Anthony Davis' Tuesday News and Views

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Let’s end the day on a good note: happy birthday to Anthony Davis, who turns the ripe old age of 21 on Tuesday. In his second year in the NBA, Davis has blossomed into a bonafide star, leading the league in blocked shots (2.9 per game), placing 10th in rebounding (10.1), and 16th in scoring (20.1). We all knew Davis was a special player during his time at Kentucky, but I’m not sure any of anticipated he would rise so high so quickly. On Sunday night, Davis tallied a career-high 32 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 blocks in the Pelicans’ win over the Denver Nuggets, and in the last three games, he’s averaging 29.6 points, 15.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 3 blocks, a blistering pace for a player who is just now able to legally order a drink in a bar. He’s surpassed 20 points and 10 rebounds in a game 22 times this season, and has 30 double-doubles. I mean, just look at this dunk from Friday night:

It’s almost painful to think that Davis would just be a junior at UK this season, and leading up to the All-Star game a few weeks ago, he admitted to Bill Simmons that he sometimes wishes he had come back a second year. As this season goes on, it’s becoming more and more apparently just how special Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were as freshmen, with maturity, competitiveness, and skill beyond their years. Just writing this has me reaching for the remote to watch the 2012 Championship game all over again.

Happy 21st, Anthony. Turn off the cartoons and go party.

And now, on with the news…

Kentucky falls out of both polls

Even though we knew it was coming, seeing Kentucky fall out of both the AP and Coaches’ Poll was not fun on Monday. It’s the fourth time a preseason number one has fallen out of the AP Top 25, the previous team being Indiana in 1979-1980. Over on his blog, John Clay did some research Monday afternoon and discovered that Kentucky has been unranked six of the last nine years at the end of the regular season, a sobering statistic when you consider the highs (and lows) of the last five years.

Cal hints at the tweak that “changed everything”

Morale is pretty low in the Big Blue Nation, but Calipari did his best to boost it during his call-in show Monday night. Cal told Tom Leach that his team had their best practice since November in part because he made a small tweak to the offense that “just changed everything”:

“Sometimes it’s pride that steps in the way when you’re coaching, sometimes you just get blinded. We tweaked the offense a little bit, and it was a small tweak, something that I should have done a month ago, and the energy in our building, I’m jacked. Like, I am ready for us now to take the next step. I’m not really gonna tell you what it is or what I did, but the players left like bouncy and talking, and it was something I should have known better to do, and I apologized to the team. I’ve done this twenty some years, what in the world was I thinking? It just changed everything.”

I know, I know, call me when the “light goes on” and we “turn the corner,” but Cal seemed confident that this tweak will change things, and said he’s beating himself up for not doing it earlier. What was the change? Cal said that we’ll be able to spot it immediately: “When you watch our team, you’ll know what I did. When you see it, you’ll say I know exactly what he did. I’m sick to my stomach that I didn’t see it a month ago.” What’s the tweak? Maybe Andrew Harrison was really Aaron all along and they’ve been “Parent Trapping” us. Here are some of the funnier responses I’ve seen on Twitter:

@SeasonNeverEnds: “Cal tweak: Alex was in demo mode, not beast mode. Toggled it back.”
@TBSavage: “Told them to open their eyes when they shoot.”
@Jugg40: “Are u sure he didn’t mean that he taught them to twerk on offense instead of tweaking it?”
@DanStewartJr: “Randle at point. WCS starting QB next year.”
@Mengus22: “Cal tweaked the offense to where UK will play on a rim the size of a hula hoop.”

Leave your best guesses (serious and not) in the comments section.

Let’s get physical

In addition to “the tweak,” Cal had the players practice in football pads and helmets for two and a half hours (an hour longer than their usual postseason practice) to amp up the physical play “so we can foul and take the fouls.” Cal took the blame for his team not being as physical, and said he was pissed off at himself for most of the practice because of it: “We’re not as physical as we should be because of me, because of how I taught them.” Cal went after them Monday to get physical, because if they don’t, LSU or Alabama will send them home Friday night: “You’re gonna have to play through this, this is how they’re playing now and you’ve gotta play this way. Put your hands up and whack the dude!”

Group selfies are a lot easier with DeMarcus Cousins (Photo @boogiecousins)

Check in with the guys over on the Fox Sports Road Trip

Matt and Drew are wrapping up their college basketball road trip for Fox Sports in Asheville with the Wofford/Western Carolina game for the SoCon title. Over the weekend, they picked up C.M. Tomlin and watched Ohio State play Michigan State in Columbus. For those of you who’ve only read Tomlin’s awesomely ridiculous work on the site, click on over to see him tackle more conventional sportswriting with this recap of the game.

While you’re at it…

Check in with our man Tom Jomby to see how the UK Tennis team is doing. They’re still undefeated in the SEC, and on Friday, beat #8 Texas A&M. (Spoiler alert: Jomby rushes the court)

Now, we turn our sights to Atlanta. Matt and Drew will be live from Asheville in the morning to get you ready for what is still one of the best weeks to be a Kentucky fan. No more moping. We’re going to have fun this week, if for no other reason than it’s too dang depressing not to.