Fans of LSU men’s basketball are well aware of who junior forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis is. But people who have not seen him since he led the Tigers to the 2006 Final Four in April might be shocked to see that “Big Baby” is not so big anymore. Davis went through an extensive weight loss program during the offseason to prepare for another run to the Final Four. The Baton Rouge native began the 2005-2006 season at 310 pounds, but his weight ballooned to 347 pounds by the time the Tigers made their first Final Four appearance since 1986. Rigorous offseason training has gotten Davis down to a lean 289 pounds to begin this season. Davis said that is the ideal weight for him. “That [289 pounds] is where I wanna be,” Davis said. “I don’t wanna be too light. I think I competed at 347 pretty well, but I wasn’t where I wanted to be to dominate the game. So I think 289 will still give some lean [and] mass, but I’ll be quicker, so I think that’ll help me out guarding [small forwards and power forwards].” Davis said he felt being too heavy could be a liability to his team. “I knew me being at that weight wasn’t going to benefit me any,” he said. “I felt I had to lose the weight to help my team compete.” LSU coach John Brady said at the team’s media day Oct. 17 that he expects increased production from Davis this season. “He had a fabulous sophomore year, and there is no reason he won’t do the same things this year and possibly better with his weight loss,” Brady said. Being more than 300 pounds did not seem to affect Davis in his first two seasons at LSU. In his freshman year he averaged 13.8 points per game and 8.8 rebounds en route to winning the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year award. Davis improved on his breakout freshman campaign by averaging 18.6 points per game and 9.7 rebounds this past season on his way to being named the SEC Player of the Year. If those accolades sound familiar to LSU fans, that is because former LSU forward and current New Orleans Hornet Brandon Bass won Freshman and Player of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons as well. Bass garnered those awards following the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons. Unlike Davis, Bass decided to leave LSU early and entered the 2005 NBA Draft. In his rookie season Bass played in only 29 games for the Hornets, averaging 2.3 points per game. Davis said Bass’ success, or lack there of, in the NBA was a factor in his decision to return to LSU for his junior season. “[Brandon] gave me some food for thought,” Davis said. “He made me think ‘Hey, even though you’re Most Valuable Player of this league, that doesn’t mean you’ll be a [first-round draft pick].'” If media exposure for the Tigers was not enough following their Final Four appearance, the departure of this past season’s SEC Freshman of the Year forward Tyrus Thomas to the NBA and the graduation of point guard Darrel Mitchell has put more pressure and exposure on Davis. But Davis said all the expectations are one of the great things about NCAA basketball. “You just gotta embrace [exposure] man,” he said. “This is college basketball. You gotta enjoy it. The next level is harder. It becomes more of a business.” Davis’ business this season is being the leader of the LSU Tigers, a position he said he took upon himself to fill. “I put myself in that role,” he said. “I think the team embraces me as the leader.” Trying to improve on an SEC Championship and Final Four appearance is no easy task, but Davis said he has no worries about the capabilities of this season’s team. “The sky is the limit for us,” Davis said. “We’re a great veteran team. We’ve been there and done that. Now we just gotta go out and apply what we do [in practice] in the game. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”
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