WHERE ARE THEY NOW? UPDATE ON TYRA (BUSS) DAVISON
By Randy Olson
Six years removed from a brilliant record-setting career at Indiana University, Tyra Buss is again back on the hardcourt playing the game she loves, basketball. Tyra married former Wisconsin Badgers standout player, Brad Davison, almost two years ago, and the pair are both enjoying a great season of playing professional basketball in Spain. Tyra recently scored 59 points in a Women's game for her team Aludium, receiving MVP honors in a 98-69 win. Her husband, Brad Davison, was also recognized with MVP honors on the Men's side, as he tears it up for his team, Alicante.
 Prior to playing this season in Spain, the couple also played professionally last year in Lithuania. Tyra is a little older than Brad, and while he was finishing his stellar playing career at Wisconsin, where he helped lead the Badgers to a Big-10 Championship, Tyra tried her hand at TV broadcasting, doing some work for the BigTen Network (BTN) covering some Women's games. She also spent a year as an Assistant Coach at Evansville University, and a year on the coaching staff at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
As you recall, Tyra Buss was named Miss Basketball of Illinois in back-to-back years while playing at Mt Carmel High School. During her career with the Lady Aces, Tyra scored more points than any girl has ever scored in Illinois, amassing 4,897 points in just 129 games played. That's a career scoring average of 38 points per game.
Mt Carmel had an overall record of 113-16 during her high school career, winning 4 straight IHSA Regional Titles. At just 5'8” tall, Tyra had a nose for the basket and could score by penetrating to the basket, or hitting the long-range jumper. She often got fouled, so Tyra spent a lot of time at the foul line. She made 1,185 career free throws at Mt Carmel, which is also a career record in Illinois High School girls basketball. Tyra graduated from Mt Carmel in 2014. It is hard to believe that it has now been ten years since Tyra packed high school gyms, drawing tons of people to watch her play, everywhere the Lady Aces went.
As a scholarship athlete at Indiana University, Tyra quickly proved the nay-sayers wrong who said that she was not big enough or strong enough to play in the Big Ten Conference. She was a starter for coach Teri Moren all four years. Tyra helped to turn the Indiana Lady Hoosiers program around, leading them to an NIT Championship during her Senior year in the final game she played in a Hoosier uniform at the Assembly Hall. That game drew a new record for attendance at a Women's basketball game in Indiana, and the momentum has continued to build there.
Buss left her mark at Indiana, becoming the All-Time leading scorer at the school with 2,364 points, the first Lady Hoosier to eclipse 2,000 career points. Her record had stood for six years since her graduation in 2018 at IU, but was just broken over the weekend by current Hoosier player, Mackenzie Holmes. Tyra recently returned to the campus at Bloomington for a visit, where she signed a large "Legacy Wall" display in Assembly Hall with other former Hoosier athletes.
One of the Assistant Coaches at Indiana during the career of Tyra Buss, was Glenn Box, the former head coach at Rend Lake College in Ina. Box spent seven seasons at Indiana as an Assistant under Head Coach Moren. He left this past season to become the Head Coach of the Women's Program at the University of Miami (Ohio).
Tyra's husband, Brad Davison, played five seasons for Wisconsin from 2018-2022 (4 + covid) and holds the Badgers career record for most made three-point shots (350). He averaged a little over 14 points per game his Senior season, and helped lead Wisconsin to a Big Ten Championship. Davison is just one of four Badgers players in the history of the program to achieve the trifecta of at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, and 300 assists in their career. The Badgers qualified for the NCAA Tournament four straight years while he was there. Brad has two older sisters who both played college basketball at Northern Iowa University.
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