POSTERIZED: It's too easy for Anthony Davis

Seriously.

It's just way too easy for Anthony Davis. Like it wasn't enough for him to just be 6-foot-10. Nope, he has to make it worse for everybody else by having an absurd wingspan of 7-foot-4. On top of that, he's only 220lbs, which means he has the agility and quickness of a welterweight and can cover ground like a wide receiver.

It's just not fair.

Throw the ball within two square miles of the basket, and Davis is likely to slam it home with relative ease.

Just look at what he did against Chattanooga.



In the interest of fairness, Chattanooga defenders should have been able to get running starts and propel themselves off of trampolines, a la Slamball.

Because other than that, there is no stopping Anthony Davis.



But was it as good as these?
Langston Galloway/C.J. Aiken/Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Villanova, 12/17
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. UC-Santa Barbara, 12/16
Jared Cunningham, Oregon State vs. Howard, 12/15
Raheem Appleby, Louisiana Tech vs. McNeese State, 12/14
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Detroit, 12/12
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. UW-Green Bay, 12/11
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Creighton, 12/10
Dion Waiters, Syracuse vs. George Washington, 12/10 (DotY Candidate)
Victor Oladipo, Indiana vs. Kentucky, 12/10
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, 12/10
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. Washington, 12/6
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. Marquette, 12/6
Deville Smith, Mississippi State vs. West Virginia, 12/3
Terrence Jones, Kentucky vs. North Carolina, 12/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgetown, 12/1
Anthony Marshall, UNLV vs. UNC, 11/26
Michael Kidd-Glichrist, Kentucky vs. Portland, 11/26/11 (DotY Candidate)
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/25
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Ray Willis, North Carolina Central vs. Wagner, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26



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Did Gary Parrish cross a line with his column on Anthony Davis?

Big Blue Nation was spun into a tizzy on Tuesday afternoon, thanks to a column from Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com and a rip-job from Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio, a former CBS writer.

Parrish, who writes a daily column for the website, chose the topic of Anthony Davis on Tuesday. If you remember -- and all of you reading this site should -- last summer the Chicago Sun-Times published a story that casually mentioned that the nation's No. 1 recruit in the class of 2011 was being "sold" for upwards of $200,000. Two days later, after getting universally ripped for mentioning rumors, the Sun-Times made the accusation the centerpiece of another article. Nothing was ever proven or confirmed, but the story was put out there by a reporter that, according to Dan Wolken (who was the Memphis beat writer at the time), had a major part of the Derrick Rose-SAT story before anyone but couldn't get the confirmation to publish it.


The point of Parrish's column is to question what kind of effects this scandal will have on Davis' freshman (only?) season at Kentucky. He doesn't confirm anything that was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. He doesn't say he believes the report. He does say that the report "even if true, was thin."

As you can probably guess, this column got Matt Jones riled up, and he, in turn, set Big Blue Nation's sites on Parrish. Jones doesn't hold back on his former colleague, either, calling him an unethical hack and saying "journalism may not be dead, but if you just read Gary Parrish tonight, you might believe it."

If you can get past the name-calling, over-reaction, and sensationalizing in the KSR post, Jones actually does have a point:

"The title itself illustrates the passive-aggressive nature of Parrish’s article to come. He wants to distance himself from any real accusation (and thus responsibility) and instead seeks cover by arguing he is only dealing with an issue outside of him, 'whether fair or not.'"

And while Jones is right in that this story has not been heavily discussed in the past 11 months, that doesn't mean that people have forgotten about it.

The point of Parrish's article is correct. Davis is going to be asked about receiving money over and over again. Opposing student sections are going to remind him about it every time the Wildcats play a road game. The beat writers and local news outlets of the teams that play Kentucky are going to have stories on Davis and these rumors prior to facing the Wildcats. That is going to happen, and a column from Gary Parrish in the middle of July is going to do nothing to change that fact.

If you want to believe that Parrish simply wrote this column because he was looking for a traffic bump from BBN, feel free. But also keep in mind that its July -- where all the good and bad that comes with recruiting at this level is rampant -- and that a story about how a scandal stemming from what happens during July is about as relevant as any article talking about how Jared Sullinger losing weight will affect his 2011-2012 campaign.

Wildcat fans are probably right to be paranoid about reporters taking shots at their program. They are right that Calipari is "the White Whale", the guy that every journalist wants to bring down.

That said, this column from this particular reporter was far from unethical and certainly didn't break any standard of journalism.

And for what its worth, if Kentucky fans are so concerned with ethics and professionalism, they may want to question why one of their program's Sports Information Director's tweeted this out last night:


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Calipari does it again

On Friday evening, Chicagohoops.com broke the news that Anthony Davis Jr. had, as expected, committed to Kentucky.

The addition of Davis to UK's class of 2011 gives Kentucky three of the top ten recruits in the country, along with Marquis Teague and Mike Gilchrist. Gilchrist is the consensus top player in the class, but many believe that the summer Davis has had can put him into contention for the top spot.

Ironically, Michael O'Brien of the Chicago Sun-Times scooped this story two weeks ago, but no one will remember that; they will remember the accusations that Davis go paid in the six figures for his commitment.

Anyways, back to the point, with the number of commitments that Kentucky is getting of late, its shocking when a top recruit decides to go anywhere else. His first three years at Kentucky, Cal has landed John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, Eric Bledsoe, Enes Kanter, Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, Gilchrist, Teague, and Davis. In five years, its quite possible that all of the players I just mentioned are in the NBA.

Seth Davis puts it best:

Calipari's three-class recruiting haul is best since I've been covering this sport.

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The Davis family to sue the Chicago Sun-Times

The gauntlet hath been thrown.

Late last night, an attorney for Anthony Davis, Sr., the father of prep star Anthony Davis, said that next week a lawsuit will be filed against both the Chicago Sun-Times and reporter Michael O'Brien.

Davis Sr.'s attorney, Georgette L. Greenlee, called the allegations "baseless" and said "this is defamation of character and very harmful."

"It boggles our mind where (O'Brien) got his information from," Greenlee told the Tribune on Friday. "We did advise (the Sun-Times) that publishing anything like the story they published today was going to put us in position to have to clarify and put the truth out and be litigious."

In case you have been living under a rock for the last three days, O'Brien is the writer that penned the article claiming Davis had committed to Kentucky on Wednesday. In that original article, he happened to mention a rumor that Davis was paid $200,000 to commit to the Wildcats. Kentucky threatened legal action, so the Sun-Times revised, and then removed, the article without any notice of retraction. Then Friday morning, O'Brien published a new article, claiming that he had three sources that said the Davis family was asking for $125,000-$150,000 for the services of their 6'10" son.

Now this is where it gets interesting. For the Sun-Times to run the story it did yesterday, they have to believe they have enough evidence to back up the claims. But Kentucky and the Davis family are willing to take legal action. Would they really want to take this case to court -- where a lot of information, some of which could be quite damaging to UK and/or Davis, can come out during the discovery process -- if there were backroom deals going on?

Who is telling the truth? Who is going to be the first to back down? Both sides can't be right.

One last thought: in the letter that Kentucky wrote to the Sun-Times, they said that they "fully supports any action the student-athlete and his family may take against Mr. O'Brien and the Chicago Sun-Times." Am I the only one that sees this as pretty good indicator that Davis is headed to Kentucky?

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The Sun-Times publishes another article going after Anthony Davis

UPDATE: Kentucky has put out a press release reaffirming their stance that the Chicago Sun-Times articles are completely incorrect. (Read the full press release here.)

Two things to note before we put this issue to rest for the weekend (hopefully):

• Kentucky doesn't necessarily refute the report. They denied that anyone in the athletic department offered Davis money, but the article doesn't necessarily claim that it was an athletic department member. A booster? A runner? All the article says is someone who wants Davis to go to UK.


• Michael O'Brien, the writer of these articles, does have some credibility on the Chicago prep scene. If you believe what Dan Wolken has to say, O'Brien had a big part of the story involving Derrick Rose and his SAT score, but sat on it because he couldn't verify it. So there's that.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times published a story that started a feeding frenzy.

In an article that claimed Anthony Davis had committed to Kentucky, Michael O'Brien -- who covers Chicago high school sports -- made a reference to a rumor that Davis was being paid $200,000 for his commitment to Kentucky. UK fans flipped out, Kentucky sent a letter to the Sun-Times threatening legal action, and the article was pulled with no mention of a retraction while a completely different article was posted. This puzzled some, but it seems to make a little more sense now.

The Sun-Times and Michael O'Brien are not backing off of their accusations. In an article published today, O'Brien did what he should have done in the first place -- make the accusation of Davis selling his commitment the centerpiece of his article. O'Brien is still making the claim that Kentucky and Davis negotiated a deal for $200,000 for Davis' commitment to UK, but now he is saying that he has sources at three different schools claiming that Davis Sr. asked for $125,000-$150,000.

After the first article, the question that everyone talked about was the journalism ethics of the Sun-Times and O'Brien. How could they publish such an inflammatory rumor? How could they put that claim in the ninth paragraph? Why is this getting published with so little being substantiated?

Now?

Now that question might shift.

Now will people be asking whether or not this is true?

Admittedly, after the first article was posted and the way that this story has come to be, some of the credibility of this outlet has taken a hit. But think about this -- the Sun-Times has taken quite a bit of heat already, Kentucky has already threatened legal action, and they still decided to go ahead and strengthen their claim that Kentucky paid Davis. Either they are confident in this story and in O'Brien's sources, or they are scrambling to cover their own asses. They still haven't addressed why the original has a piece pulled from it, or why it was then taken down all together.

Wednesday's mention easily could have been forgotten, written off as one of the thousands of rumors that float around these big time recruits that should never have been published. Today's article pretty much guarantees that Davis' collegiate career will always have a black cloud hanging above it.

Kentucky fans have been paranoid about the media coming after John Calipari, and maybe rightfully so, but if this article is true, then the media got him. Scandals in college athletics don't get much bigger than this. If Coach Cal bought a recruit, then that does away with his mystique as the world's best recruiter.

When Alex Rodriguez admitted using steroids, every stat that he put up throughout his career immediately became a question mark. How could we know exactly what homeruns were legitimate and what were tainted? The same thing with Calipari here. If he bought Davis, does that mean he bought Terrence Jones, or Enes Kanter, or Derrick Rose, or any of the other one-and-done recruits that have spent time under his wing?

I don't have the answer for that, but I can guarantee that question will be asked.

The Sun-Times has credibility issues right now. But this is still the Chicago Sun-Times. If they are moving forward with the story like this, after Wednesday's events, then they have to believe it.

Do you?

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Kentucky sends a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times, and some reaction to the article

UPDATE: Here is the article that the Sun-Times has up today in place of yesterdays.

By now, I'm sure you have heard about the article that the Chicago Sun-Times published Wednesday afternoon, which included a rumor that Anthony Davis received $200,000 for his commitment to Kentucky.

Well, Kentucky has responded, threatening legal action against both Michael O'Brien and the Chicago Sun-Times if the article isn't taken down and a retraction isn't published.

We also got some response from the post we put up earlier. Jeff Goodman of FOXSports.com emailed us and said "[Its] not as easy as it seems to track rumors down. I do the best I can, but people are smart in how they do things."

Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal answered our emails as well, saying "I think that all of us have, at one time or another, tried to track down rumors like that, but it's pretty damn difficult to do. Typically, you'd have to find someone that got screwed out of something in the deal with nothing to lose. Breaking those types of stories happen very rarely. If it was more common, the NCAA would have a lot more infractions cases on its desk."

Perhaps the most interesting response we saw came from John Clay, who posted the following on his blog:

I also know that the Ballin' is a Habit blog wonders why the reporters aren't tracking down the rumors to see if they are true.

Well, Ballin', if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.

And everyone would be winning Pulitzers.

First of all, I never claimed that breaking these stories would be easy. I never said I would be able to do it. And I certainly never said I would be better than any of these gentlemen at their jobs. There is a reason they write for Fox, or CBS, or the Lexington Herald, or wherever, and I write for an irrelevant blog. That I created myself.

My issue isn't with the fact that these guys aren't publishing story after story breaking recruiting scandals. My issue is with the number of tweets I saw regarding how many rumors make the rounds on the recruiting circuit. Everyone knows that these guys see and hear a lot when they rub elbows with the coaches, the runners, and the hangers-on at AAU tournaments in places like Vegas. That's a given. I don't need to hear about it, especially when it is being used to chastise someone who may have made a career ending mistake.

Look, I've worked a grand total of about five months in newspapers. Three of them were as an intern, two were as a freelance writer for a weekly that still owes me a number of checks. The most "investigative reporting" I've done is determining why the Guinness wasn't pouring at the bar I work at, which, currently, is how I pay my bills.

In other words, I'm the farthest thing from an expert on journalism ethics and industry standards.

But it irks me when I see the best in the business talking about the unsubstantiated rumors they hear, because substantiating the rumors that are more than just rumors is part of the job description, is it not?

I'll step down from my soap box now.

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Chicago Sun-Times claims Anthony Davis was paid to commit to Kentucky

UPDATE: Here is the article that the Sun-Times has up today in place of yesterdays.

The big news that broke last night was that Anthony Davis, one of the most sought after recruits in the country, had decided on where he will be playing his collegiate basketball. He just wasn't ready to announce where.

Today, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article today claiming to have a source that said Davis would be choosing Kentucky. Frankly, this would surprise no one, as Kentucky is the landing spot for seemingly every one-and-done recruit these days.

The paper also said that the reason for the delay is that Davis is looking for his LeBron James moment:

According to his father, Anthony Davis Sr., the younger Davis made his decision on Monday but the family is still discussing the best way to announce it.

"Anthony knows where he wants to go, but we just aren't sure how to let everyone else know at this point," Davis Sr. said. "He's mentioned wanting to do it on television before. We'll be talking it over."

Both of these story lines would be huge. Another top five recruit headed to Kentucky! Michael Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, and Davis would be one of the best recruiting classes ever! Davis wants his 15 minutes of fame! But no one was talking about any of that.

No, my twitter feed blew up right around 3pm this afternoon with tweets about a little rumor the Sun-Times buried in the ninth paragraph. (UPDATE: At 5pm on Wednesday, the Sun-Times finally pulled the paragraph, but the story is still up):

(photo credit: Andrew Sharp)

Just about every big name college basketball writer weighed in on this via Twitter:

Jeff Goodman: You can't just throw out rumors and accusations without any facts. If that were the case, I'd be writing them all day long.

Gary Parrish: I could throw out a "rumor" about nearly every high-profile commitment that's ever happened. No defense for Sun-Times here.

Dan Wolken: If we're going to be in the business of tossing out rumors about recruitments, it will get ugly quick for every school in the country.

Mike DeCourcy: Once upon a time, there was this thing called journalism ... If someone had actual proof a high school recruit had been bought, wouldn't that reporter want to place said info in the first few graffs?

Simply put, those four gentlemen -- and every other person that ripped Michael O'Brien, the author of the story, and the Sun-Times -- is completely correct. Rumors like that should not be published without adequate verification. And if O'Brien had "adequate verification" and was confident enough in his sources that he wanted this payment to go on record, why wouldn't he center the story around the money? Anthony Davis committing to Kentucky is a pretty big scoop.

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting Anthony Davis got paid to commit to Kentucky.
(photo credit: ESPN)

John Calipari paying a recruit $200,000 is an ENORMOUS story. It could possibly be the biggest story of O'Brien's career. But he buried it nine paragraphs deep, which makes you wonder why the Sun-Times even bothered to publish it.

The credibility of sports blogs, like Deadspin and The Big Lead, are torn to shreds because they publish stories like this with anonymous sources and yada yada yada. This is the Chicago Sun-Times we are talking about. Aren't they supposed to be one of the beacons of journalistic integrity? How is this any different than what a "blog" does?

O'Brien effed up royally. There is no arguing that, and each of the aforementioned tweeters have every right to rip him for it.

But I have a bone to pick with them too.

Goodman says he could write all day about the rumors he hears. Parrish says he could throw a rumor out about every high profile commitment.

My question to those writers: why not go track down those rumors and those stories?

Its no secret that there actually are players getting paid. I'm sure that of the rumors these writers are hearing, at least a couple of them each year are true. While its preposterous and unfair to assume that everyone -- including Anthony Davis, even after this article has been written -- is getting paid, its naive to believe that everything in the world of recruiting is squeaky clean.

This post isn't necessarily meant to take a shot at those guys. They provide the best coverage of the sport we love, and they do it all year round. All you have to do is scroll through my morning dumps or see how often I retweet them to understand how much information and insight those guys provide.

I just don't understand how there can be so many rumors, but so few actual stories breaking.

I've emailed Michael O'Brien from the Sun-Times, as well as the four writers whose tweets I quoted. If they comment, I will update this post.

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Anthony Davis has made a decision, won't announce where yet

Few players impressed scouts and coaches this summer as much as Chicago's Anthony Davis.

Davis, who has sprouted about six inches (to 6'10") in the last 18 months to become an versatile, athletic, and long power forward, had many people questioning whether or not he could actual usurp Michael Gilchrist as the No. 1 player in the class of 2011.

Anthony Davis will block quite a few shots regardless of where he ends up.
(photo credit: NBPAtop100)

And now Davis, who had trimmed his list to just three schools -- Kentucky, Ohio State, and Syracuse -- before adding hometown DePaul to his list recently, has reportedly made a decision. Only, he's not ready to tell us what that decision is just yet.

I'm not recruiting expert, but this is what I can tell you about his decision. Davis has taken two visits recently -- on Sunday he went to Kentucky, and on Monday he was at DePaul. This has led to quite a bit of speculation that he is headed to Lexington, joining Gilchrist and Marquis Teague as John Calipari reins in another loaded freshman class. DePaul was late in the game, but they are the hometown team and Davis would be so, so dangerous playing at the top of Oliver Purnell's full court pressure.

The x-factor seems to be Ohio State. Thad Matta has been on Davis hard, attending every one of his games during the live evaluation period. Davis has already made a visit to Ohio State as well.

Syracuse, it seems, is out of the picture as Davis has yet to visit the Orange and apparently will no longer be making any visits. That's a shame for Syracuse fans. Davis would have been quite effective in Jim Boeheim's zone with his length.

That covers it. Davis should be letting us know in just a few weeks time where he will be playing his college ball.

Knowing his reputation, would you bet against Calipari here?

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Is Mike Gilchrist still the best recruit?

As we mentioned on Wednesday, Michael Gilchrist, a 6'6" small forward from St. Patrick's in New Jersey (where he teamed up with Kyrie Irving), has essentially been the consensus No. 1 player in the class of 2011 since the class of 2011 has been ranked.

Yeah, he's that good.

But after the performances and the exposure that some kids got this week at the Nike Peach Jam event, Gilly might not have the strangle hold on that spot that many thought.

The conversation starts with Austin Rivers, Doc's kid and Jeremiah's brother. Rivers is a 6'4" scoring machine with range and athleticism for days. A Florida kid, he was originally committed to the Gators, but many believe he is on his way to Duke.

Then there is Quincy Miller, a 6'8" combo forward with the ability to step out and hit a jump shot. Some are already calling Miller a poor man's Kevin Durant. He didn't play in the Peach Jam, in part because he just got back from Germany with the U17 squad, but that doesn't change the fact that every coach in the country -- including John Calipari -- is chasing this kid.

But the real winner this past week was Anthony Davis. Davis is a bit of a late-bloomer. He finally cracked Scout's top 100 list in May, mainly because he's sprouted a good six or seven inches in the last year or so, but that doesn't change the fact that Davis might have the highest ceiling in the country.

Wanna talk about making an impression?

Four of the most respected names in the business -- Jeff Goodman, Dave Telep, Mike DeCourcy, and Evan Daniels -- gave Davis rave reviews this weekend. Davis now stands 6'10", and with his mobility, athleticism, and length, he is already a terror on the defensive end. He will only get better offensively as he grows into his body, which is why he is drawing so much attention.

Take a look for yourself (videos via Chris Littman):





Davis, who is listed as 8th by Rivals and 5th by Scout in their latest top 100's, is apparently down to just three schools -- Kentucky, Ohio State, and Syracuse. (Can you imagine Davis playing a wing in Syracuse's zone with Fab Melo in the middle? Terrifying.)

Whoever lands this kid will be landing a star.


(On a side note, part of what makes Gilchrist so appealing as a prospect is his humility. He's said in numerous interviews he's nothing more than a mama's boy. Last night, he tweeted this:

Shout out to Anthony Davis, a lot of people think I would be mad that he's number 1 but I'm happy for him for real!

Tough to root against either one of these young men.)
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