Blazers C Marcus Camby Agrees That UK C Anthony Davis Is "The Next Marcus Camby"

University of Kentucky freshman center Anthony Davis sits in the No. 1 spot on DraftExpress.com's top 100. He's long, athletic and versatile, especially adept at blocking shots, cleaning the glass and keeping plays alive. (Despite all of that he's best known for his monster unibrow, which has inspired Kentucky fans to tweet "Brow Down" when he does something awesome, which is often).

Davis is constantly compared to another rangy center who played for Kentucky coach John Calipari back during a previous lifetime: Portland Trail Blazers center Marcus Camby. Camby, remember, was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft out of UMass.

Back in early October, Jerry Tipton of Kentucky.com reported that Calipari felt the comparison was fair.

"I'll be honest with you," the UK coach said when asked about comparisons of Davis to Camby. "Anthony is probably a little ahead, but Anthony is not as tall."

That was saying a lot, given that Camby led UMass to the 1996 Final Four, was the national college player of the year and sparked the Minutemen's stunning entry onto the basketball scene.

"Physically, ahead," Calipari said of Davis, who is listed an inch shorter than Camby. "Skills shooting the ball, ahead."

Scott Anderson of NationOfBlue.com notes on Thursday that Calipari recently told UK media members that Camby agrees with the comparison too.

"[Blocking shots] starts with being long-armed and you can't be a shot blocker by going up before he releases it. Marcus Camby texted me after the game, and I asked if he watched the game. He said ‘I watch every one of your games.' I asked if Anthony (Davis) looked like a young Camby and he laughed and said ‘yeah.' I then joked and said he shoots better though."  

That statement came after Davis scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds, blocked seven shots and had two steals in a 75-65 win over the No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks. Kentucky is currently ranked No. 2 in the country. 

Blazers centers are apparently the yardstick by which all prep phenom centers are compared. Back in July, Seth Davis of SI.com wrote that UConn center Andre Drummond, arguably Davis' best competition to be the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, is the heir apparent to Blazers center Greg Oden.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter