Drake Is Finding The Spotlight

In his first year as head coach, Keno Davis has led Drake to a 19-1 record. (By Charlie Neibergall -- Associated Press)

"I was thrilled when Dad took it," said Keno, who is named after one of Davis's high school players. "I never thought about succeeding him, just working with him and learning from him."

By last season, Drake agreed that whenever Tom retired, Keno would succeed him. Tom, who won 598 games, decided last season was the right time.

"I did it for a couple reasons," he said. "I thought we'd laid a foundation, but I also thought with the four seniors gone, there wouldn't be quite as much pressure on Keno his first year even though I liked some of the kids we had stepping in. I didn't think they'd be picked ninth[in the MVC], but I also never dreamed they'd be 19-1."

Neither did Keno or anyone else. After all, who would have imagined that two former walk-ons would emerge not only as starters but true stars? Jonathan Cox, a junior, is averaging 12.2 points and a league-leading 8.8 rebounds a game, and his story isn't nearly as amazing as that of senior point guard Adam Emmenecker, whose lone Division I scholarship offer was to play baseball at Boston College.

The Davises told Emmenecker he could walk on at Drake largely because they liked his attitude and his 4.0 grade-point average. Emmenecker did and had a total of 55 points and 59 assists in his first three seasons.

"He was still an important guy on the team, though," Tom Davis said. "He was always one of our leaders, the go-to guy for our players for anything: personal advice, academics, you name it."

In his first three years at Drake, Emmenecker had one B (in an advanced marketing class last spring), which is why his GPA is only 3.97. "He was really upset with that B," Tom Davis said.

Keno Davis gave him a scholarship and the starting point guard spot this season, and Emmenecker, who is 6 feet 1 and not much of an outside shooter, has provided a steady hand for the Bulldogs, who on Wednesday raised their conference record to 10-0 with a 75-65 victory over perennial MVC power Creighton before a capacity crowd of 8,000 at Knapp Center.

One of those fans packed into the building was Andy Pawlowski, a 1998 Drake grad who played on four teams that combined to go 29-80, including a 19-game losing streak his senior year. Pawlowski and his wife were driving from St. Louis to Portland, where he is about to start a new job with Nike, when he persuaded her to divert to Des Moines for the game.

"Feeling the electricity walking in was amazing," Pawlowski said. "It gave me chills. There were probably more people sitting in the student section than we used to have in the entire place when I played."

At one point in the second half, Creighton went on a three-point shooting binge and took the lead.

"I looked at Emmenecker at that point, and he was smiling," Pawlowski said. "The message to his team was, 'We're fine; we're going to do this.' These guys expect to win. When I played, we rarely felt that way."