Anthony Davis was (and is) an otherworldly talent, the man who hand-delivered and hand-swatted a national championship trophy to Kentucky.
But the player whom Davis found when the buzzer sounded on that 2012 title game, the one who was the last to ascend the ladder and snip the New Orleans nets, was Darius Miller. He ranked just sixth in scoring for the Wildcats, averaging 9.9 points, but when asked to define his team, coach John Calipari constantly referred to his "sixth starter" -- and that was Miller.
Could the Cats, on sheer talent alone, have won that title? Maybe, but most everyone agrees they were fortunate they didn't have to try, that they had Miller's experience to solidify them.
"All the sacrifices he made, the experience that he has, that's what made our team so special," then freshman Kyle Wiltjer -- then of Kentucky, now of Gonzaga -- said of Miller after the title game.
We all like new things -- new cars, new clothes -- which is why college basketball is so enamored with freshmen.
They are the game's shiny pennies.
But here's the reality -- Willie Cauley-Stein, Montrezl Harrell, Frank Kaminsky, Justin Anderson, Dylan Ennis, Kyle Wiltjer, Perry Ellis -- those are the leading scorers for seven of the top 10 teams in the nation. They're all juniors or seniors.
Isaiah Taylor of Texas is a sophomore.
The only two teams that count a rookie as their leader have junior or senior backups -- Quinn Cook to Jahlil Okafor at Duke, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley to Stanley Johnson at Arizona.
"There's nothing that takes the place of experience," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Not just the experience of playing, but the experience of big moments, of big wins and even experiencing a big loss. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows, you don't know that until you do it."
The moments, of course, are never bigger than in March, but the anecdotal evidence in that most pivotal month only reinforces how critical upperclassmen are.
In eight of the past 10 NCAA tournaments, the most outstanding player award at the Final Four went to a junior or senior -- Shabazz Napier (UConn), Luke Hancock (Louisville), Kemba Walker (UConn), Kyle Singler (Duke), Wayne Ellington (North Carolina), Mario Chalmers (Kansas), Corey Brewer (Florida), Sean May (North Carolina).
"I go back to when I played in college and then 1992, when I was playing in the NBA," said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who modeled his program after the one his father, Dick, built at Wisconsin. "No doubt the older players in the NBA were physically ready, but it's different to handle that emotionally. I think it's the same in college."
There's no denying that, thanks to summer leagues that travel the country, and USA Basketball opportunities, freshmen come to college worldlier than ever before.
And not a single coach in the country would turn away a terrific recruit, no matter how short his college tenure might be.
But if there is a formulaic way to success, time has proved it's not just freshmen alone.
"If you have a team with experienced seniors and juniors and one really good piece that's a freshman, you got it," Villanova's Jay Wright said.
This season, virtually every team in the top 10 has that magic formula, which ought to make for a great ride.
LAYUPS
1. Second place, anyone? No really. Anyone?
Quick ... name the second-best team in the Big Ten.
Go ahead. Take your time.
Need some help? OK, here's what you have to consider.
Do you believe in Maryland? Do you trust that the Terps, who had to rebound to beat USC Upstart (er, Upstate), are as good as their 10-1 record? How about Michigan State? Tom Izzo teams always get better, but so far this squad has played three good teams and lost to all three.
Which big win do we base our judgment of Ohio State on -- Colgate or James Madison?
Penn State? The Nittany Lions might have the runner-up candidate for conference player of the year in D.J. Newbill, but the second-best team?
The only thing we can say we know for sure about the Big Ten for now is that in an early run of head-scratching upsets around the country, the league has had the head-scratchiest.
So far Big Ten members have lost to:
• a team without a conference (NJIT)
• a team that's just reclassifying as a Division I member (Incarnate Word)
• three directional universities (North Florida, Eastern Michigan and Eastern Washington)
• and a MAAC school that lost to Seton Hall by 15, but beat Rutgers by 18 (St. Peter's)
There is more than ample time to right the ship, but right now the basketball version is headed down the same mediocre path as its football brethren.
2. Scoring is down and guess who's to blame?
Tip of the cap and all credit to my mentor and friend, Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News, for pointing this one out in his weekly column: We could be headed for an all-time low in scoring this season.
This time a year ago, everyone fretted about the new rule changes -- especially on hand-checking -- but rules committee people insisted the changes would improve freedom of movement and ultimately increase scoring.
And they worked. Teams did just that in the early part of the season, averaging 75 points per game, before calming down to a much-improved 71 for the season.
This year? The early average is a dismal 68.8, pushing down toward the 2012 numbers that inspired the rules changes in the first place. No other numbers -- total fouls, field goal percentage -- are wildly skewed, so, for now, blame (or credit) some of the terrific defense being played across the country. If your glass is half empty, blame the anemic offenses. Sample platter: Texas 59, Texas State 27; Virginia 45, Rutgers 26; Louisville 45, Cleveland State 33.
Here's what's really amusing. The worst offender among the power conferences is not your brutish, boring Big Ten (a torching 74.1 points per game); it's the ACC, checking in at 67.8.
FREE THROWS
• Add me to the bandwagon touting Willie Cauley-Stein as national player of the year worthy. His numbers won't stack up comparatively, but if the award goes to someone who truly impacts a team and makes it better, there's no way to ignore Cauley-Stein.
• During Kentucky's win against North Carolina, my colleague at the Denver Post, Ben Hochman, suggested Cauley-Stein topped the all-hyphen college basketball team of 2014-15. Which got me to thinking, who else would join him? You could almost have two complete teams with these guys: Arizona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (12.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG), Washington's Nigel William-Goss (14.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 6.9 APG), Georgetown's D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (13.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.6 APG), Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns (9.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG), Illinois State's DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (15.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG), Penn's Darien Nelson-Henry (10.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG), Troy's Mussa Abdul-Aleem (15.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG) and Georgia Tech's Marcus Georges-Hunt (11.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG).
• Belmont coach Rick Byrd is four wins away from 700. What's most impressive -- all but 92 of them came as head coach with the Bruins.
• With all the talk about Yale (winners against Connecticut) and Columbia (halftime winners against Kentucky), everyone has forgotten about the Ivy League favorite and one-time mid-major darling, Harvard. That could change on Sunday when the Crimson, rebounding from the early loss to Holy Cross to sit at 7-1, visit Virginia in the Biff versus Beauregard Blue Blazer Bowl.
• And then there were eight ... and two. That's nine unbeatens (Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, Virginia, Villanova, Louisville, TCU, Colorado State, Washington) and two winless teams (Delaware and Central Arkansas). Feel free to start your for-entertainment-purposes-only office pools this week.
• Player of the week honors
See below ...
AND ONE
Six weeks after the NCAA agreed to move her team's home opener to allow her to play one game, Lauren Hill scored in her team's home opener. Hill, who suffers from an incurable cancer, now has a career eight points. After the home opener, Mount Saint Joseph's announced it will retire her jersey. Despite her declining health, Hill continues to fight. This week she also hosted a sleepover for her teammates.
ICYMI: Inspirational Mount St. Joseph freshman Lauren Hill scores 1st two points in home game debut. » http://es.pn/1qLI64w
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 14, 2014