over 25 points a game.
The maturation has been most noticeable in practices.
“It used to be, when he was working out, it wouldn’t be, Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!,” Moss said, mimicking a player going all out during a drill. “Now, that’s what it is, every time. And now that’s the standard for the whole team. So now everybody sees that.
“And not to say he wasn’t working hard before; he’s just working at a different level. He’s a different beast this year, and I can’t wait to see him out there on the court.”
The different beast was evident to college coaches this summer, and Davis had plenty of interest from Division I schools. He ended up committing to play at Eastern Kentucky, which is coming off of a 23-win season and a trip to the CBI championship game.
Davis says that the EKU coaching staff has treated him like family from the beginning; one of the assistant coaches came to Franklin in late October to check in. He’s happy with the decision he made and equally happy to have the recruiting process out of the way — “Now I can just focus on my team and going to state,” he said.
In addition to being more focused on the task at hand, Davis also sounds far more confident in his ability to bring a superstar effort every day this season.
“I feel like I’m at the point where I’ve worked hard enough to get where I am today,” he said. “You can say whatever you want, but it doesn’t — it won’t affect me and how I play. I feel like I’m going to be way more consistent this year.”
A more consistent Davis would be a dangerous thing for opposing defenses to deal with, especially because of how much his presence can open the game up for his Franklin teammates. Fellow returning seniors Wyatt Nickleson, Grant Hunter and Ryder Street combined to knock down 104 3-pointers last season; if Davis at the top of his game every night, the open looks for those players will only become more and more frequent.
Moss sees a different level of maturity not only in Davis, but across the board in his senior-dominated lineup. He says the group “learned a lot” from the struggles of last winter’s disappointing 10-14 campaign, and that everyone has been locked in ever since last March working toward a much different outcome.
“Obviously we’ve still got to go out there and make it happen,” Moss said, “but we’ve done what we’re supposed to do this offseason. I’m ready to see the fruits of our labor in the season.”
Davis also feels that there is no ceiling on what the Grizzly Cubs can accomplish in his final year — and he’s also not content to rest on a summer’s worth of work. The grind, he says, will continue through the finish line.
“If we keep doing what we’re doing, it’s above and beyond and no one can stop us,” Davis said. “But we’ve still got to work.”
Spoken like a senior.
SCOUTING THE GRIZZLY CUBS
Coach: Adrian Moss
Last season: 10-14, lost to Columbus North in first round of Class 4A sectional
Key returnees: Micah Davis, Grant Hunter, Wyatt Nickleson and Ryder Street, seniors; Kolt Nelson, junior
Top newcomers: Eli Zahm, senior; Kai Bravard and Luke Sherry, sophomores
Outlook: After a Cinderella sectional title run in Moss’ first year at the helm, the Grizzly Cubs took a step back last season, never finding any consistency. This winter, the coach believes, should be different. Nickleson (11.4 ppg) is a third-year starter with the ability to go nuclear from long range, and Hunter, Nelson and Street all project to take on bigger roles after making meaningful contributions last season. Zahm, a Whiteland transfer who played JV last winter, should also impact the rotation. Franklin’s hopes, though, will likely live or die with Davis, an Eastern Kentucky commit and an Indiana All-Star candidate who led the team in scoring (17.3), rebounding, assists and steals as a junior. If he can consistently harness his immense talent, he can be the best player this side of Indianapolis and make this Grizzly Cub team a serious contender to win a sectional title and perhaps more.
