Conference men's basketball schedule, Davis' teammate, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was mentioned as a possible Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. However, after less than a month of Southeastern Conference play, Davis was not only being mentioned as conference player of the year, but also National Player of the Year. By mid February, he was considered a National Player of the Year front-runner with his primary competition coming from Thomas Robinson of Kansas. As the season progressed, he continued to battle Robinson while developing a college level offensive game. Davis averaged a double double and 6.5 blocks in the two games (November 15, 2011 and April 2, 2012) they played against each other, both on neutral courts. Davis led the Wildcats to a perfect 16–0 record in conference play en route to the SEC conference regular season championship. Davis finished the year with averages of 14.2 points per game, 10.4 rebounds per game, 4.7 blocks per game and a field goal percentage of 62.3%. The Wildcats entered the SEC Tournament as heavy favorites and defeated LSU and Florida before losing to the Vanderbilt Commodores in the championship game. Despite the loss, the Wildcats earned the number one overall seed in the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the Wildcats' six NCAA Tournament games, Davis averaged 15.2 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 4.6 blocks per game, and led the team to its eighth NCAA championship. Honors and awards National Davis was named the 2012 Sporting News Men's College Basketball Player of the Year. On March 19, he won the US Basketball Writers Association's (USBWA) Robertson trophy. The Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky named Davis the Adolph Rupp Trophy winner on March 22. CBSSports.com recognized Davis as their national player of the year. On March 30, he became the second freshman (Kevin Durant) to win the Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year. On March 31, he won the John R. Wooden Award. The following day he won the Naismith College Player of the Year. He was Kentucky's first Naismith winner and the first from the SEC in 42 years (Pete Maravich). Davis was named to the 2012 Sporting News All-American first team. He was also named first team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association. On March 20, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) chose him as a first team All-American. Davis was a CBSSports.com first team