On the basketball court, senior point guard Travon Davis is often the smallest player out there.
Davis is not the \Magic"" Johnson type of point guard who can score 30 points, grab 10 rebounds and have 15 assists every night.
He played for a team that many prognosticators predicted would finish in the cellar of the Big Ten.
Despite these hindrances, Davis molded his teammates and made them believe in themselves and each other.
""My first expectation was for me to become a leader,"" Davis said. ""I thought that if I could get these guys to follow my lead and be on the right page, we can take this to a level that nobody expected.""
How right he was. After starting the year 7-6 in nonconference play, the Badgers started winning some important games against Illinois at home and on the road against Michigan State, Indiana and Minnesota and achieved a 10-5 conference record.
As the regular-season finale against Michigan approached, everyone on campus knew the game was for a share of the Big Ten title.
Even for Davis, this was a different day than usual.
""The biggest thing for me personally was that that morning I got a call from my father [Anthony],"" Davis said. ""My father never calls me [to] talk about what I need to do on the court; we talk about what we didn't do that game. Well, I got a phone call from my dad that morning and he said, 'Son, I need you to perform tonight.' And me being the kid that I am and looking up to my father ... for him to call and hear him say that, I couldn't let him down.""
The Michigan game became, unwittingly for Davis, a turning point that transformed the 5'10"" kid from Argo, Ill., into a man that was able to accept that responsibility.
But it was not easy.
In high school, Davis was a well-known player in the state of Illinois. As a three-year starter at Nazareth Academy and a two-time conference player of the year, Davis was acknowledged as ""the man"" in Argo and had a little bit of an arrogance to his game.
""I was the leading scorer, I was 'Mister Everything' back in Illinois,"" Davis said. ""I remember a game where I had 30 points and I should have had 40 because I missed 10 free throws.""
Due to his stellar play in high school, the question was not whether Davis could play college basketball: It was where he would play.
But Wisconsin was not his first choice.
""To be honest, when I was coming out of high school, I was thinking about going out East to Georgetown. I was thinking about Florida State and Arizona. I think those were my top three schools after I narrowed down my decision-making.""
Even his dad had some sage advice for his son.
""My father, he's what I call 'My man, 50 grand,' he wanted me to go to Florida State where it was nice and warm, where he could hang out.""
Wisconsin then made an offer that Davis found more compelling, primarily due to the coaching staff'former Badger Head Coaches Dick Bennett and Brad Soderberg.
""I really respected Coach [Dick] Bennett and I respected Coach [Brad Soderberg] and I liked the things they were about off the basketball court, which really helped my decision process.""
Even then, it took an unforeseen occurrence to help Davis make a final decision.
""I think the deciding factor was that my grandfather had a stroke,"" Davis said. ""With him having a stroke right before I got ready to sign my letter of intent, I didn't want to go too far away from home.""
Though Davis was coming to UW, a university that was big in terms of student population, he still thought of himself as he did in high school.
""The first day I came on campus I was an arrogant, immature guy,"" Davis said. ""I felt I was ready to take on the world and you couldn't touch me with a 10-foot pole.""
It did not take very long for the academics at UW to give Davis some perspective on college life.
""For example, I don't always believe what people tell me,"" Davis said. ""I'm the type [of person] that I got to get burnt before I stop touching the stove. When I got to college and this level of competition and academics, I had to touch the stove to get burnt and that humbled me.""
Even the athletic side seemed to be working against him, as Davis would play a backup role to point guard Mike Kelley for three seasons.
Again, this gave Davis reason to pause.
""I learned that patience can be a virtue,"" Davis said. ""I also learned that nothing is going to come to you in life, you have to go get it. Everything I've gotten, I've earned.""
That motto was put to the test as Davis, along with teammate Maurice Linton, were suspended for eight games for their involvement with the Shoe Box scandal at the beginning of his junior campaign.
Davis maintains to this day that he never did anything inappropriate.
""I didn't think I was doing anything wrong and what I was doing was not hurting anything,"" Davis said. ""I was more or less trying to help other people. I was getting things and taking them back to my neighborhood and giving them away to the less fortunate people in the neighborhood.""
Whether he was in error or not, the lessons learned from that incident had a far-reaching impact on his world view.
""What I did learn from that situation was that everybody who you think is your friend is not your friend,"" Davis said. ""And I think that is a life-long lesson that you have to take as a man.""
""It made me a man because I thought people who were around me really cared about me and in turn, that's not true. I didn't even want money from them when I was in trouble. I just wanted a phone call asking me 'Hey, man, are you alright?' But the people who I thought were going to do that didn't do that.""
Throughout the turmoil, there were some people who stood by Davis and would not leave his side'his family.
""The most important thing I learned is that I have a family because it was my family who got me through that,"" Davis said.
Coming back from the suspension, Davis struggled not only on the court, but also in trying to find his place within the team's structure. Because he was not able to practice with his teammates, Davis felt some isolation from them.
After the 2000-'01 season, things seemingly got worse for Davis, when on top of graduating five seniors the year before, the Badgers did not rehire Soderberg.
Davis felt hurt, a hurt that combined the loss of his elder compatriots and Soderberg'a coach that had been so instrumental in his recruitment.
Despite the massive loss of players, Davis stayed on board.
""I was destroyed,"" Davis said. ""Coach Soderberg was the reason that I came to Wisconsin because he was the one that recruited me. On the same token, I made a commitment to the University of Wisconsin. ... I felt as a man that I should hold up my end of the bargain.""
When Wisconsin hired Bo Ryan to be the new head coach, Davis immediately sat down with him and came away with confidence in Ryan's style.
""He has a great basketball mind,"" Davis said. ""He's a player's coach. He tells you what you're doing wrong and applauds you when you do it correctly.""
Davis' faith in Ryan and his mettle were challenged early as Ryan made the players run what was metaphorically and literally termed ""the hill.""
Davis was unsure at first, but then began to see the possibilities behind it.
""My first time up the hill, I was like, 'What the hell is this guy doing?'"" Davis said. As that went on, our togetherness grew because if one guy didn't make it up the hill, we literally picked him up and helped him up the hill. So from that point on, I knew that we were capable of doing things that people didn't expect us to do.""
With the influx of freshman and walk-ons to begin the 2001-'02 season, Davis knew his leadership would be needed more than ever, especially in lieu of the fact that he was the point guard and floor general on the court and a mentor off of it.
""I was their leader,"" Davis said. ""If there was any question, I was the guy to see. If there was anything wrong, come tell me about it.""
""I wanted the responsibility for the bad things that happened and if something good happened, then share it with everyone,"" he said. ""I definitely wanted the responsibility for the bad things because I had been there and I didn't think it was fair to put the pressure on the young guys. I'll take the bitter and give the other guys the sweet.""
That philosophy was tested in a Nov. 27 game against Georgia Tech.
""I thought the turning point of the season [for me] was the Georgia Tech game,"" Davis said. ""I had 14 points in the first half and the second half I didn't take a shot. I personally felt I made a bad play late in the game that cost us the game.""
That game helped Davis gain a new perspective on his role, but the new outlook was not going to spread to the team until they got a big road win. That happened Feb. 16 in Minneapolis.
""As far as the team goes, I would say the Minnesota game [was the turning point],"" Davis said. ""I think the Minnesota game was when we thought we really could get this done. We knew we could compete, but we weren't sure we could beat anybody until then.""
Fast forward to the Michigan game and, as the clock wound down and the Kohl Center crowd began to push towards the court, Davis realized that this was a culmination of everything that he had been taught and had preached to others.
""I did it,"" Davis said. ""All the struggle, all the blood, the pain and the heartache had come to an end. It's something that nobody can take away from me.""
While he does not yet have the ring that says ""Big Ten Champions,"" he does have some perspective of what his leadership and accomplishment meant to this campus.
""Ten years from now, I'll be able to look back and say we did something that nobody outside of those people in red jerseys and those few loyal Badger fans thought we could do,"" Davis said. ""I played with a great group of guys that enjoyed playing with each other. I really got to enjoy playing basketball.""
There may have been bigger players who had more talent than Davis at Wisconsin.
There may be players who won more than Davis did this year.
But none were more valuable nor instrumental to their team's success than Travon Davis.
