Xavier Nation Magazine Feature: Helping Hands

Xavier Nation Magazine debuted in November 2014 as a publication produced by Xavier Athletics, designed specifically for its passionate and supportive fans. Xavier Nation aims to bring the alumni, fans and friends of Xavier content that can't be found anywhere else. The magazine goes beyond the statistics and history of a traditional media guide with stories that bring to life the coaches and athletes who represent Xavier.

Read one of the features from the magazine about guards Myles Davis and Raeshaun Gaffney on how they worked to improve their games.

#15 Myles Davis
From his first to his second season playing at Xavier, Myles Davis doubled his scoring average, hiked his shooting from 33.5 percent to 39.4, and missed the same 15 free throws even while shooting 72 more.

By almost every measure he had improved, and significantly, in part because Myles Davis recognized that the offseason is the best time to work on Myles Davis.

"As I've gotten older, I've realized nobody's going to give it you," Davis says. "Summer's a good time to get yourself better. During the season it's about the team. In the summer it's just you."

Xavier men's basketball players each get what coaches call the Invest Book, breaking down the strengths and weaknesses in their games, and including drills to work on outside of supervised time. The book also compares XU players to others at their position in the BIG EAST Conference.

"We want those guys to know they're not the only guys working," Xavier associate head coach Travis Steele says. "The other guys are trying to get better, too."

Here's what Davis focused on improving over the summer:

BALL HANDLING—With the graduation of Dee Davis, who started all 37 games at point guard for Xavier last season, Steele says XU may have a point guard by committee—one Myles Davis would like to chair.

"I'm trying to become a better ball handler," Davis says.

It's one thing to throw someone a basketball and tell him to work on dribbling. It's better to work toward a goal. "It's easy to measure a jump shot, making nine of 10 or whatever," Steele says. "With ball handling you have to have time elements."

Among five core ball-handling drills the XU staff uses is the 150 series, which works like this:

Starting with the left hand, 25 pounded, shoulder-high dribbles; 25 skill dribbles, low and quick; 25 in-out dribbles, still using only the left hand; 25 dribbles crossing to the right hand and snapping back to the left (both hands counting as one repetition); 25 dribbles starting left, crossing to right, between the legs back to the left; and 25 dribbles starting left, crossing to right, behind the back to finish lefty.

The staff targets one percent improvement each day, Steele says. Davis used to complete the 150 series in about two minutes, but by August was down to a minute and a half.

"You get what you measure," Steele says. "It makes them competitive within themselves."

QUICKNESS/ATHLETICISM—Each Tuesday in the summer, the Musketeers made a half-hour trek up to Ignition APG in Mason for 90-minute sessions of performance-optimizing workouts.

They're designed to improve first-step quickness, lateral quickness, flexibility, changing direction, and other basketball-specific movements, Steele says, utilizing methods such as read/react drills, sled pushes, and shuttle runs.

"Myles is probably not the best athlete in the BIG EAST by any means," Steele says. "He can be a guy who really improves his athleticism."

Ignition, with facilities in Mason and Naples, Florida, has a lot of experience at this type of thing. They've worked with dozens of current and former NFL athletes, preparing many for the NFL Scouting Combine.

"I want to develop better one-on-one moves," Davis says. "I need to be more explosive, quicker, more athletic."

Of course, 90 minutes a week of performance work is just the beginning. With all workouts, XU players are expected to put in some time on their own, and that's fine with Davis.

"It's about being mature, more focused, more dedicated," he says. "It's something I look forward to."

LEADERSHIP—It's easier to measure improvement in shooting a jumper, lifting a weight stack, or running a timed drill, but growing as a leader is no less important. It's also on XU's list for Davis, whose junior season will be his fourth in the program.

"It's something I've watched other people do," Davis says. "I've taken an interest in it."

Steele says: "We're going to need his experience to help with the younger kids."

The XU staff brought in guest speakers, including former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, to talk to the group about their experiences and reinforce core values.

But the staff also took subtle steps over the summer to reinforce Davis's new role. In open gym, it was Davis who divided the teams and took charge of the games. It was Davis who made sure everyone was on time for weightlifting and study hall. It was Davis who broke the huddles.

"We wanted to give him that platform, that voice," Steele says. "He's become a lot more confident in himself."

#30 Raeshaun Gaffney
When sizing up Raeshaun Gaffney's game, John Wooden's wisdom comes to mind: "Be quick, but don't hurry."

Gaffney, Xavier's redshirt junior guard by way of Fairfield High and the University of Virginia, likes to play with some spring in her step. "A lot of my game is fast-paced: getting to the rim, pulling up in transition, shooting the three," she says.

Xavier coach Brian Neal and his staff aren't about to apply the brakes to Gaffney's game; to make sure everything works smoothly at her speed, from fundamentals to shot selection, they focused on a summer tune-up.

"When you're in the gym, everything needs to be game speed, or you're not going to get better," Gaffney says. "Whether you're practicing by yourself or with a teammate, you want to make sure you're making the most of your time and getting something out of it."

"I think she's just scratching the surface," Xavier assistant coach Carla Morrow says. "I think this year you're going to see a different Rae, and by her senior year, she's going to have the ability to be really, really good."

Some areas of improvement:

GO-TO SHOTS—"Rae does a really nice job of getting inside the three-point line, and the shot she takes a lot is the pull-up jumper," Morrow says. "If that's the shot she's looking to take, we want to make sure she's making a good percentage of those."

Morrow says coaches like to do a lot of work with straight-line drives, and put Gaffney's pull-up in a lot of the drills. She worked on her footwork, reading defenses, knowing when to pull up and when to take the ball to the rim.

"With her size and her ability, she's able to get [to the basket] as well," Morrow says. "It's just a matter of her being able to finish in multiple ways."

During the summer, the XU women's staff utilized their two-hour supervised practice time in hour-long sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each player also received a laminated card with a series of progressive drills to work on individual skills on their own time.

Gaffney says she came to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings in the summer, then arrived early to get work in before open gym on Saturdays. "In a week, I got maybe eight [additional] hours in," she says.

EXPANDING HER RANGE—Last season, Gaffney averaged 10.4 points per game, shooting 34.4 percent from the field and just a bit less (33.3) from three-point range. Those numbers were up from her season at Virginia, where she shot 29.7 percent from the field and 18.2 percent on threes.

Shooting threes "is something we talked to Rae about when we were recruiting her the second time around," Morrow says. "She's really smart about where she shoots her threes and when she shoots her threes."

Morrow says Gaffney shoots a lot of her threes in the corners on drive-and-kicks, and sometimes on the wings. "You'll rarely see her take one from the top of the key," Morrow says. "We don't want her taking shots that she's not comfortable taking."

But one of Gaffney's goals was to expand the list of shots she likes. She put up shots from all angles behind the arc over the summer.

"For me, it's about more consistent accuracy," she says. "At this spot, I can't miss two in a row or I'll start all over, or I have to make seven of 10 from this spot. Coach [Brian Neal] is really enforcing that, not just getting in the gym to get up shots but getting in the gym to make shots."

Gaffney and others took advantage of XU's investment in the Noah, a rim-mounted camera that evaluates a shooter's arc and records whether it's in acceptable range. "You can't lie to the Noah," Gaffney says. "The Noah doesn't care whether you're upset or you're having a bad day. It just tells you what you did."

THE MENTAL GAME—Gaffney has played for two high school programs and two college programs. She has found herself at Xavier, Morrow says.

"I think when she first got here, it was shocking to her how much attention we paid to the very little things, how detail-oriented we are as a staff," Morrow says. "You look at her now in workouts and she seems like she's very comfortable here. She knows our language and she knows our expectations.

"She's improved a lot mentally. How she handles mistakes, how she handles coaching, is much different now. I think that's a sign of maturity, and that's something all players need."

Gaffney says the XU staff "is invested in their players and the development of the program."

"We're all on the same page," she says.

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