Anthony Davis dunks in the SEC Tournament loss to Vanderbilt. (AP Photo) |
Vinay Mullick is not surprised that freshman Anthony Davis has blossomed at Kentucky this season even if Davis’ overall play has surpassed expectations many had for him. However, even Mullick didn’t see Davis perhaps becoming the nation’s best collegiate player this season.
“We all knew he was a special person and a great player,” said Mullick, the athletics director at Perspectives Charter Schools in Chicago. “We knew his freshman year could be special. He’s had a lot of attention come to him very quickly. From April of his junior year to about August when he committed to Kentucky he went from not being ranked among the nation’s top players to being the No. 1 player in the country.
“Seeing how he handled that and continued to be such a good kid was a great sign he would handle everything at Kentucky just like he has. We knew he would be good, but I am not going to say we thought he might be player of the year. We were just excited he was going to Kentucky where he could contribute and make an impact. We knew he would succeed. Here we all feel so good for him, his family and everybody at Kentucky. It has been a neat experience seeing him and the team go after that national championship.”
That title quest has reached the one-and-done status now as Davis and No. 1 Kentucky will open NCAA Tournament play Thursday in Louisville at 6:50 p.m. against either Mississippi Valley State or Western Kentucky.
Davis’ play is a major reason Kentucky is favored by many to win the national title.¿He leads the nation in blocked shots with 157 and is averaging 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. He’s shooting a team-high 64.2 percent from the field and also leads Kentucky in steals with 47. He’s a 70 percent foul shooter (112-for-160) and has made three 3-point goals. He leads Kentucky in scoring, rebounding, blocks, steals and field goal percentage.¿He’s second on the team in minutes played with 1,073.
“Since the first time I met him, his drive and determination to be the best on the court has never changed,” Cortez Hale, his high school coach, said. “He always did what the coach said and what he was supposed to do to get better. He was an honor roll student since his freshman year. He was never in trouble, no disciplinary issues. He did not talk trash on the court or around school when he became the country’s No. 1 player. You just knew he would be good because he was never satisfied with the way he played.
“He lives for the big moments, too. He loves to prove a lot of his critics wrong that said he wasn’t big enough or tough enough to excel at Kentucky. There were a lot of doubters out there because he came out of nowhere and he wanted to prove them all wrong.”
Kentucky had won 24 straight games before falling to Vanderbilt Sunday in New Orleans in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
“For me, I definitely hate the feeling of losing. To lose here, especially in a championship when we were this close to winning it all, it just hurts. So I hope we can take this loss, learn from it, and have this as motivation going into the tournament,” Davis said after the game. “I think our confidence is still here. We never lost any confidence.
“We just got to go back in the gym and play hard in practice and get ready for the tournament. When you take a loss like this it just makes us hungrier to get ready. There's nothing more to it.”
Davis knows many may doubt now if Kentucky can win the national title. However, the doubters also wondered how Davis, a 6-3 guard as a sophomore, could suddenly grow seven inches in one year and become a dominant big man. However, he’s used the guard skills he had for years to be able to put the ball on the floor and go around defenders. He’s shown both a left-handed and right-handed jump hook. He’s made 3-pointers. He’s dunked off lob passes and missed shots.
“I don’t know if there’s a player in the country that a team changes more when he’s off the floor than Davis. He is terrific. I haven’t seen everybody play around the country but I would be hard-pressed to find that there has been any player that’s been more impactful to a team than Davis has been for Kentucky,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
“He is a terrific player and I think he’s doing more and more. You always go through an evolving process in your offense based off how teams start to defend you and how they guard you. He’s stepping out more now, he’s putting the ball on the floor more. John (Calipari) isolates him at certain areas on the floor, top of the key where he can beat most centers off the dribble. Certainly his shot-blocking ability and the way he alters the game is remarkable. I would think that without question, if he is not the best player in the country and doesn’t get the award, I imagine he would be No. 2.”
Mitch Light of athlonsports.com believes Davis is clearly the nation’s best player.
“He is dominating games on the defensive end like a young Patrick Ewing did for Georgetown in the 1980s. And like with most great shot-blockers, you can’t just look at the number of shots Davis blocks — 4.9 per game, the most in the nation — but you also have to take into account the amount of shots he alters and the times his presence in the lane deters players from driving toward the basket. Davis is also making contributions on the offensive end of the floor, and he leads the Wildcats in rebounding. He is, quite simply, a special player,” Light said.
Arkansas center Michael Sanchez says playing against Davis makes one appreciate just how good he is.
“He is everywhere. He is really mindful of the ball. That’s how he gets all his blocks. He’s a good anticipator. He seems to always be in good position,” Sanchez said. “He is wiry strong, kind of deceptive. I definitely say he is the catalyst on their team. He has a big-time presence inside. If he is not blocking shots, he is altering a lot of shots. He is a huge game changer, something that not many teams have. He just plays his role and never says a word or takes any cheap shots.”
Mullick says everyone at Davis’ high school is “so proud of him” for what he’s already done at Kentucky this season.
“It is special. There’s no other way to say it,”¿Mullick said. “It all started at home for him with the mentorship of his parents. He has a large family with grandparents also very involved. He has a real strong foundation at home. At school, we just assisted where we could during the day or after school when he was playing basketball, but his family put all this in motion with the foundation he has.”
His parents, sisters and other family members often attend games, but are as soft-spoken and quiet as Davis. They are no more apt to big outbursts after one of his spectacular plays than he is on the court.
“That’s just the way he is. He has that will to win and it doesn’t matter if he scores two points or 30.¿He just wants to win. That’s just how he is. We are all really enjoying the ride. He has been a great kid, quiet and kind of to himself. I think he is really enjoying the atmosphere here,” Anthony Davis Sr. said.
“I always tell Anthony you are this close but you are also that close. That means your close is here but your close is far. As easy as it comes, it can go that easy so just enjoy the ride while you can. Being big-headed — bad things come to those who think they are the man and whatever. He’s really taken it all in stride.”
Mullick is especially proud of the way Davis handled some physical play from opponents, including a takedown from behind at LSU.
“We are a charter school and little different than a neighborhood school. We talk about 26 principles of how to live a disciplined life. Every time I see Anthony on TV,¿I see those principles in him. LSU was a perfect example. He did not blow his top or react. He’s been that way all season no matter what has been thrown at him,” Mullick said. “When we see that and talk to a kid, we tell them to watch how Anthony is living a disciplined life. Anthony and his sister were here from seventh to 12th grade. We’re proud of the foundation from our character education that he has and he obviously puts it to use.”
But now Davis wants to put his athletic skills to use to help Kentucky win an eighth national championship.
That was his goal as soon as he signed with Kentucky and that dream has never changed even as he has played himself into being the projected No. 1 pick in the June NBA draft.
“We are just taking it one day at a time and just enjoying it. We don’t know about the one-and-done thing for him or the team, so we are just going to enjoy it,” Davis’ father said. “I think if they play the way they can, I think they are unstoppable. But anything is possible in tournament play. I just hope they come out and have their energy and fire every game throughout the tournament. I think we can cut the nets down (after the title game) if they do that because when they play well, they are a very outstanding team.”
“We all knew he was a special person and a great player,” said Mullick, the athletics director at Perspectives Charter Schools in Chicago. “We knew his freshman year could be special. He’s had a lot of attention come to him very quickly. From April of his junior year to about August when he committed to Kentucky he went from not being ranked among the nation’s top players to being the No. 1 player in the country.
“Seeing how he handled that and continued to be such a good kid was a great sign he would handle everything at Kentucky just like he has. We knew he would be good, but I am not going to say we thought he might be player of the year. We were just excited he was going to Kentucky where he could contribute and make an impact. We knew he would succeed. Here we all feel so good for him, his family and everybody at Kentucky. It has been a neat experience seeing him and the team go after that national championship.”
That title quest has reached the one-and-done status now as Davis and No. 1 Kentucky will open NCAA Tournament play Thursday in Louisville at 6:50 p.m. against either Mississippi Valley State or Western Kentucky.
Davis’ play is a major reason Kentucky is favored by many to win the national title.¿He leads the nation in blocked shots with 157 and is averaging 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. He’s shooting a team-high 64.2 percent from the field and also leads Kentucky in steals with 47. He’s a 70 percent foul shooter (112-for-160) and has made three 3-point goals. He leads Kentucky in scoring, rebounding, blocks, steals and field goal percentage.¿He’s second on the team in minutes played with 1,073.
“Since the first time I met him, his drive and determination to be the best on the court has never changed,” Cortez Hale, his high school coach, said. “He always did what the coach said and what he was supposed to do to get better. He was an honor roll student since his freshman year. He was never in trouble, no disciplinary issues. He did not talk trash on the court or around school when he became the country’s No. 1 player. You just knew he would be good because he was never satisfied with the way he played.
“He lives for the big moments, too. He loves to prove a lot of his critics wrong that said he wasn’t big enough or tough enough to excel at Kentucky. There were a lot of doubters out there because he came out of nowhere and he wanted to prove them all wrong.”
Kentucky had won 24 straight games before falling to Vanderbilt Sunday in New Orleans in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
“For me, I definitely hate the feeling of losing. To lose here, especially in a championship when we were this close to winning it all, it just hurts. So I hope we can take this loss, learn from it, and have this as motivation going into the tournament,” Davis said after the game. “I think our confidence is still here. We never lost any confidence.
“We just got to go back in the gym and play hard in practice and get ready for the tournament. When you take a loss like this it just makes us hungrier to get ready. There's nothing more to it.”
Davis knows many may doubt now if Kentucky can win the national title. However, the doubters also wondered how Davis, a 6-3 guard as a sophomore, could suddenly grow seven inches in one year and become a dominant big man. However, he’s used the guard skills he had for years to be able to put the ball on the floor and go around defenders. He’s shown both a left-handed and right-handed jump hook. He’s made 3-pointers. He’s dunked off lob passes and missed shots.
“I don’t know if there’s a player in the country that a team changes more when he’s off the floor than Davis. He is terrific. I haven’t seen everybody play around the country but I would be hard-pressed to find that there has been any player that’s been more impactful to a team than Davis has been for Kentucky,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
“He is a terrific player and I think he’s doing more and more. You always go through an evolving process in your offense based off how teams start to defend you and how they guard you. He’s stepping out more now, he’s putting the ball on the floor more. John (Calipari) isolates him at certain areas on the floor, top of the key where he can beat most centers off the dribble. Certainly his shot-blocking ability and the way he alters the game is remarkable. I would think that without question, if he is not the best player in the country and doesn’t get the award, I imagine he would be No. 2.”
Mitch Light of athlonsports.com believes Davis is clearly the nation’s best player.
“He is dominating games on the defensive end like a young Patrick Ewing did for Georgetown in the 1980s. And like with most great shot-blockers, you can’t just look at the number of shots Davis blocks — 4.9 per game, the most in the nation — but you also have to take into account the amount of shots he alters and the times his presence in the lane deters players from driving toward the basket. Davis is also making contributions on the offensive end of the floor, and he leads the Wildcats in rebounding. He is, quite simply, a special player,” Light said.
Arkansas center Michael Sanchez says playing against Davis makes one appreciate just how good he is.
“He is everywhere. He is really mindful of the ball. That’s how he gets all his blocks. He’s a good anticipator. He seems to always be in good position,” Sanchez said. “He is wiry strong, kind of deceptive. I definitely say he is the catalyst on their team. He has a big-time presence inside. If he is not blocking shots, he is altering a lot of shots. He is a huge game changer, something that not many teams have. He just plays his role and never says a word or takes any cheap shots.”
Mullick says everyone at Davis’ high school is “so proud of him” for what he’s already done at Kentucky this season.
“It is special. There’s no other way to say it,”¿Mullick said. “It all started at home for him with the mentorship of his parents. He has a large family with grandparents also very involved. He has a real strong foundation at home. At school, we just assisted where we could during the day or after school when he was playing basketball, but his family put all this in motion with the foundation he has.”
His parents, sisters and other family members often attend games, but are as soft-spoken and quiet as Davis. They are no more apt to big outbursts after one of his spectacular plays than he is on the court.
“That’s just the way he is. He has that will to win and it doesn’t matter if he scores two points or 30.¿He just wants to win. That’s just how he is. We are all really enjoying the ride. He has been a great kid, quiet and kind of to himself. I think he is really enjoying the atmosphere here,” Anthony Davis Sr. said.
“I always tell Anthony you are this close but you are also that close. That means your close is here but your close is far. As easy as it comes, it can go that easy so just enjoy the ride while you can. Being big-headed — bad things come to those who think they are the man and whatever. He’s really taken it all in stride.”
Mullick is especially proud of the way Davis handled some physical play from opponents, including a takedown from behind at LSU.
“We are a charter school and little different than a neighborhood school. We talk about 26 principles of how to live a disciplined life. Every time I see Anthony on TV,¿I see those principles in him. LSU was a perfect example. He did not blow his top or react. He’s been that way all season no matter what has been thrown at him,” Mullick said. “When we see that and talk to a kid, we tell them to watch how Anthony is living a disciplined life. Anthony and his sister were here from seventh to 12th grade. We’re proud of the foundation from our character education that he has and he obviously puts it to use.”
But now Davis wants to put his athletic skills to use to help Kentucky win an eighth national championship.
That was his goal as soon as he signed with Kentucky and that dream has never changed even as he has played himself into being the projected No. 1 pick in the June NBA draft.
“We are just taking it one day at a time and just enjoying it. We don’t know about the one-and-done thing for him or the team, so we are just going to enjoy it,” Davis’ father said. “I think if they play the way they can, I think they are unstoppable. But anything is possible in tournament play. I just hope they come out and have their energy and fire every game throughout the tournament. I think we can cut the nets down (after the title game) if they do that because when they play well, they are a very outstanding team.”
