It's been awhile since the best team in college basketball
has been this strong and this young, but everyone knew that Kentucky was ripe
with freshmen superstars.
Never was that more evident than early Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena when
the Wildcats clinched the regular-season SEC title with an emphatic 83-74 win
over third-place Vanderbilt.
It was Kentucky's 51th consecutive home-court win, and the Wildcats y did it
the old-school way: by crashing the boards and dominating inside. For nearly the
first 26 minutes, every point came inside the paint or at the foul line for
Kentucky. When Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer at the 14:15 mark of the second half,
that Wildcats’ inside streak was broken, but the game was dominated throughout
by the big men.
Festus Ezeli and Jeffery Taylor carried the inside load for the Commodores, accounting
for 34 of Vandy's points. Ezeli also had six rebounds, three blocked shots and
a couple of Darryl Dawkins-style dunks that would have received standing
ovations at the NBA All-Star Weekend.
But while Vandy’s big man with the "Gunsmoke" name won the style
contest, none of the Commodores found an answer for the nation's best freshman
and a top candidate for NCAA Player of the Year: Kentucky's Anthony
Davis. The 6-foot-11 forward had a career-high 28 points along with 11
rebounds and six blocked shots.
Not since Tim Duncan lit up the ACC at Wake Forest has a freshman big man
played with as much dominance and poise as Davis. As he has all season, he
carried the Wildcats when the Kentucky guards couldn't find the rim from
outside.
When Vandy went on a 9-0 run to pull within one point with 4:22 left, Davis
came through, hitting two baskets over Ezeli and getting two more blocks on the
defensive end for a 9-3 Kentucky run. Davis’ second field goal in that spurt
came with the shot-clock winding down as he pulled up from 16 feet and hit a
perfect jumper like a 6-4 guard, not a 6-11 forward. Kentucky’s lead was 75-68
with 1:10 left and the 51st consecutive home win was just about
wrapped up.
Everyone expected great things from Davis, as well as from fellow freshmen
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague, but it is a testament to John
Calipari's coaching skills that he can put one successful team after another on
the floor with so many freshmen. Whether it's John Wall, Brandon Knight, or
Davis, Calipari not only finds the best young talent, he has them playing like
seniors by tournament time.
The Wildcats' winning streak also speaks volumes to Cal's motivational
techniques. Even when his sideline histrionics become cartoonish, the man gets
the most out of every player.
Every college basketball season produces one or two Cinderella stories – so
many, in fact, that the out-of-nowhere underdog has become an expected part of
the postseason tournament – but winning when you're supposed to is often more
difficult than upsetting a few favorites.
There’s still more than a month before we get to the Final Four, but so far
Calipari and the Wildcats are living up to expectations no matter how high that
bar is being set.
