Eli Davis

by Jeremiah Wood
January 22, 2008

The Sea Lions’ basketball program took another hit last week as junior forward Eli Davis decided to leave the team.

Davis, one of the team’s top defenders, made the decision before practice on Friday telling a teammate that he “couldn’t take this anymore”. He is the second PLNU player to leave this month, after junior guard Benny Koochoie quit the team on Jan. 2 citing a lack of playing time.

Davis did not say much about the situation to anyone, but in an email to the Point Weekly said that playing time was involved along with other factors.

"There definitely was some frustration on the part of playing time and the hand I was delt by the coaching staff this past month," said Davis. "There were also some personal issues going on that I would rather not go into."

Head coach Art Wilmore said he felt “blindsided” by the news and added that he is still in the dark on exactly why Davis made the decision.

“I’ve put calls in to Eli and haven’t heard back from him,” said Wilmore. “I’m not mad at him; I’m more disappointed that I haven’t heard from him and that I couldn’t find out exactly what went wrong.”

Team captain Josh Sanderson said that no one has heard much, other than a text message he received from Davis apologizing for leaving and thanking him for the year and a half they played together.

Sanderson said he suspected the main reason behind Davis leaving was lack of playing time, but said that a recent argument with a teammate may have been involved. Davis was averaging 19 minutes a game and was one of the main contributors off the bench for a Sea Lion team that has thrived with its ability to successfully utilize its depth.

“Depth is an important part of our team, and we never talk about starters,” said Wilmore, who has used a 10-man rotation for most of the year. “We’ve never talked about promising people minutes, but that’s sometimes hard to get out of people’s minds.”

Davis, who dropped out of school after quitting the team, will be taking the semester off and enrolling at Arizona State, near his hometown in Phoenix, in the summer.

"I just need to move on with my life and focus on getting my degree and being successful," said Davis. "We'll see what happens from there."

Despite the personnel losses, the Sea Lions appeared unfazed on Saturday as they handled Westmont from start to finish in a 78-67 win. It was business as usual for the Sea Lions, who forced 22 turnovers in the win. The team is off to one of the best starts in school history, ranked No. 11 in the NAIA with a record of 14-3.

Sanderson said that despite the loss of two teammates, the team has maintained its mental toughness.

“I don’t think mentally we’ve really been affected,” said Sanderson. “I think all of us agree that what they did wasn’t the smartest thing to do, and I don’t think anyone else would even think about leaving the team.”

He did say that the loss of Davis, who was averaging 5.4 points per game, will take away from one of the team’s major strengths: the ability to wear down opponents with its depth.

“We still are deep, but one of our key strengths this year has been how extremely deep we were,” said Sanderson. “So it will affect us in the long run with foul trouble or if people get injured.”

Wilmore asserts that the team will not add anyone to the roster or make any red-shirts eligible, but will continue to play an aggressive style that utilizes the bench often.

“We can’t let up on our pressure,” said Wilmore. “We’ve put too much into this part of our game.”

The losses of Koochoie and Davis may lead to an increased role for rarely used center Kevin McGuire, who is now at full strength after a hamstring injury.

“Kevin’s a loyal, tough kid, and I know he puts the team first,” said Wilmore. “That’s exactly what we need.”

McGuire, a junior, said that he is excited about the opportunity and that he feels the team still has what it takes to win the GSAC and go to the NAIA tournament for the first time since 2003.

“We definitely have all the components we need,” said McGuire. “We have a good inside game and a good outside game that complement each other well.”

The Sea Lions return to action tonight when they host conference foe Vanguard (11-4, 5-2). Vanguard is coming off a road win at Azusa Pacific and is tied for third place in the GSAC with the Sea Lions.