By LARRY VAUGHT
Anthony Davis is not worried about playing time with the USA Olympic team.
“I just want to go in when I get the opportunity, play and do things to help my team win,” he said. “I am not upset about not getting minutes (in exhibition games) that some people think I should.
“I am 19 years old. This is a great opportunity. I am not complaining at all about anything. Most players who are 19 will never be able to say they were even in this position. I am here to have fun and learn. If my time comes to get in the game, I will compete and play to my highest level. But I won’t complain about anything.”
He has no problems with Duke coach Krzyzewski, Team USA’s head coach, despite the UK-Duke rivalry.
“No, it’s not strange at all playing for him. He is a great coach. I have no problems with him. He is trying to win the gold medal. The rivalry between UK and Duke has nothing to do with this,” Davis said.
The non-stop grind he’s been through the last four months doesn’t concern him, either, even though NBA training camps will open not long after the Olympics end.
“I will take a break when it is over. I am young. If LeBron and Kobe at ages 28 and 30 can do it, I certainly can with fresh legs,” the former UK star said. “These guys come to practice some days and say their legs are killing them. Me, I am jumping all over. Me and Russell Westbrook are the youngest. I get plenty of rest and have plenty of energy. I don’t worry about any fatigue.”
He says if his team wins the gold medal, it will mean even more to him than winning the national championship did.
“Winning the gold medal in the Olympics, you are representing your country. It’s a great thing to represent your country. I really want to win,” he said. “You are representing the whole United States, not just one school. Winning the NCAA was fun and I loved Kentucky and the fans, but this is a whole different thing. This is for your whole country.”
18 Responses to Anthony Davis on playing time, coach K, winning gold medal compared to NCAA title
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And this is one of the reasons we loved Anthony. Best collegiate player in the country, one of the best big men, college or NBA, in the last decade, and he has an incredible attitude. I hope he gets the opportunity to represent the USA for years to come, as I can’t think of a better representative. The exposure he’s getting to talented, older players and their work ethic just can’t be overrated.
I agree, Karen! AD is one of the best young men to come down the pike in a long time. Confident, humble, talented and just a great all around young man. I wish we could clone him and his attitude. What proud parents he must have and another example of good parents raising children the right way. We have been so fortunate in the past 3 years to witness the talent and personalities that Cal has brought to campus. Even the young men who might have had it a little harder growing up were still fine young men and I am extremely proud of every one of them. Life is good when you are a UK Wildcat Fan!
Anthony really is almost too good to be true
God in your Heart does amazing things for All Men…and even more for Young Men…
You nailed it Larry.
It’s DITTO from this corner. Both ladies have said it well.
Too, Anthony Davis’ “incredible attitude” (as mentioned by Karen) is the main reason I myself loved/love Anthony Davis. Also, here’s surely hoping this very young man/Wildcat (forever a Wildcat) brings home a gold medal in 2012!!!
Kentucky will share in your National Pride, when You and Your Team bring Home The Gold…
My wife does not like college basketball basically because I’m a nut case and all she hears is Kentucky, Kentucky, Coach Cal this and coach Cal that! Well by the end of the regular season she was INTO the games all because she fell for AD (& MKG), as well as the team. By the FF she was calling BK an A$$-@. And now today, as we watched USA vs Spain 3 min to go in the 4th), she told me how much she loved watching him play. And how great it was to watch the teams…”flow”. What great attitudes they had. I just grinned(y’all know the one) . Another season or two and I’ll have her!!!
AD exemplifies the attitude I was taught was the UK Way long, long ago. Team basketball, subordinate your own goals to the team goals, don’t be a hot dog or a showoff, and realize you didn’t create yourself. God did that so who are you to brag about it?
The whole team was like that really but AD seemed to be the leader in that department. For sure he had the most to brag about if had chosen to act that way. I’m glad he didn’t.
KG, without being specific (unless you want,of course), did you play Basketball for UK. If so, approx. what time period…If I’m not being to personal. Thanks for ALL your insightful comments. Larry T Clemons
I was asked to walk on there Larry but two days before I was going to start practicing I broke my ankle. I never recovered in time to play that year and I ended up transferring to Morehead the next year because of a young woman I knew. I married the woman. I never did get my shot to play for the Cats.
I did know quite a few of the players who came in with the 1974 class. I knew Givens pretty well for example. There were some other guys I knew like Reggie Warford and a guy on the traveling squad who was one of my best friends. Greg Gross was his name but I doubt you ever heard it since he never got to dress so his name doesn’t appear in any UK records that I know about.
My brother actually beat Jack 3 times in a row playing one on one but it was outdoors on asphalt with a wire net so Jack wasn’t exactly going all out. He was protecting himself more than anything.
BTW I could beat my brother like a drum.
Don’t tell him I said that though. LOL Hall himself tried to get my brother to play but he wasn’t even in school. His wife was. My brother told Hall about me being in school there and he sent some guys to check me out when I was trying out for the Holmes Hall intramural team. I made the team but I broke my ankle. The guys Hall sent word through my friend that they wanted me to walk on and told me when to show up if my ankle turned out ok. But it didn’t.
It was made clear to both of us (me and my brother) that the scholarship guys would always come first because they had been promised certain things. So it isn’t likely you would have ever seen me in a game or anything or even on the bench. But I could have had great seats for the games including the national championship in 1978 if I had stayed on that long. I guess it’s possible that I could have made it farther than I think. I had pretty good speed in those days. I could run 100 yards in 9.5 seconds. I was in really good condition at the time too after running track in the spring at my high school and playing basketball around Lexington all summer with my brother at parks and at the rec. center and the outdoor courts just down the street from Memorial. That’s where I first got to know Jack.
I should have went to a smaller school and played but I was more interested in academics at the time to be honest. I had made a decision to choose one or the other and concentrate on being good at it. And sports ended up taking a back seat. I almost said no when my friend started wanting me to walk on even before I got hurt. I took it more serious when Hall got involved though. But I spent the next 2 months on crutches instead and even after I got over the broken ankle I wasn’t in shape to come back that quick. It just wasn’t meant to be.
What’s really weird is that I didn’t play high school basketball. I played football and ran track. My dad made me limit how many sports I could play because it was a big hassle for me to get home sometimes. I did play in an informal league for years. There were about 8 teams in that league and I played with my brothers and a few neighbors. We beat the high school team too and they were like 22-3 at the time. My brother had told the high school coach that he didn’t even have the best team in the school so they showed up to play us the next day at the gym we played in. They weren’t too happy about losing to us either.
But it was my dad who taught me about UK basketball. He taught us all how to play the game too and he taught us the UK style of play. I can barely get the ball up to the rim these days unless I shoot a set shot (I can at least still shoot one hand set shots – I’ll probably have to go with a 2 hand shot before too many more years lol).
Wow I guess I got a little too specific eh Larry?
Sorry about that. I get on a roll sometimes. I like talking about my missed chances. Like I said though, it wasn’t anything I did to make myself good other than just practice a lot but that was fun for me so it shouldn’t count as actual work.
King, loved all that background. Even more respect for you now
Thanks for the kind words Larry. You know the thing that the guys Hall sent really liked about my game was that I played defense first and I was dedicated to passing the ball on offense. I could shoot ok I guess but I knew pg was the position for me on that team so I went all out for it. I broke my ankle after I went up to defend a shot and came down on the side of the guy’s foot and rolled my ankle over. Ouch. It still hurts to this day.
My dad knew basketball pretty well. He had been a UK fan for decades before I came along. He taught us to pass the ball to the open man and how to get other people open with the pick and roll or with drawing a double team and kicking the ball to the open player and he made sure we played defense. It’s the same strategy that Cal used to win the title this year. I love the UK tradition because it’s about team and not about being a hot dog or a show boat. It was that way when I first learned the game about 50 years ago and it’s still that way today thanks to Cal and some really great kids. Long live the BBN. It is still that shining city on a hill that Rupp talked about and I love it as much as I did when I was a 8 year old kid learning about how a bunch of short guys were the favorites to win the national championship. They did it with team work and defense. It’s a tradition that still lives at UK and I hope it lives a long time to come because it’s a good tradition.
” Glad I ask King “…. ” Your a Masterpiece on this site “. King. You are and always have been a Wildcat in my book…and I had heard of Goss, just can’t place the face. I worked at Nelly Kelly’s (Tates Creek) summer of 76′ where I first met Jack (small world) and then the Executive House on Limestone, Lived on Rose St next to the NEW Wildcat Lodge, and Ran the clothing store THE JEAN SCENE , next to Collesium Liquors (where I special ordered blue jeans for a lot of the team). I just loved James Lee, respected Kyle Macy a lot(he was always focusing on his serious girlfriend and Free-throws of course). Went to Louisville with newbie, Chuck Alexinis and because of my Blonde hair he just kept introducing me as Jay Schiedler., We also went to the Ky Derby together. Mel (Turpin) was still living at home(he was as big as his house),he had a heart of gold, I drove him home a lot. Was taught how to LEAN, when Dwight Anderson got his new Gold Cordova. I remember trading Truman some new Jeans (2 pair), for his awesome smooooth tan leather jacket (yeah ,it was to big for me but I loved it ! Played a little Ball with the Team at Memorial, they had keys and I was always close. Of course I would guard Bo Lanter (he would always side set and pop a 3 on me) and Dwayne Casey was the other I would attempt to guard(had a little better luck there), I knew he would always Drive. I learned my Behind the head,” Jamal Wilkes ” launch shot, shooting over Robey and Phillips (never forget the fall away launch from the side, made on Mike to applauds and Mike’s ribbing: after all I was only 5′ 10 ” and 130lbs). I was really Blessed by the treatment from Dr. Jackson and, Coach Hall even commented, ” I never get a bad report on my Boys when they’re with you “, That made me very proud. Having access to the New Wildcat Lodge was incredible for me…Remember, it was a strictly Players Lodge at that time. I’d never seen beds that big or a TV that big. Many memorable moments, but the Biggest By Far was when the Team arrived at the Lexington Airport after winning The National Championship…I was there cheering with everyone else on the rope inside, when the Guys started walking in and slapping the Fans Hands, James Lee got to me and lifted the roped grabbed me by the arm and pulled me in front of him and said, ” come here Larry your one of us “. Wow ! No bus, all Police cars two Players to each car, me with James, smiling and waving. Pulled right up to The Wildcat Lodge, stayed out front on the steps and watched the Players and Coaches greet the Fans. Then went into the Lodge and almost fell asleep on those big cushy sofas in the TV area. That year also former Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovell, made some blunder and stopped attending the Basketball Games, my buddy and I always had student tickets of course, but we saw 50 yard line lower deck seats empty, we went for it. The people sitting next to us told us they’d probably be empty all season…well they were’nt be cause my buddy and I seat there all season,” best seats in The House” . Vaught Views, Larry, thanks for allowing us to share. Larry T @ Gallery721.com, in Ft. Lauderdale, Bleeding Blue Blissfully…
I knew you were pretty close to the team from the stuff I’ve read in your posts. You clearly know those guys because that’s just how I remember them. We gave Jack a ride home here and there especially when he wanted to sorta sneak back home. We’d let him out a block from his house. He’ll kill me if he finds out I told that.
It didn’t happen very often and Jack was worried about every little thing. It wasn’t like he was out getting high or something. He just wasn’t like that AFAIK.
If you could guard Casey you were certainly doing pretty well. He could slash for sure but like you said it was pretty easy to predict where he was going. He needed a second way to score. Greg Gross was a future vet from the Grayson area (Carter Co.). He averaged about 25 ppg for East Carter when he played there. I knew his dad really pretty well because he had been the vet for our cattle. I spent a lot of time with Greg or at least it seemed that way. I don’t remember having a lot of spare time to be honest. I was working on my classes about all the time. Some of us had to work at it especially before I switched majors. I found out engineering just wasn’t for me after I took chemistry under Dr. Black, who got put on probation every other semester for failing too many people and I was in the semester where a lot of people would fail. I dropped that class after a week. It’s one of only a couple of classes I ever dropped.
I really wanted to play football to be honest. My brothers and I worked on pass plays from the time we could pick up a football. There was 3 of us so one guy would throw the ball while one tried to get open and the other tried to guard him. I was the youngest so you can imagine how well that went for me. But in the long run it helped me become a much better player. I was a receiver for Greenup Co. and Wurtland before that. My brother could really sling a football. He could throw it 80 yards in the air. We had planned on going together to a small school and starting in at the same time but it never worked out. He got married and worked to put his wife through school. I think we might have done pretty well at football with my brother’s arm and my speed. I wasn’t real small I guess at 6’1″ and 180 pounds. I could dunk a basketball pretty easy which is just to tell you that I liked to go high for passes. I had a bunch of offers to play college ball but they were all in Montana or North Dakota.
I would have loved the area but I was a Cat fan so I wanted to go there whether or no. I was lucky enough not to need the scholarship to go to school so it was UK for me at least for a year. Then other things figured into me moving on. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Morehead. But it certainly isn’t UK. Heck the whole campus went wild when UK won the title in ’78. It was like they were our team too.
BTW I saw Lee score like 42 points in a high school game at Ashland. That was a show and a half for a guy who didn’t usually shoot so well. But he sure could bang.
By the way, “Anonymous,” who had been agreeing with Karen and Linda, had been me (smiley face).