Nerlens Noel Vows to Break Anthony Davis’ Blocks Record

While Billy Donovan’s back-to-back champs had the luxury of numerous upperclassmen returning for another season and consequent title run, Cal has a much tougher task considering he will be bringing in upwards of 6 new players to the program, with only sophomore forward Kyle Wiltjer having the only real game experience from the 2012 Championship squad.

While incoming NC State transfer at PG Ryan Harrow will obviously be the Wildcat’s most important player, #1 ranked high school prospect  Nerlens Noel is the most talented.  With all due respect to fellow incoming freshmen Alex Poythress, Archie Goodwin, and Willie Cauley-Stein, along with senior transfer Julius Mayes, much of the preseason focus and hype will be on the near 7 foot, shot-blocking center Noel as he takes over the post previously inhabited by National Player of the Year Anthony Davis, now off to the NBA.

But even though many see Noel as a mirror image of Davis, they are slightly different players.  Because of the many star players around him, the nation probably didn’t yet get to see the very best out of Davis, especially offensively, since he played the role of rim protector and rebounder for most of the season.  According to scouts, Noel may actually be a better athlete than Davis and perhaps an even better shot-blocker, considering the fact that Davis only began playing a frontcourt position 2-3 years ago.

When studying and comparing both players more closely, Noel has impeccable timing when it comes to leaving his feet to return a shot and possibly gets even higher than Davis, considering the fact Nerlens regularly blocks shots with two hands, rather than one.  With that being said, Noel also has a tendency to get into foul trouble for being too aggressive on the defensive end.

As a collegiate freshman, Davis definitely was the more polished offensive player, even if we didn’t get to see much of it.  Noel will run the floor every bit as fluidly as Davis and be a SportsCenter highlights regular by starting a break with an amazing block and being the first one down the floor for an eye-popping alley-oop.  Noel undoubtedly has better handles as you probably will see him snag a board and start the break himself before finding a teammate or proceeding for an end-to-end jam.

But that’s kind of where their similarities end since Noel respects Davis’ record breaking accomplishments but seems to want to blaze his own path into both Kentucky and NCAA lore by creating his own legacy, even if it is for only one season in Lexington.

Noel went on the record over at CoachCal.com recently and spoke candidly about his continual comparison to his predecessor and made a bold prediction about challenging Anthony Davis’ all time blocked shots record…

“It’s just people talking off what they see.” “We’re both different in our own ways. We both block shots. That’s a similarity, but at the end of the day I’m who I am and he is who he is.” “I’m going after that shot-blocking record…….”

By most reports, Noel has added a few extra pounds of muscle to his somewhat slight frame(215lbs) as he arrived on campus recently to join his new teammates for a photo shoot.  Despite rumblings that Noel’s recruitment is still under investigation, he recently completed all of the necessary coursework requirements over the Summer to re-classify to the 2012 Class and to qualify academically for the Fall semester at Kentucky.  But unlike his fellow top Top recruit Shabazz Muhammed at UCLA, who has temporarily been declared ineligible, Noel’s situation seems just like a formality, as the NCAA Clearinghouse drags their feet on another Wildcat recruitment.

While last season everyone was focused on Anthony Davis and the Uni-Brow movement, this season it’s time for the box-top and Nerlens Noel to dominate the college landscape in Kentucky’s quest to repeat as NCAA Champions.

Check out Nerlens Noel’s Newest Senior Mixtape: