Creighton's Ty Davis, left, and Steven Ashworth (1) leave the floor after defeating Louisville in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/James Crisp)AP
This is an opinion piece.
When top-seeded Auburn takes on No. 9 seed Creighton on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32, the Tigers’ Denver Jones and Chaney Johnson won’t be the only former Alabama high school players dressed out.
Former Mountain Brook standout Ty Davis is a 6-foot-4 freshman guard for the Bluejays.
Davis didn’t play in his team’s opening round win over Louisville on Thursday, but he’s already been an integral part of his team’s postseason success.
Davis’ two free throws with nine seconds left in the second overtime helped Creighton escape a major scare from DePaul in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals last week.
Though his role has been minimal in his first college season – he’s averaging just over 7 minutes a game in 27 games played – Davis’ Big East Tournament heroics proved he will be ready if called upon Saturday against his home state Tigers.
He played 4 minutes on Dec. 14 when Creighton visited Alabama but didn’t take a shot. The Crimson Tide won that game 83-75.
Playing for his dad, Tyler Davis, at Mountain Brook, Ty was one of three finalists for Class 6A Player of the Year as both a junior and a senior. He averaged 18.2 points, 6 assists and 4.6 rebounds as a junior and 17.6 points, 5.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds as a senior.
He finished his Mountain Brook career with more than 1,500 points.
On the prayer list
Two veteran in-state high school coaches are both battling cancer.
Mary G. Montgomery baseball coach Barry Hightower was diagnosed with cancer in October. Assistant Cullen Wacker has taken over the Vikings’ program in his absence. On Saturday, coach Kyle Hunter and Fairhope will host a special “Strikeout Cancer” event. MGM will play games against Enterprise at 9 a.m. and Demopolis at 11:30 a.m. Fairhope will play Bartlett, Tenn., at 2 p.m. and Enterprise at 4:30 p.m. Donations will be taken at the gate to help in Hightower’s cancer battle. If you are on the Eastern Shore on Saturday, please stop by if you can and watch some good baseball and help support Hightower. Kudos to coach Hunter and Fairhope for putting this event together.
Also, W.S. Neal head football coach Hugh Fountain traveled to M.D. Anderson in Houston this week after he received a cancer diagnosis. W.S. Neal students came together in a show of support for Fountain. According to a social media post by the school, “In a powerful moment, the sun shone brightly over our students and our school, reminding us that hope and strength are always with us.”
Indeed, we always have hope. I hope you’ll join me in praying for these great coaches and men. I know many of you already are praying.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Kudos to Quinnen
New York Jets star and former Alabama standout Quinnen Williams continues to give back to his Birmingham community.
The defensive tackle was in town this week, serving lunch to the Birmingham police – something he does every year as a thank you for their work.
Williams was a four-star prospect out of Wenonah High School. The 2018 Outland Trophy winner at Alabama has made three NFL Pro Bowls already and has 290 tackles and 39 sacks in his NFL career.
Newsletter Changes
Many of you already subscribe to our high school newsletters, and I thank you for your continued support.
Beginning next week, we are making some big changes. We will have one newsletter that comes to your inbox on Thursdays and will be available exclusively to subscribers of AL.com and the Birmingham News, Huntsville Times or Press-Register.
If you are not yet a subscriber, you can still receive the newsletter for a limited time. Our new newsletter will be more interactive with polls, trivia and even a space to let readers “Soundoff” on high school issues around the state. If you aren’t a subscriber yet, I hope you will be soon.
Stay tuned for more details.
Thought for the Day
“I still believe in Your faithfulness.
I still believe in Your truth.
I still believe in Your Holy Word.
Even when I don’t see, I still believe.”
— Jeremy Camp
Ben Thomas is the high school managing producer at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at bthomas@al.com.
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