Anthony Davis’ goal for the 2011-12 Kentucky basketball season is about as plain and simple as it gets: win it all.”Our goal is to win the national championship,” said Davis, a freshman forward on the Kentucky men’s basketball team. “That’s what we want to do at the end. If everybody works hard, plays hard in pickup, goes hard in the weight room and stays focused, then we think we can reach our goal. But there’s no certain pressure or label that we put on us. We’re all talented and we came here for a reason and that’s to win a national championship.”The 6-foot-10 big man from Chicago comes to Kentucky as the nation’s top-ranked forward prospect, and has already drawn comparisons to Marcus Camby, the star forward coached by John Calipari at UMass.The expectations are high for Davis, who averaged an absurd 32 points, 22 rebounds and seven blocks per game as a senior at Perspectives Charter High School. Davis was one of five finalists for the Naismith Award, was a Parade first-team All-American and was the No. 1 ranked player by ESPNU’s Top 100 and Scout.com.By now, you’ve all probably heard the story; Davis was a 6-foot-2 guard as a high school junior and went on a huge growth spurt that now enables him to have the skills of a guard, but the body of a forward. That growth spurt has now made him a frustrating presence on the court.”When we play pickup a lot of guys say they hate playing against me because I alter their shot or block their shot or something,” Davis said. “I take pride in my defense. On the offensive end, I get rebounds and put them back in. I was 6-2 last year so I still have my guard skills so if we’re on the break I can push it up, give it to the guard, lead the break, whatever it may be.”And he’s right, his own teammates do hate playing against him.”In practice when you’re playing against him it’s frustrating, but to know we have him on our team is a sigh of relief,” said freshman guard Marquis Teague. “We don’t have to worry about a lot.”Davis, with his long arms and wiry frame, said he doesn’t really compare his game to anyone, but loves to watch Kevin Durant and Kevin Garnett and attempt to model his game after them.Part of the reason Davis likes Garnett so much is his defensive presence and how he guards pick-and-rolls. While Davis does have a strong offensive game and can hit the 3-point shot if given the opportunity, it’s his defense that has garnered the most attention from coaches, teammates and opponents alike.”I really take pride in defense,” Davis said. “We have a lot of scorers on this team, everyone, really, can score. If we have a lot of scorers, I have to really take pride in defense then. My high school team, I had to really score. Now, I don’t have to really score as much so now I can really focus on defense. If everybody’s playing offense and nobody’s playing defense we’re not going to win a basketball game. So I say, OK, I’ll lead my team on defense so we can start locking up people on the perimeter making sure nobody scores, and that will give us our momentum and we really all take pride on defense.”That pride in defense that Davis talks about has been evident in preseason workouts and pickup games. Blocked shots are prevalent each day, and if the players aren’t in the gym putting up shots, they’re in the gym putting up weights. Davis said he’s trying to get stronger and put more weight and muscle on his body so he’ll be able to hold his own in the paint against the big boys from the Southeastern Conference.When talking to Davis, his inner drive to be better and push the envelope of his own abilities is ever-apparent. He wants to lift weights and work out, he wants to play defense and he wants to be a presence. A self-admitted basketball addict, Davis says to win a national championship they know they will have to work hard and be in the gym.”Me, personally, I am obsessed with basketball. I’m really obsessed,” Davis said. “If someone’s like, ‘Hey, let’s go to this party,’ or, ‘Let’s go play basketball,’ I’ll say basketball. Basketball is my passion, I love to play the game.”Though just a freshman, Davis talks about Kentucky and the men’s basketball program as if he has been in Lexington for the past two years, referring to Calipari’s first two teams at UK in the first-person as “we.” In order to overcome the shortcomings of his predecessors at UK and accomplish his goal of hanging up banner No. 8, Davis said they’ll have to work.”Everybody’s goal should be to win the national championship and that’s what our goal was two years ago, and last year as well. We just came up short,” Davis said. “People try to say two years ago was Elite Eight, last year Final Four, the only thing that leaves is national championship. We’re thinking the same way as well. Big Blue Nation is dying to get number eight. That’s all we’re trying to do is work hard, stay in the gym and try to win it.”