It's a bird, it's a plane ...

Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior forward Bennett Davison goes up for a basket and is fouled by two Tulane players during the 7-UP Shootout in Phoenix on Sunday. Davison has made an immediate impact in his first season at the UA.

While he doesn't average 20 points or dish out 10 assists, Davison uses a 36 1/2-inch vertical leap to capture the scene with highlight-reel dunks that often come out of the blue.

"My favorite dunks are ones when I come down the lane and slam in an offensive rebound," Davison said. "Many times the other players don't see me coming, so the slam is uncontested."

After completing one-half of the conference season, Davison's athletic ability has amounted to 11.8 points per game and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game. All of this has been accomplished in less than a year since transfering from West Valley (Saratoga, Calif.) junior college to Division I basketball.

"You have to remember that Bennett is relatively new to this style of basketball," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "But, we knew that he would have a successful transition because of the junior college he went to. It is a program that consistently rates as one of the top two in the large school divisions in California. He is accustomed to people who play games against him as their biggest game of the year, and that's an important factor that we take into account in our recruiting."

When Davison first came to Arizona, he was not the "typical" first year player. In fact, Davison was so confident in his abilities that he once remarked that there weren't many differences between the junior college level and the Pacific 10 Conference lev el.

"Coming to Arizona was not really that big of a shock for me," Davison said. "The coach at my JC was a lot like Bobby Knight, so I knew I had to improve if I wanted to play."

However, Bennett didn't just walk into Arizona's starting lineup. It was not until after he had recorded two near double-doubles against No. 9 New Mexico and No. 5 Utah that he was vaulted into a starting position.

Since the Utah game Davison has led the team in rebounds with 106 and is second in shooting percentage at 52 percent. His ability to shine in big games is what really makes him a vital performer on this season's squad.

In Arizona's biggest home matchup so far this season against Stanford, Davison finished with his first career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. In addition, his tip-in with six seconds remaining helped Arizona hold off the Cardinal, 76-75.

"Bennett is the best athletic four-man in the country," UA junior forward Michael Dickerson said. "He can run, shoot and he really hits the boards hard. It's nice from my standpoint because I know when I miss a shot that Bennett will be there for the rebo und."

Lately, Bennett has also become a key defensive stopper for the Wildcats. With his quick hands and leaping ability, Davison has often drawn the assignment of a talented big-man on defense.

Against Utah's All-American forward Keith Van Horn, Davison held him to just one point in the final 19 minutes of the game.

"Bennett is like a horse out there on defense. It seems like he never gets tired," UA freshman guard Mike Bibby said. "He really gets the team going sometimes and you know he is going to play hard."

With Arizona's new defensive scheme of pressing opponents, Davison has become even more of a factor.

"He has great hand quickness for a guy who is 6-8," Olson said. "And with his tremendous leaping ability, he is becoming a very effective defensive player."

While Davison is thriving in Arizona's current system, he has never doubted his decision to enter the junior college ranks out of high school.

"Coming out of high school, I was 190 pounds and knew nothing," Davison said. "I wanted to improve my skills and work on my consistency, so I feel that going to a JC was the best decision I could have made at that point in my life."