Davis cements No. 1 NBA draft spot - Philadelphia Inquirer

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Davis cements No. 1 NBA draft spot - Philadelphia Inquirer Apr 1st 2012, 06:39 We have to admit we'd rather be in New Orleans dealing with late interviews and overhyped fans and crazy deadlines and the fact that CBS can't be on time for a first-game tipoff that the network itself scheduled for 6:09 p.m. but actually happened at 6:14 (did you really have to run a commercial between the national anthem and the player introductions?). But if you have to be home watching game action sprinkled among the ads, there's nothing better than following along on Twitter as Kentucky's Anthony Davis shows in no uncertain terms why he is college basketball's player of the year and the absolute mortal lock No. 1 pick in the next NBA draft. The 6-foot-10 freshman played an incredible role in the Wildcats' 69-61 victory over Louisville in Saturday night's first national semifinal. He tallied 18 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocked shots. But another huge stat generated by Davis' presence in the paint on defense, provided by ESPN Stats and Info, said that Louisville missed 16 layups and dunks during the game. Imagine, if the Cardinals make only four of those 16, the game is in overtime, or maybe get one more stop and squeak by to a spot in Monday night's national championship game. "Anthony Davis is the most dominant player in the tournament in the past 20 years," tweeted Dick Weiss, the Philadelphia-area native who writes for the New York Daily News. "If this were little league, Anthony Davis would be the kid the other teams' parents complain is too good for his age group," added Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated. It wasn't just sportswriters who noticed. "Oh my, Anthony Davis is looooong!" tweeted golfer Y.E. Yang after finishing his third round of the Shell Houston Open. Davis didn't just settle for intimidating and dominating between the lines of the court. He chased a pair of loose balls over the sideline, first launching a jump from the raised court that carried him over the first row of media to the Superdome floor four feet below, then leaping to tip a pass and seeing his momentum carry him well over the end line toward the Kentucky cheering section. "Not satisfied with just wanting a seat on press row, Anthony Davis also auditioning for a spot in the band," said Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com. Give Louisville credit for hanging in there. The fact that Davis and his teammates were going so much for the block when the Cardinals drove into the paint meant there were offensive rebounds there for the taking, and Louisville grabbed 16 for 13 second-chance points. But Davis and the Kentucky defense forced the Cardinals into rushed shots from that point on, and the Wildcats wound up shooting 57 percent from the field, led by Davis' 7 for 8. "For those who keep tweeting me with doubts about Anthony Davis . . . Really? Fantastic again today. Still getting better," said Chad Ford, NBA insider for ESPN.com. So it is with a high degree of certainty that Davis will be playing his final game in a Kentucky uniform on Monday night. As Saturday night's game wound down, a Twitter-fueled discussion emerged about Davis. "Everyone asking for Anthony Davis comps," Ford wrote. "Marcus Camby meets Kevin Garnett most common. But one GM insists he's Tim Duncan 2.0." It went on like that for a time before TNT's David Aldridge, sounding a little exasperated, tweeted, "Y'all have these Camby/Duncan comparisons with Davis wrong. Davis is a FRESHMAN doing what he's doing!!!" Well, whoever would prefer to compare Davis to Camby or Garnett or Duncan or even Hakeem Olajuwon, they can all agree with ESPN's college basketball analyst Fran Frischilla: "A lot of NBA executives trying to figure out how to tank games and then pray for the lottery balls to fall their way. Anthony Davis!!!" And another such performance by Davis may be all it takes for the Wildcats to be cutting down the nets on Monday night. Contact Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494 or jjuliano@phillynews.com or follow him on Twitter @joejulesinq   This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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