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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Mike Davis, left, said a recent conflict at Radford wasn't as bad as the media portrayed it. Davis and teammates Zach Brisley and Joe Brundidge are serious students.

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Good grades,
less worry

Radford's Davis, Brundidge
and Brisley don't shy away
from their schoolbooks

DON'T let the ponytail fool you. Radford's Mike Davis is all business. It's a Sunday night, and Davis has just finished a quick run from Foster Village to Nimitz Highway and back.

With a playoff basketball game nearing, he's working hard, even on a day off. As one of just four seniors, Davis has talked the talk and walked the walk as the Rams steadily marched into the Oahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball playoffs.

Radford, 7-3 in the West (14-7 overall), meets Castle in the opening round tomorrow at McKinley Student Council Gym. The pressure of a playoff game is plenty, but this game will be one of two televised statewide.

That's where Davis' experience becomes a factor.

When the Rams need heady decision-making late in a game, Davis settles them down. When the Rams trail late in a game, the 5-foot-9 guard creates openings and hits treys. His value to the Rams goes beyond his 10-point scoring average.

"He brings us a leader who kinda leads by example, and is also a vocal leader, too," Radford coach Kai Enos said. "He's not afraid to tell the players how to run things, how to behave and execute. Anytime you have a leader on board, especially one of the top players, it helps. You can't have a leader that's on the bench."

Enos has a theory about Davis, who has two brothers. "I know he has two younger siblings, so that could be why he's in that leadership role," he said.

Leadership and talent aren't what make Davis unique, though. He has a 3.8 grade-point average, eclipsed only by teammate Joe Brundidge. Though they have trigonometry class together -- Davis' favorite course -- Brundidge has a 4.2 GPA while taking a slew of AP classes. Along with sophomore Zach Brisley, who carries a 3.5 GPA, Enos has a trio of academic stars. Good grades mean less worry for all coaches.

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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM It's all about the books and basketballs for Radford's Zach Brisley, Joe Brundidge and Mike Davis.

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WHEN BRUNDIDGE learned that the 45-degree curvature of his spine would not hamper his athletics, he smiled. The 5-10 junior plays two sports at Radford.

"He played football, so I figured if he can do that, he can play basketball. We just looked at what his attitude was all about," Enos said. "A player's GPA plays a role in how we pick our players, not with all 12 kids, but it's a factor."

It wasn't the only factor. Brundidge joined the varsity as a sophomore and is one of the reasons Radford's man-to-man defense is one of the best in the OIA.

"Joe understands his role, and he can be a real good defensive stopper when he puts his mind to it," Enos said. "He works hard at practice. He's a very courteous type of person, always 'Yes, coach.' We had him on the post against Kapolei because we needed his quickness."

The future is graced with great potential for Brundidge. "I started going to the doctor and the hospital because of my scoliosis," he said. "And that's what got me interested in orthopedic medicine."

Enos believes anything is possible. "Medicine for Joe is for real. He loves his academics. Another six or eight years of school after high school, I don't think that's a problem for Joe," he said.

"Dr. Joe Brundidge? Easily."

DAVIS HAS BEEN AROUND. As the oldest son in a Marine Corps family, he's traveled the globe from California to Okinawa to Wisconsin to Hawaii. Each step of the way, his mom and dad, Jean and Vincent, used sports as a reward.

"It was tough. My mom told me I could do whatever I wanted with activities, but I always had to do my homework first," Davis said. "I study in all my free time. It's just time management. The days go by so fast."

He sees himself as a sports medicine major, once he figures out which college to attend. Davis has applied to Virginia Tech, Northern Michigan, San Jose State, Cal State Sacramento and Hawaii. The world of sports medicine is larger than ever, with trainers at the pro and Olympic levels making nice salaries.

Davis isn't very interested in that neck of the woods. "I'd rather be a trainer at a high school. There are more problems in the pros," he said.

It's an answer that mirrors his take on favorite players. "At the pro level, they forget fundamentals and there's no defense," Davis said.

"I think Julius Hodge is great. He can score at will, goes 100 percent and plays defense to the fullest," Davis said of the North Carolina State standout. "He pumps up his team."

Davis admires another player: Waianae's Xiro Naovalath, a high-scoring guard. "He's my favorite player. He doesn't talk, but he leads by example and can score at will," Davis added.

Enos likes fundamental basketball, too, but hearing about Davis' plan to go into sports medicine was a stunner.

"Mike Davis as a trainer? I see him more as a coach, actually, because he has those leadership qualities. I see him one day coaching and teaching at a high school, pushing his kids to their potential," Enos said.

A RECENT IN-SCHOOL CONFLICT raised a lot of awareness for Davis and Radford's ohana. "No matter where you go, there'll be conflicts. But here, it wasn't as bad as (the media) said it was. Everybody has a different way of learning, of becoming an adult," he said. "There are kids who are in elementary school who make mistakes and learn, all the way through high school."

Davis points to his coach as a difference-maker. "Coach Enos is straight up. He'll tell you what he likes and doesn't like in you as a student and an athlete. A lot of our players are young, and he's definitely a teacher-coach," he said. "He'll tell you what to work on and the steps to get there. He treats us like his own children."

Enos, who has five children of his own, keeps the team balanced. "We have four sophomores, four seniors and three juniors. You got your mature seniors, and then playful sophomores coming in. We gotta bring them closer together in terms of that," he said. "Seniors have to understand that the other players are young and playful at times. At the same time, the sophomores have to understand that for the seniors, it's their last year. They're only harping on them because they want to do well."

So the Rams prepare. The TASK program keeps the players marching into Enos' classroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. "It's basically a tutorial, a way to monitor the kids in terms of academics," Enos said. "If they need help with a particular class, we'll get them help. The teachers are more than willing to help; you just have to ask."

Then, there's Castle tomorrow night. "I know their post players are tough, good rebounders. I think their perimeter players are pretty quick. They can shoot the 3-point shot and penetrate. They're well-coached by Rocky (Fraticelli)," Enos said.

"The way we look at everything is, it doesn't matter who we play because they're all tough. Our decision-making as a team has to be better," he added.

It probably will get better. After all, extra conditioning on a day off is a good decision to start with.