San Marcos — Since Doug Davalos assumed the position of head coach of Texas State, the Bobcats have been on a steady rise in the Southland Conference.

Davalos took over a team that went 3-24 in 2004-05 under Dennis Nutt. The program wasn’t only in trouble on the court, but off of it, as grades plummeted and NCAA sanctions were on its way.

Texas State turned it around the next season, tripling its win total (nine) and slowly crept its way out of academic probation. The Bobcats finished one game out of the SLC tournament in 2007-08, but have made back-to-back trips to Katy in each of the last two seasons.

While Texas State reached the postseason, the Bobcats have been unable to make it out of the first round. Texas State lost an eight-point lead in the second half to Nicholls State last season and then collapsed against Southeastern Louisiana in 2010.

I had an opportunity to recently speak with Davalos about the progress his teams have made and where he feels the program is headed.



Q: Your team lost a 17-point halftime lead to the Lions. What kind of feelings run through your head when something like that happens?

A: “It’s humbling and you try to prepare teams for that, but that’s what’s bad about basketball and that’s what great about basketball. No lead is safe. Every time my team goes into the half, we believe we can win and every time the other team goes into the half, they think they can win. In football, when you go into halftime, one of those teams might not think they can win the game sometimes.”



Q: Have you watched any of the game film?

A: “I’ve watched some of it. I still haven’t been able to watch the whole thing. I will watch it at some point, but I don’t want to watch it right now. I watch every game a day after, but this one, I’m not getting ready for another game and there’s no point beside making me feel like crap.”



Q: What went so wrong in the second half? It seemed like your team was lost on defense.

A: “Communication, like I said all year long, is a critical component of winning. When your team goes on the other end, you’re frustrated as a coach because you want to be helping them communicate and you’re relying on them to do it. I never really thought about it in college basketball. It’s never been a factor to me. When you communicate well, coaches don’t even notice it. These days, with so much texting going on and so much non-verbal communication going on between young men today, it’s a humbling experience when, in the second half, you’re not able to help your team out by calling screens or telling them what play is coming.”



Q: What’s it going to take to get out of the first round in the tournament?

A: I can’t look into a crystal ball what it’s going to take next year to get out of the first round. All I can tell you is that we have to play a good basketball game for 40 minutes. We can’t just rely on just 3-pointers. We just can’t rely on just making our shots. We have to be solid defensively for 40 minutes and solid offensively. It’s not magic. Every coach is going through that. I know (the media) like to put it on the coaches and things like that, but a lot of the times, you’re at the whim of a shot going in and out. You’re at the whim of a 90-percent free-throw shooter missing two free throws. There’s things in basketball that happen. It’s not an excuse, it’s the truth.



Q: There has been some questions as to the academic standing of (junior transfer) AJ Stewart. Can you offer an update to his status and are you worried about any other players?

A: “I don’t have a status for you until the semester is over. He’s, but his situation is going to be determined by how he finishes out the semester. We totally have AJ worrying about academics right now. That started at the beginning of this semester. His total semester was to focus on academics and everything else doesn’t matter unless he takes care of his academics. The people I’m not worried about are those guys who have gone past the eligibility portion and are working towards their degree, like John Rybak, Jonathan Sloan and Ryan White. In the sport of men’s basketball, every spring, there’s going to be some guys who have to pick it up. Hopefully it’s one or two, but sometimes it’s four or five. That’s just the nature of the game and in fairness to our guys, they miss a lot of school for basketball-related activities.”



Q: Speaking of Ryan White, it seemed like he hit his stride late in the season. What are your impressions of Ryan and how do you see him helping the team in his senior season?

A: “We need him to be the best point guard in the Southland Conference, not the best point guard on our team. He’s already the best point guard on the team. He did so many things to get us in position to win games. He hit big shots, but what he was to do, if he’s not a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover guy, he’s not doing what we need him to do as a point guard and he knows that. He wasn’t close to that this year, so that’s my goal for him. If he can step up and be a 2-to-1 guy, to go along with the other things he can bring, I think he can be the best point guard in this league.”



Q: What were you proudest about this season?

A: “I was proud about how we finished the season. We were sitting 6-7 in the league and went to Northwestern State and picked up a win, went to UTSA and picked up a win and then come home and beat Sam Houston. That is a good thing. Two years in a row, our team have played really well down the stretch. A lot of teams don’t do that. A lot of teams that are sitting at that point fall off and our kids have fought down the stretch and made this university proud.”



Q: Is this program headed in the right direction? Where do you see this team in the next few seasons?

A: “Every year we’ve been better and I’m still not happy. I wish I was sitting here telling you we’ve won four championships, but every year we’re progressing to get to a point where we can win the tournament. You can’t gauge it by one more win or loss in conference. Our kids are totally devastated when they don’t advance in the tournament. Two years ago, I think we were happy just to be there. They were sad, don’t get me wrong, but this year, I think they were devastated. That’s the expectation of winning and it’s taken a lot of years to turn around that belief. I hope we can keep it going.”