No one will point any fingers at NIU senior co-captain Rodney Davis when it comes time to explain the Huskies’ failure on the hardwood this season.

Going into Monday night’s game at Cincinnati, Davis needed just 26 points to become the 15th player in NIU history to reach the 1,000 point mark for a career.

His 14 points in the Bearcat loss left him poised to eclipse the milestone Thursday night at home against Florida International.

But Davis said he sees this accomplishment as something he will reminisce about, not as a goal itself.

“It’ll be something 10 or 15 years down the line that I can still look in the books and see my name listed,” he said. “It does leave a good feeling in your mind to say, ‘Hey, I left a name for myself here,’ and hopefully, that’s what I’ve done.”

While scoring 1,000 points might be the achievement that keeps Davis in the Huskie records, his legacy will be of a more subtle nature. Consistency.

Dating back to the beginning of his sophomore year at NIU, Davis has started 70 of the 71 games in which he has appeared. Since the start of his junior season, he has scored in double figures 38 times, including one stretch of 30 games in a row.

Davis knows it takes more than consistency to make the NBA, but he still hopes to play professionally—perhaps in Europe—when his collegiate career ends.

“I have personal goals,” he said. “I hope to be playing somewhere next year. I have to perform to the best of my abilities every night because I might just get a break here or there. I have confidence in myself, and I think I have the ability to play with these guys (top pro prospects).”

Davis might be thinking about a pro career now, but two years ago he was wondering if he could survive under the man who would be his new coach. It was prior to the beginning of the ‘86-‘87 season, and Jim Rosborough had told his squad what would be expected of them.

“He’ll tell you himself we didn’t think much of him at the beginning,” Davis said of Rosborough. “As a player, you always like to hear, ‘I’m going to do this for you, we’ll get you this….’ Coach Rosborough wasn’t like that, he told us exactly what he was going to do, and we were like, ‘Oh, man, he’s going to kill us.’ He was very honest as to what he was going to do.”

Rosborough admits he probably wasn’t the most popular man in DeKalb when he took over, but he said he did not want to paint a false image of himself. Today, Davis speaks of his coach in only the most positive tones.

“I admire him. I like him,” the senior guard said. “He’ll do anything for me, and I’ll do anything for him.”

Despite his strong personal feelings for Davis, Rosborough has been frustrated in his attempt to bring out the best in his talented pupil. Rosborough had hoped Davis would use his status as co-captain to take control of his teammates.

“Once, at practice this year, he slammed the ball on the floor,” Rosborough said, recalling one of Davis’ few moments of visible anger. “I almost had a heart attack.”

Rosborough’s determination to see Davis reach his potential has left the Huskie coach pondering a gnawing question, “Did we get him as far as we possibly could?”

Davis knows he has not been the vocal leader Rosborough wanted him to be and he explained his quiet demeanor.

“Coach would probably like me to be a little more outspoken, but I have a tendency to get frustrated when things aren’t going right, and I might get caught up in a yelling match instead of giving a pat on the back. I may get in someone’s face and it might not be taken the right way.”

Though he has played in more than 80 games overall, scored 33 points in a game last year and went 6-6 from the field and 8-8 from the foul line in a win over Northwestern as a sophomore, Davis did not hesitate when asked to name his fondest memory in his four years at NIU.

“That Drake game,” he said, smiling as he recalled his game-winning three-pointer that beat the buzzer in the Huskies’ upset victory in Des Moines earlier this season. “Either that shot was going to make us or break us, and it really turned things around for us at that point. That was something I’ll never forget.”

While there was not an abundance of highlights like that one for Davis—his sophomore year was the only time Davis’ teams played better than .500 basketball—he felt he made the right choice in coming to NIU.

“I have no regrets at all,” Davis said. “I’ve enjoyed playing here. I’ve liked the guys I’ve played with. I’ve liked the coaching staffs. I would liked to have won more games and been able to have participated in the NCAA tournament.

“But then again, we’ve been places and I’ve experienced a lot. I wish coach Rosborough and the team for next year a lot of success, and I know one day they’re going to be a successful team here and, hopefully, next year they can turn things around and shoot for that post-season tournament.”