LAWRENCE (Sporting Alert) — Anthony Davis and Kentucky will start as likely favourites to lift the NCAA national title Monday night against Kansas, but many believe the contest will be closer than being predicted.
Player of the Year Davis has been one of the star performers for Kentucky (37-2) in the tournament so far and his last performance of 18 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in the Wildcats’ 69-61 victory over Louisville in the semifinals over the weekend, proves that he’s on top of his game.
However, despite admitting that the 6-foot-10 freshman is a “great player”, Kansas coach Bill Self believes he can be tamed come Monday night.
“Anthony Davis is a great player, but he’s not Superman,” Self said.
To Self he might not be, but his teammates and others around him at the moment think he’s pretty close to such a description.
Kentucky has not won a national title since 1998 and will be gunning for its eighth national championships crown.
There are quite a few players who could spoil the party for Kentucky, but coach John Calipari made special mention about All-American Thomas Robinson.
“We know how good Thomas Robinson is,” Calipari said. “We all up here know.
“We went against him in New York. He is as good as they get. He’s a vicious competitor, great around a rim, expanded his game.”
Meanwhile, Self, who watched his team struggled in patches this season mainly due to the graduation and early departures, says he grew frustrated watching his Jayhawks side play sometimes.
“I was a little frustrated because I thought that we were underachieving, underperforming,” he said. “I thought we were a stale team.
“I thought we were slow. I thought we didn’t play with great energy. I thought the things we had to do to be successful, we weren’t committing to doing them.”
