At least that's what he's telling his former player and assistant coach Justin Batts as the two prepare their basketball teams for a pre-Thanksgiving match-up next week. It's a classic coaching move — underestimating your team to the opponent, in hopes that they will take you lightly — but Batts isn't about to buy it.
"He's going to have those guys prepared, and I'm thinking it will be a battle," says Batts, now in his second year at Hough High.
Batts played for and coached under Davis during a successful run at Hopewell, so he knows him — and his mind games — quite well. But he is looking forward to hosting Davis' West Brunswick team in a matinee game Wednesday at Hough (2 p.m.).
"I talk to him every couple days, and we have talked a little junk back and forth, but I'm excited about it," says Batts. "I think it will be good for my guys to play against them and good for his guys to come make that trip and play us."
Meanwhile, Davis, who graduated from North Meck and coached Hopewell to 157 wins and two regional appearances (2007, 2009) in the school's first nine years, is excited about the opportunity to bring his team inland. West Brunswick is located in Shallotte, just off the beach, and the Trojans will also return to the general area over Christmas break when they participate in a tournament at Cox Mill High School.
"To just get the opportunity to play in that area, obviously where I'm from, is going to be special for me," says Davis, who left Hopewell after the 2009-10 season. "There again, you've gotta treat it like a regular season game and prepare for that."
The game will be the second of the year for both teams, which open their seasons on Monday. Hough will host Independence, while West Brunswick faces West Columbus.
Davis' first Trojans team won six games a year after winning just one, while Batts led Hough to five wins in its first season. If anyone has an edge, it's Davis' Trojans, who beat the Huskies twice in a summer team camp.
Batts, a 2003 Hopewell graduate, has former Titans Dusty Smith and Chris Hall assisting him. He is the first Davis player to be a head coach.
"Everybody I spoke with at the end of (last) season talked really highly about how his team improved," says Davis. "I think that's the sign of a good coach."
