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Many forget that Davis and Robinson faced each other at Madison Square Garden early in the season. Davis finished with 14 points, six rebounds and seven blocks in his second college game, while Robinson turned in an 11-point, 12-rebound performance for Kansas.
"If I had a vote, he'd be my vote for player of the year," Texas coach Rick Barnes said Saturday night, after watching Robinson pile up 25 points and 14 rebounds in the Jayhawks' 77-58 victory. "Just the way he's carried himself, playing against him -- he's terrific."
Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor considers he an astute observer of the game, and he's more than willing to share his opinion on just about anything.
"Anthony Davis is a beast, man, he definitely is," Taylor said, "but I just don't see too many better than T-Rob. Especially when he's on top of his game."
Davis has his own supporters, starting with the guys taking the floor with him.
"He's doing everything," Kentucky guard Doron Lamb said. "He's always playing defense, he's always scoring. He's always doing the right thing, really. I don't see him making no mistakes."
"He gets his points so easily: rebounds, dunks, stuff like that," added freshman forward Kyle Wiltjer. "He's come a long way on offense and defense."
There are plenty of differences in Davis and Robinson.
Davis is long and lean, while Robinson has muscles upon muscles. Davis prefers to work around the rim, using his quickness to get around post defenders, while Robinson has shown an improving mid-range game and the ability to extend defenses all the way to the perimeter.
There are also similarities.
Both prefer to pawn off the attention on their teammates, giving them credit for their own success. Both have become the go-to player when things are going poorly, though that's rarely been the case this season. Both have led their teams to conference championships.
Now, both of them are in the running for player of the year.
"He's created a lot of attention for himself," Taylor said Robinson, one of his best friends on the Jayhawks. "He's the main focus of the scouting report, for sure, and I'm sure teams talking about us say, `If we stop Thomas, we have a chance to win the game.'"
Sounds as if the Kansas guard would vote for Bird, too.
[Associated Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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