Carolina Pursuing Anthony Davis

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. – Anthony Davis has cut his list to three schools but he may be adding North Carolina very soon.

Carolina head coach Roy Williams watched the 6-foot-10, 195-pound Chicago Perspectives forward put up 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 blocks in a 55-34 blowout victory Monday over Team Florida here at the Peach Jam.

“I hope he’s taking notes on me,” Davis said of Williams after the game. “I just have to play hard, try to show him what I can do on the offensive end and on the defensive end.”

Ohio State coach Thad Matta was also front and center at the Riverview Park Activities Center for the morning game, as was Syracuse assistant Bernie Fine. Kentucky coach John Calipari made an appearance for Davis’ evening game.

ZAGSBLOG first reported that Davis had cut his list to Ohio State, Syracuse and Kentucky but that list could expand to include Carolina after the Peach Jam.

“It’s not final,” Davis said. “It’s just the top three that I chose for right now just to get some of the schools off my list but overall the schools could change.”

Davis said he would visit his top three first before taking other trips.

“I want to visit my top three first and then go visit any other schools that might be interested that’s not in my top three,” he said.

Davis said he last heard from Carolina assistant Steve Robinson about three weeks ago. Asked if he would consider Carolina if they offered, Davis said, “I would, yes.”

He added: “Great basketball program, great academic program. It just feels good for North Carolina to call. They said they were ready to offer me after the Peach Jam, as well as Duke.”

(Duke is more or less set on bigs for 2011 and appears to be focusing solely on guard Austin Rivers.)

Of his top three schools, Davis said he likes that they “get up and down.”

“Their style of play is excellent,” he said. “They get up and down like I like. Each team has players go to the league. Wesley Johnson from Syracuse, Evan Turner from Ohio State and John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, all of them went to the league. It’s just a great program, so that’s why I want to go to the NBA.”

In the past year, Davis has gone from a 6-2 shooting guard to an explosive 6-10 big man with guard skills. His recruitment has taken off and he’s now ranked No. 8 nationally by Rivals.

“He grew 8 inches in a year,” Mean Streets coach Jevon Mamon said. “With his guard skills that he possesses and because he is able to do that as a big and [with] his length defensively, he can do some great things because of his length.

Mamon added: “His potential is through the roof. The sky’s the limit for him. Tremendous work ethic, always willing to learn and do the correct thing. He wants to learn and always wants to get better.”

Davis said he’s been motivated by seeing friends like Wayne Blackshear, Mike Shaw and Mycheal Henry shoot up in the rankings.

“We all go against each other all the time,” Davis said. “It would be a good matchup so I decided to play AAU and that’s how I got my name out there. And it feels good.”

As for where Davis ends up, time will tell.

“We don’t know,” Mamon said. “We’ll sit down with the family and discuss it with them and take it from there.”

(Photo courtesy Rivals.com)

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