Luke Zimmerman ‘25 earned a spot on the Davidson men’s basketball team this year after serving as a manager for the team and the president of club basketball previously. Jennevieve Culver ‘25 from The Davidsonian sat down with Zimmerman to hear more about his experience with the men’s basketball program.
Q: Can you share a bit about your journey with basketball? When did you start playing, and what did it look like to go from that point to playing at Davidson?
A: I started playing in third grade, just in a recreational league on the weekends. I went on to play in middle school and high school. I was sort of thinking about playing in college, but it was not my priority in picking a school—academics and fit were more important to me. I had talked to a few coaches, but wasn’t on an all-out pursuit to play in college. My high school senior season being canceled due to COVID-19 didn’t help. I was upset to miss the season but didn’t really think about it from a recruiting standpoint. When my high school coaches found out I was going to Davidson, they mentioned that they knew about the large roles for walk-ons and managers here, and encouraged me to get involved with Davidson’s basketball program. I reached out to the Davidson coaches, came to watch some workouts when I got to campus my freshman year, and have been involved since.
Q: What was it like playing on the club basketball team in your first three years at Davidson?
A: Club basketball has probably been one of my favorite activities at Davidson. I’ve played since my freshman year, and partway through my sophomore year I became an officer. Being a manager is so time-intensive that some are less involved with the club team, but I always loved the opportunity to compete live and play against other schools in an environment where I’m one of the better players. This year, I have stayed involved with the club team as president and have helped out with coaching, but I do truly miss playing at the club level.
Q: What was it like learning the ropes of Davidson basketball early on?
A: Some of the basketball lingo Davidon uses is very unique and was difficult to grasp early on. At first, I was unsure if these were just regular well-known basketball terms that everyone uses and I was the only one who didn’t know them. Learning the Davidson basketball language and the terms for all the plays and actions definitely took time to get used to.
Q: Can you share what it’s like to be a manager?
A: It really is an all-encompassing role, one that can change by the day—whatever is asked of you, whatever the coaches ask of you, whatever the players ask of you is what your role then becomes. It’s a huge time commitment. Being a manager might even be more of a time commitment than being a player. You come to practices and games early to set up, help in workouts with players one-on-one, help coaches work out with players, deal with food orders on road trips, track statistics during games, etc. It’s definitely both a very involved and time-intensive role.
Q: You joined the Davidson basketball program at a phenomenal time your freshman year—what do you remember about the team and that season?
A: It was awesome to be part of a March Madness team, a team that came very close to winning the A-10 tournament, that was A-10 regular season champions. I enjoyed learning so much from all of the coaches. It was a phenomenal shooting team, a very talented group to be around, just a lot of fun.
Q: What is your favorite memory of your time with the Davidson basketball program?
A: The day I found out I made the team is definitely my best memory. This past summer, I had come down to Davidson for a little over a month for summer workouts. The last day of training involved some more fun, less serious drills. The last thing we were doing that day was shooting three-quarter court shots. Everyone just got one attempt. I made my attempt. I wasn’t thinking much of it. Afterwards, we were huddling and Coach McKillop turned to me and said, “Since you made that shot, you’ve earned a spot on the team.” Apparently he turned to one of the assistant coaches and said, “Should we just tell him now?” Obviously it wasn’t because I made the shot—I think they were planning on telling me at the team meeting the following week—but they decided to go ahead and tell me then. That was the best feeling.
Q: For anyone who might not know, would you give an explanation of what the process of going from a manager to walking onto the basketball team at Davidson looks like?
A: I think every situation is a little bit different, but when I came in my freshman year I really had no idea what to expect. I tried out for the team, really with no high hopes. I was told there wasn’t a spot for me at the time, but if I stayed involved as a manager there could potentially be a spot for me down the line. A similar thing happened my sophomore year. Those two years I was mostly focusing on my role as manager and didn’t get many opportunities to play in practice aside from hopping in a drill here and there. My junior year I played a lot more in practice on the scout team. After my junior year, the conversation around me joining the team opened up again, and the coaches had seen me play enough junior year that it almost served as a tryout. I still was never certain there would be a spot for me until that day this summer though.
Q: How do you feel about Davidson’s prospects for the season?
A: I feel optimistic about the season. Our shooting ability was one of the main problems the past couple of years and that seems to have gotten a lot better. We’ll just have to see how this translates into games, and if we can put it all together.
Q: What is getting you excited about the upcoming season?
A: I just enjoy playing in practice every day and pushing my teammates to be their best and get better.
