“As you look back, evaluations aren’t perfect. But we just really screwed up the first time and didn’t recruit him like we should have. I’m glad we’re getting a second opportunity,” Nagy said.
The coaches put their focus on another wing in that recruiting class, and they can’t be faulted if they thought more highly of 6-6 Tanner Holden, who became a two-time, first-team all-league pick.
But Nagy said: “We just didn’t do a very good job in our evaluation. It doesn’t happen very often, but it happens.
“We should’ve known, even if we’d gotten Tanner, it would’ve been smart to get Amari. It wasn’t an either-or.”
Nagy and his staff weren’t going to make the same mistake when Davis entered the transfer portal last week. Instead of the standard Zoom meeting with the player, the entire staff — Nagy and assistants Clint Sargent, Travis Trice and Dan Beré — made the seven-hour drive to visit Davis in person.
“We were like, ‘We’re tired of Zoom meetings. We don’t like them. Let’s just get in a car and go drive there and see him face-to-face,’” Nagy said.
“We wanted to show Amari how much we wanted him and how much he’d fit in. We knew he was going to make a pretty quick decision. We didn’t want to waste any time.”
Davis decided to finish his career with Wright State. He’ll have one year of eligibility, though it could stretch to two since all athletes in 2020-21 were given an extra season because of the pandemic.
His arrival — along with the signing of former Evansville forward Blake Sisley, a Missouri Valley Conference all-freshman team pick last season — lessens the blow of losing two of the Horizon League’s top players from last season.
Holden transferred to Ohio State, and center Grant Basile is looking at Power 5 schools (he reportedly is deciding between Wisconsin, Iowa State, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech). Together, they averaged 38.5 points and 15.6 rebounds.
“Obviously, losing the guys we lost left some big holes. We think our younger guys will fill some of that,” Nagy said. “But to have a player like Amari — he has experience and we know from playing against him how good he is. The last time he was in our gym, he put 34 or 35 on us.”
Davis averaged 15.9 and 17.2 points in his two seasons at Green Bay. He was second in the Horizon League in field-goal shooting as a freshman at 51.4 percent.
He was fourth in scoring at Missouri with a 9.0 average.
“When you look at his two years in the league, the percentages he shot, he’s a tremendous mid-range shooter,” Nagy said. “He would tell you he wants to improve his 3-point shot. He gets to the free-throw line a lot. I would say Tanner was an efficient offensive player, and Amari is the same thing.”
The Raiders still have one more scholarship for 2022-23, and they can be selective. They’ll look at the high school ranks or bank it for another potential transfer.
But Nagy takes some satisfaction in how he and his staff responded to those sudden departures.
“I said when those guys left, we weren’t going to waste any time crying over it. We were going to find players who fit our system,” Nagy said.
“I think we’ve proven at this point that we’ve got a pretty good program that kids should want to play in — especially if you like to score. We give them a lot of freedom offensively, and we’ve helped a lot of good players develop.”
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