A little more than a year ago, Mike Krzyzewski would've been absolutely elated to find out that in the stretch run of this season, Baron Davis would have developed into one of the nation's premier freshman guards, showcasing his talent in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
He just didn't imagine Davis doing that in a UCLA uniform.
One of the nation's most sought-after recruits coming out of Crossroads High School in Los Angeles, Davis made the top of many coaches' wish lists last season, including Krzyzewski's. And why not? Most recruiting experts rated Davis as the top point guard in the nation, and Athlon's preseason magazine tabbed Davis the top senior available, period.
Krzyzewski knew Davis would be a jewel and made painstaking efforts to land him, but then things took a turn. Krzyzewski's mother passed away last September, and Krzyzewski decided to take a week off from recruiting to gather himself emotionally.
All Duke recruits at that time were then informed of Krzyzewski's decision and the reason why-only Davis, according to "A March To Madness" by John Feinstein, complained about Krzyzewski's leave of absence. When he returned from his sabbatical, Krzyzewski stopped recruiting Davis.
After being spurned by Duke, Davis made an oral commitment to UCLA during the early signing period and thus became the hometown darling. With incumbent point guard Cameron Dollar graduating, UCLA thought they found the answer in Davis. But instead, Davis just became the source of more problems.
Circumstances surrounding the sale of a used car from former Bruins coach Jim Harrick's son to Davis's sister, Lisa Hodoh, triggered an NCAA probe into the UCLA program. The investigation quickly led to the dismissal of Harrick, and Davis withdrew his earlier verbal commitment.
"I just questioned what I really wanted to do and whether I really wanted to play basketball if I had to put up with all this," Davis said. "There were so many emotions involved, and me just being a kid and not really knowing how [to deal with it], it was just like I was falling apart."
In limbo, Davis considered several options. Kansas and Georgia Tech were still after him, the NBA was another route and UCLA, now under the direction of Steve Lavin, remained a possibility.
On national television in April, Davis announced his decision. After donning and removing hats of Kansas, Georgia Tech and the Los Angeles Clippers, Davis found the fourth hat, with UCLA emblazoned on it, to be a perfect fit.
"[My grandmother] has just been there for me, and I couldn't see why I couldn't do the same," Davis said. "By going away, I wouldn't be there when she needed me. That the main reason why I came [to UCLA was] to be close to her and just be able to have that relationship instead of making it long distance."
Ten months later, Davis's grandmother isn't the only one who's more than thankful for Davis's choice. The 6-foot-2 guard is drawing raves from just about everyone, including a long-time rival he might just run into Sunday.
"I've known him since fifth grade, and he's the type of player who's really flashy," Duke center Chris Burgess said. "He knows how to score; he wants to get everyone involved. I mean, he's showtime [with] his cross-over dribble.
"He's someone if we don't contain, he can make everyone on his team better. He's the guy we have to control. He'll be a lottery pick in two years; he's that good."
Just how good is Davis? Last season, he averaged 26.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 5.8 steals and 2.1 blocked shots per game in leading Crossroads to a 31-3 record and an appearance in the Division IV State Championships. Davis was also named a first-team All-American by USA Today, Parade, Slam Magazine, McDonald's and Nike. And he's only gotten better.
Only 24 games into his collegiate career, Davis has already established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile players, let alone freshmen, in college basketball. Davis has put his blinding quickness, uncanny court vision and tremendous vertical leap to good use, averaging 11.5 points, 5.3 assists and 4.2 rebounds per contest for the Bruins.
"He was very good coming in. When we didn't have [Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson], he was at his best because he knew he had to score," Bruins forward J.R. Henderson said. "I think he was playing better then just because he had a lot more freedom. But now that we had our guys back, he was kind of restricted as far as scoring.
"But I think now that Jelani's gone, I told him he's got to step up his scoring again because I've seen him do it in the preseason so I know he could do it again. He's had a lot of pressure on him from day one since he came here. I think he's handled it very well. He's been playing just terrific for us."
And if it were not for one decision, Davis could be playing "just terrific" for the other team at Cameron this Sunday.
Dave Berger and Daily Bruin writer Emmanuelle Ejercito contributed to this story.
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