With 86 days remaining until the return of college basketball, players as well as fans are starting to get anxious. No one, however, is more ready to get things rolling again than Davidson’s star point guard Jack Gibbs. Gibbs is entering his senior season with the Wildcats and hopes to make it a memorable one. Last year, he led Davidson to a 20-13 overall record. The Wildcats finished with a 10-8 Atlantic 10 record, which was good enough for 6th place in the conference. Davidson earned themselves a NIT bid, but fell short to Florida State in the first round. Since this will be Gibb’s last season at Davidson before moving on to play professional basketball, he certainly wants to go out with a bang.
Entering the 2016-17 season, Davidson will most likely be picked to finish top 5 in the A-10. With a talented leader like Jack Gibbs, the Wildcats feel they have what it takes to compete for an A-10 title. Last season, Gibbs played nearly 36 minutes per game and averaged an impressive 23.5 points. Gibbs also dished out 4.9 assists and snatched 4.1 rebounds per game. Where Gibbs makes his biggest impact on the game is with his deadly shooting. Over his career at Davidson, Gibbs has shot 36% from behind the arc and over 83% from the free throw line. With the ability to drop 40 on any given night, Gibbs has the talent to take over and win games for Davidson.
As a team, Davidson should be much improved entering this year. While they lose Brian Sullivan and Jordan Barham, the Wildcats add four new skilled players. Combine them with a senior point guard who draws comparisons to Steph Curry, and Davidson seems to be in good position for more success. The Wildcats will have a chance the make the NCAA tournament this year, but it won’t be easy. If they can manage to get in, however, anything can happen. With a point guard like Gibbs, there’s no ruling out a magical tournament run like the 2008 Wildcat Elite 8 team.
