Basketball: Simi Valley’s Davis appears to be well ahead of schedule

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I bumped into Simi Valley hoops coach Christian Aurand and his assistant, Ryan Moore, while covering a baseball game on the Pioneers’ campus about a month ago and the two were talking about how quickly freshman Jonathan Davis was coming along. Turns out, there’s no slowing down his development.

The 6-foot-7 forward, who’s grown nearly two inches since the end of the season, back in February, attended an elite camp hosted by USC last weekend and will do the same at Arizona St. on June 26-27 before joining his Simi Valley teammates at a UC Santa Barbara camp to close out the month.

‘Jonathan has a high ceiling. He’s cursed with the ‘P word’, though, and that’s potential,’’ Moore said. ‘Good thing about him is, he’s humble and has a great work ethic. He’s only going to improve down the road and me and Christian are here to help him do that.’’

There might be even more pressure for the youngster to improve considering the Pioneers lost seniors Lorne Jackson and Michael Meza to graduation, meaning Davis could end up being thrust into a more prominent role than he could have ever imagined. It will be interesting to see if he’s ready...

-- Sean Ceglinsky