By Blake Dowson
Sophomore point guard Tania Davis loves to push the ball.
It doesn’t matter if she gets a defensive rebound or if she gets an outlet pass from a teammate — when she’s on the court, she’s in control. And when she’s in control, the ball is going to be pushed constantly.
But she’s not on the court this summer because of off-season shoulder surgery, and it’s absolutely killing her. However, the 5-4 sparkplug point guard is still finding ways to help her teammates on the court.
“Obviously, I don’t like to sit out because I’m a competitor and I want to compete,” Davis said after watching her teammates play in Game Time action on Wednesday. “But it gives me a different outlook on things, especially in practice. We have three point guards coming in, so I have the ability to teach them during our hourly workouts. So seeing it from that perspective, it’s awesome. But at the same time, it’s frustrating.”
Just a sophomore herself, Davis finds herself as the only returning starting guard on the squad with a heap of incoming freshmen who are naturally a little wide-eyed this time of year.
Mature beyond her years on the court, the Grand Blanc, Michigan, native has taken her time away from game action as an opportunity to become an extension of head coach Lisa Bluder during the team’s brief workouts throughout the week.
Davis said she hopes to resume all basketball activities toward the end of August, but until then, she has to work on the finer things — ball-handling drills, passing, and other non-contact activities.
“I go back to the doctor next month, and hopefully, by that time, he’ll release me, and I can start playing a little bit,” Davis said. “But until then, I just got back into the weight room and doing stuff in there. I go to physical training every other day. Other than that, I’m just strengthening and doing a lot of endurance.”
It’s a different vantage point for Davis this summer, pointing things out from the sidelines rather than the top of the key.
But in the end, this summer could end up more beneficial to her than playing would have been.
“It’s just given me a lot more knowledge of the game and what Coach Bluder wants. That’s huge for me. This time has really been big for me to be able to help the freshmen with what Coach Bluder expects.”
Davis isn’t the only hobbled Hawkeye this summer. Sophomore Carly Mohns is still on the shelf after her season was cut short last December when she went under the knife.
As much as Davis feels the itch to be on the court, it’s that much worse for Mohns, who has gone seven months now in a brace and away from basketball activities.
But Mohns, too, is making the most of an opportunity to see the game in a new way.
“I just want to be out there and play with [my teammates],” she said. “But at the same time it’s kind of cool being able to have a different perspective of the game on the sidelines. You kind of put yourself in the game and you say, ‘I could’ve done a different move there’ or ‘I could have made a different pass there.’ ”
Senior Alexa Kastanek made her Game Time début on Wednesday after being sidelined by a nagging ankle injury. The injury was never seen as a serious issue, but there is no need to push things during the summer with the season still four months away.
Two weeks of inactivity is all it takes for the body to fall out of basketball shape, though, so the first week back for Kastanek was an adjustment.
“We did a really good job of doing bike workouts while I was out so I could stay up with my cardio, but getting back into game shape is always tough after being out for a while,” Kastanek said.