Anthony Davis has made quite an impact during his Freshman year with the Kentucky Wildcats. Becoming the school’s first player to win the AP College Basketball Player of the Year award might be a distraction, but it certainly never hurts to pick up prestigious awards.
Davis averaged 14.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game during his freshman year with Kentucky. He already won the SEC player, freshman and defensive player of the year awards. The more that come along, the less they seem to affect the young man out of Chicago, who’s saying the right words in making us believe it’s all about the national title this weekend, nothing else.
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Davis also become the second freshman to win this award, the first being Kevin Durant in 2007. Durant never made it this far in the NCAA tournament, playing for Texas, but I don’t think he’s ever regretted making a quick shift from College to the NBA. He and the Oklahoma City Thunder look ready to win titles in pro level as well.
Davis would sign on the kind of career Durant is having in a second. The last two winners have yet to leave a mark on the league – Jimmer Fredette, struggling in his rookie campaign with the Sacramento Kings, and Evan Turner, who hasn’t really made meaningful strides in his two season with the Philadelphia 76ers. Busts? Too soon to sign off on that, but it’s heading that way.
But Davis looks too much of a sure thing, a can’t miss prospect, who’ll want to leave College life as a champion. This is great to be here and hopefully we can win the national championship and accomplish our goal. Even if we come up short, we still had a great season. My expectations were nothing like this; I wasn’t planning on any awards.
More likely than not, Davis, one of six double-figures scorers on this Kentucky Wildcats team, won’t be coming back for another season, like a couple of other players who joined him in their dominating season – I have to thank my teammates for those lob passes for easy baskets and for them getting beat off the dribble for all those blocked shots. Without them, there are no awards.
It is rather mind blowing that this is the first time a Kentucky player wins the award. With a team this deep, with so much talent, Davis still managed to stand out as the best in the nation. Maybe it speaks volumes for the talent pool currently in college basketball, which automatically gets us talking about players leaving too soon.
Davis is actually the first player to average as few as 14.3 points per game and win the award. The previous mark for fewest points by a AP player of the year was set by Patrick Ewing in 1985, averaging 14.6 points for Georgetown that season.