Anthony Davis has done it all over the past year. The national player of the year, national champion, Final Four Most Outstanding Player and No. 1 overall pick will now officially have the chance to add a gold medal to his impressive resume.USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo announced on Friday morning that Davis will be the permanent replacement for Blake Griffin – who will undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee. “We are sorry to have received confirmation of Blake’s injury which has forced his withdrawal from the USA Team for this summer,” said Colangelo. “Blake worked extremely hard in our training camp and certainly would have been a valuable contributor. This is another unfortunate injury, but we have to continue to move on and we’re very fortunate to have Anthony Davis available. Anthony offers our team additional height and length, and this will be an incredible experience for him.”Davis played with Team USA for the first time on Thursday night against John Calipari’s Dominican Republic National Team. He was substituted into the game in the fourth quarter by Mike Krzyzewski with the Americans up big and Davis promptly scored nine points in less than 10 minutes. “It’s sad to hear what happened to Blake (Griffin) – he’s a great player
and it would have been a great opportunity for him,” said Davis after
making his USA National Team debut Thursday night. “Tonight was a great
feeling out here and I had fun. They (teammates) told me to go out there
and have fun, relax and take deep breaths. Don’t think of it like there
is pressure on you. It can really help me being around all these guys
in this experience and playing in the Olympics fresh out of college.”A highlight from Team USA’s 113-59 exhibition victory was when Davis drilled a 3-pointer and was fouled. He would break out the 3-goggles familiar to Kentucky fans before playfully pointing toward his former coaches John Calipari and Orlando Antigua.”I’m so proud that Anthony Davis is having this opportunity and I truly believe this experience will push him ahead in his career by years,” Calipari said. “The coaching and what he’ll learn from the players will be an enormous benefit.”On a team full of All Stars and NBA MVPs, Davis will certainly have ample opportunities to learn.”Whatever Coach K wants me to do I am going to do. I am going to look forward to the challenges, and I’m looking forward to going overseas and my first time out of the United States. I am looking forward to that and getting to mingle with some of the guys and getting to know them and their workout routines and how they get ready for each game. They are superstars and they are here for a reason, so I’ll just try to emulate what they do.”