ESPY Awards 2012 Nominees: Anthony Davis Deserves Best Male College Athlete

There is no question Anthony Davis is the best candidate to win the 2012 ESPY for Best Male Collegiate Athlete.

No disrespect to the other nominees (Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Mike Zunino and Jack Connolly), but they aren't even in the same stratosphere.

Davis led the Kentucky Wildcats to a 38-2 record, with an unblemished 16-0 record in regular-season SEC play and average margin of victory of just under 12 points per game in six NCAA tournament wins.

Sure, Kentucky may have had a whopping six players get selected in last month’s NBA draft, but it was Davis who went No. 1. He was the essential piece of the puzzle that made everything come together for an ultra-young Kentucky team.

Davis averaged 14.2 points and grabbed 10.4 rebounds while shooting an eye-popping 62 percent as a freshman.

While those numbers are certainly impressive, they pale in comparison to his 4.6 blocked shots per game. Not only did he lead the nation but he beat second-place finisher William Mosley of Northwestern State by 31 blocks.

Wow.

Davis' presence on the defensive end of the floor reminded fans of a young Patrick Ewing at Georgetown or, more recently, Greg Oden during his lone season at Ohio State.

Combined with his offensive success, Davis' season was one for the ages. 

Both Ewing and Oden were selected No. 1 overall in their respective draft classes, and the former Wildcat followed suit. When Davis laces his shoes for his first game as a member of the New Orleans Hornets, he’ll be expected to have an immediate impact in helping to turn the team around.

Face of the franchise from Day 1 after one season in college—that's how good Davis was in 2011-12.

RGIII was a joy to watch on the field, with his blazing fast speed and cannon for an arm, but his Baylor team finished 10-3 and didn't make a BCS bowl. Sure, he didn't play with the talent Davis did at Kentucky, but he did throw four of his six interceptions in the three losses.

Luck had incredible stats, but he didn't make a giant leap from his 2010 numbers, had a ton of talent around him and didn't win his BCS bowl game.

Unfortunately for Zunino (.322 average, 19 home runs, 67 RBI with Florida) and Connolly (Hobey Baker Award-winner for Minnesota-Duluth), fans don't take the same stock in collegiate baseball and hockey as they do in basketball and football. The odds of them winning the vote are incredibly slim.

Nobody had the impact and success of Davis this past season, and there is no doubt the man with the most famous unibrow in the land deserves the award for Best Collegiate Male Athlete. 

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