Rush The Court

NEWS FLASH: Anthony Davis is an extraordinary talent. You didn’t need me to tell you that. But the quality that makes him great is that he’s unlike any player we’ve seen before. Anybody can look at his 14.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game and know that he was good last season at Kentucky, but you have to look past the box score to know his true effect. His uniqueness at the college level can be difficult to quantify. Sure, his statistics were solid, but it really only tells part of his story. What center before him had a similar game? Who did he play like? Who could block three-point shots like Davis? Those can be difficult questions to answer. Or perhaps it’s not difficult at all, because the answer is nobody. His uniqueness made him marketable and his marketability helped elevate him to another level. What other player could trademark something as odd as his notorious unibrow?

The fact is that Davis didn’t fit into the box of typical college centers. For that matter, he didn’t fit into a mold of any college player. But we had no way of accurately describing how truly different he was… until now. The good folks over at Statsheet.com have found a way to compare individual players using 12 statistical categories:

1. Offensive Rating
2. %Possessions
3. %Minutes
4. Points/40 Minutes
5. Assist Rate
6. Turnover Rate
7. FTA Rate
8. 3PtA Rate
9. OR%
10. DR%
11. Steal%
12. Block%

And of course, as I do with all the new Statsheet features, I played around with the tool for hours. What I found after comparing countless SEC players is what I thought to be true all season — Davis’ game has no comparison. Most SEC stars’ profile compares to other players in the 90th to 95th percentile. Try it out for yourself here. But when comparing Davis, he is truly unique.

Davis in comparison to all other NCAA players in 2011-12 (the % reflects similarity score, meaning that Quincy Acy was 87.2% similar to Davis, statistically speaking):

All 2011-12 NCAA players:

And when compared to other UK players since 1996, there’s even less of a comparison.

All UK players since 1996:

And the only player in the SEC over the last fifteen years who has even come close to Davis’ statistical profile is Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado.

All SEC players since 1996:

This might not mean much until you compare another college player, for example, Davis’ teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

All 2011-12 NCAA players:

All ten are over 90%. What about when compared to other UK players?

All UK players since 1996:

Or other SEC players since 1996? Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has comparisons in the low to mid 90s.

All SEC players since 1996:

Compare any SEC player you choose, and you are likely to find the same is true. But not with Anthony Davis. We all knew this. People realize when a unique talent comes along, and everyone knew Davis was different. It certainly didn’t take me or a statistical comparison to tell us what we already knew to be true. But take a moment to consider how truly unique he was in his single season on campus. Of all the players that have put on the Kentucky uniform in the last 15 years, nobody accurately compares to Davis, or maybe ever. And perhaps the same is true for the entire college game. Maybe players like Kevin Garnett or Amare’ Stoudemire would have had comparable games to Davis at this level, but we never got the opportunity to enjoy them in college. We should all be thankful we got to see Anthony Davis’ college career, even if it was only for one year. We may never see another year like it.