Young Shall Lead Them: Davis is Fifth Frosh Leading Nation in Blocks
April 7th, 2012 - 22:09
Kentucky center Anthony Davis, the national Player of the Year after setting an NCAA single-season record for most blocked shots by a freshman, is expected to join Kansas State's Michael Beasley (led nation in rebounding in 2007-08) as the only freshmen to declare early for the NBA draft after leading the nation in a major statistical category.
Davis, who posted the lowest scoring average for a national POY since the award was introduced in 1955 (14.2 ppg), became the fifth freshman to lead the nation in blocked shots. Following is a chronological list of the 19 frosh who paced the country in a major statistical category:
Year Freshman School Category (Season Statistic) 1975 Bernard King Tennessee Field-Goal Shooting (62.2%) 1976 Sidney Moncrief Arkansas Field-Goal Shooting (66.5%) 1984 Steve Alford Indiana Free-Throw Shooting (91.3%) 1986 Jim Barton Dartmouth Free-Throw Shooting (94.2%) 1988 Kenny Miller Loyola of Chicago Rebounding Average (13.6 rpg) 1989 Alonzo Mourning Georgetown Blocked Shots Average (5 bpg) 1991 Shawn Bradley Brigham Young Blocked Shots Average (5.2 bpg) 1993 Jason Kidd California Steals Average (3.8 spg) 1995 Keith Closs Central Connecticut State Blocked Shots Average (5.4 bpg) 1997 Joel Hoover Maryland-Eastern Shore Steals Average (3.2 spg) 2002 Jason Conley Virginia Military Scoring Average (29.3 ppg) 2002 T.J. Ford Texas Assists Average (8.3 apg) 2004 Blake Ahearn Southwest Missouri State Free-Throw Shooting (97.5%) 2004 Paul Millsap Louisiana Tech Rebounding Average (12.5 rpg) 2007 Mike Freeman Hampton Field-Goal Percentage (67.8%) 2008 Michael Beasley Kansas State Rebounding Average (12.4 rpg) 2008 Devin Gibson Texas-San Antonio Steals Average (3.3 spg) 2010 Hassan Whiteside Marshall Blocked Shots Average (5.4 bpg) 2012 Anthony Davis Kentucky Blocked Shots Average (4.65 bpg)