Carmelo Anthony had one of the best one-and-done campaigns in U.S. college basketball history. Melo, however, believes that Anthony Davis is right up there, if not had the most outstanding lone collegiate season of all time.
Anthony played one year at Syracuse University in 2002-03 and became a true game-changer for the Orange. He played 35 games and went on to average 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds to win Big East Freshman of the Year and earn second-team All-American selection.
Carmelo capped his campaign off by leading Syracuse to its first-ever NCAA title, defeating Kansas in the championship game. Anthony was also named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
In a recent episode of his “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast, the 10-time NBA All-Star discussed one-and-done college players and where AD ranks among them.
They reacted to the top 5 list of Michael Beasley, who himself had an impressive single-season run at Kansas State (2007-08), that included him and Davis (Kentucky/2011-12), along with Kevin Durant (Texas/2006-07), Derrick Rose (Memphis/2007-08) and Zion Williamson (Duke/2018-19).
Melo shared that, for him, the distinction between the best one-and-done players is between KD and AD, and he gave it to the latter, as, apart from winning practically every individual award, he also won a national title.
“I mean, it has to be AD. Okay. If we’re going to base it off what everybody [goes for], you know, base it off of, like, with the chip. I would give it to AD because AD won the chip, too,” Anthony said.
Great two-way player
In his lone campaign with the Wildcats, Davis, who had an incredible 10-inch growth spurt in high school, developed into a great two-way player and was a handful for opposing teams. Anthony posted averages of 14.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.7 blocks and 1.4 steals while shooting 62.3 percent from the field. He helped Kentucky win the SEC title that season, finishing with a 16-0 record in the conference while booking a spot in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
On collegiate basketball’s biggest stage, the March Madness, AD continued to dominate, going for 15.2 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.6 blocks over six games, punctuating it by towing the Wildcats to the national title against Kansas. Along with the team’s success, Davis was named the national college player of the year, NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, NCAA blocks leader, SEC Player and Rookie of the Year, and earned first-team All-American selection.
Davis, however, laments that few people give him credit for what he accomplished in college.
“I think people forget, like, the dominance I had in college basketball when I was there. Um, you know, I see all this all the time, people talking about, you know, the freshman and, you know, they never talk about our Kentucky team, and they never talk about me,” Davis shared on “The Draymond Green Show.”
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Still driven
Davis went on to become the top overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. In his over a decade of pro journey so far, he has earned numerous individual honors and won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. AD has achieved a lot despite having to deal with a myriad of injuries along the way.
Davis is currently with the Washington Wizards after being traded there back in February from the Dallas Mavericks. The 33-year-old asserted that he is still driven and wants to accomplish more in the NBA.
“I haven’t got MVP. I haven’t got Defensive Player of the Year. I want the parade for a championship, so I want to be able to do that again… I have a list of things that I still want to do,” Davis made it known on the “Glass Half Full” podcast.
Given how Davis’ collegiate resume stacks up against the others, Anthony may be right in viewing him as the best one-and-done player to have done it.
Related: “I’ve made hundreds of millions with it” – Anthony Davis explains why he’ll never shave his unibrow
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the College section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
