The tension at the first event of NBA All-Star Saturday hadn't been this high in years, not for the skills competition. The stakes were rising with each round, the basketballs being flung with less and less regard for shooting form. The most energetic spectators may have been two players who already were eliminated: DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis, former Kentucky bigs who wanted nothing more than fellow Wildcat product Karl-Anthony Towns to come away with the victory over the last of the heavily favored little guys.

Then the shot went in. Towns, a rookie center, had defeated All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas. A 7-footer had won the skills contest. Davis, Cousins, and Towns celebrated this fact for the entire basketball world to see. Even the one coach who gives them an unbreakable connection.

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"Was that unbelievable? How about how they pushed (Draymond) Green (the fourth big man in the competition) out of the way, was that the best? Are you kidding me?" Kentucky's John Calipari told Sporting News. "It brought tears to my eyes."

Towns used the contest to show a national audience how good he is and how good he can be. He can dribble, pass and shoot from inside and deep — and he has speed that almost no one his size can match. That's why it is a foregone conclusion he will win the 2015-16 NBA Rookie of the Year Award sometime soon, and why he has put himself squarely in the conversation for most talented big man in the NBA.

His two closest competitors also came through Big Blue Nation: Cousins and Davis. Separated by five years in age, Cousins (25), Davis (23) and Towns (20) easily could form the core of a Western Conference big man rivalry for years to come — though their teams making the playoffs would be a help, as they all fell short this season. Sporting News spoke to all three centers, along with Calipari, about their bond, their talent and their futures.

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All of it was on display in Toronto on that Saturday night. The celebration was mostly for the big men, as they were new to the previously guard-exclusive skills challenge field. But Towns felt the UK connection, as well.

"You could tell right away the commodity we have, just from being from the same school," Towns said. "I said before, being a Kentucky Wildcat is bigger than basketball. That’s a fraternity you can never take yourself out of."

Towns is the third big man to come out of Kentucky in the past six years and show a guard-like skill set in the pros. Towns, Davis, and Cousins can shoot from deep, handle and pass like guards, and defend the rim and the perimeter.

'All of us want to be the best'

Their skill sets resemble each other's but still manage to be just different enough to make each of them special. Towns is the tallest, Cousins the strongest and Davis the longest. Cousins is the post scorer with shooting range, while Davis can create off the dribble around the perimeter and Towns functions best in pick-and-rolls.

"Everybody has their own skill set and their own traits as a basketball player. We all bring something different to the table," Davis said. "I think all of us want to be the best big man in the league."

There have been players of their kind before; big, tall athletic guys who can run the floor like guards and play both ways. Towns plays with one of the legends in Kevin Garnett. Cousins plays for the team that housed another, Chris Webber.

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But having three players come out of the same school, within a just a few years of each other, and show so much promise immediately — that's the rarity that Calipari pulled off, largely because of the modern one-and-done system. There are past examples, sure. John Thompson Jr.'s Georgetown produced Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning between 1985 and 1992. John Wooden's UCLA loosed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Swen Nater (a college backup) and Bill Walton on the pro basketball ranks from 1969 to 1974.

Those were dominant programs built around their centers, though. Thompson and Wooden developed and crafted those stars over years. Cousins (in 2010), Davis (2012) and Towns (2015) spent one season apiece under Calipari before entering the NBA, and each took off almost immediately. Towns will almost assuredly beat out Kristaps Porzingis for Rookie of the Year this season, while Davis finished second to Damian Lillard in 2013 and Cousins third to Blake Griffin and (Kentucky teammate) John Wall in 2011.

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The instant NBA success and the single-year Lexington, Ky., experience could dull the connection. But that's not the case, by any means.

"When people say, ‘Well, they’re only there a year or two with Cal and they have no relationship with the university or coaches,’ are you crazy?" Calipari said. "If you asked any agent, they’ll tell you that there are no players more loyal or more connected to their school, and their coaching staff, than Kentucky’s guys. Ask the agents, they’ll tell you. And that’s why I laugh. There’s a brotherhood here."

Though the success stories are well-publicized, Kentucky bigs' success rate in the NBA is not perfect. Dakari Johnson (who left Kentucky in 2015 as a sophomore) and Daniel Orton (who left in 2010 as a freshman) have yet to make any sort of name for themselves in the NBA. Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley-Stein, meanwhile, have had promising starts to their careers as ace defenders but don't project to have the same kind of impact as the star trio.

Skal Labissiere is next. Even amid a disappointing freshman year last season, Labissiere's NBA potential has long been clear. He had help, too. Towns reached out to his successor regularly, he told Sporting News. That's the value of the brotherhood.

'At the top of most people's lists'

That brotherhood is putting up rarified success, too. In an increasingly small-ball-dominated NBA, Cousins, Davis and Towns were the only players in the NBA this season to average 18 points, 10 rebounds, and one blocked shot per game. They even combined to shoot 33.3 percent from the 3-point line on 405 attempts. That's the offensive versatility that has many analysts ranking them at the top of their position.

Davis and Cousins are often talked about as top 15 NBA players, and Towns is well on his way. Still, of all the topics the three of them discuss together, they say this particular subject is not one of them.

"I didn’t even really think about it that way," Cousins said. "I mean, we’re fortunate enough to be young, talented players. ... I mean, at the big position, we’re probably — I think we’d be at the top of most people’s lists."

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Davis, who finished fifth in MVP voting a year ago, has every right to feel as though he's one of the top players in the league, but like Cousins, he says he doesn't put much thought into that.

"I’m not going to say we are right now, because some people think we are and some people think we aren’t," he said. "Our goal, at least to me, is that no matter how long we play or who we play, we want to dominate on the floor and be hard workers and play hard and leave it out on the floor."

Towns is new to the NBA, but has already made more noise in one season than some do in entire careers. But despite his youth, his humble attitude toward the game is reflected off his predecessors. But his level of self-awareness is also there.

"For us three, what we brought to the NBA is something different, something the NBA hasn’t seen," Towns said. "Versatile big men who can play defense and also play offense, shoot from the outside, to change the game and allow us to play the game the way that we want it to. And I think that’s what people respect about us."

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The three of them have shown that you don't need to be a wing to dominate in the NBA, and that athleticism and high-level production can come in a variety of ways.

Their bond may come from attending the same college, but it's more than that. They're a group of big guys trying to keep an art form of basketball alive that isn't what it once was. Their styles as big men are modern, but their takes on success are not. There's a mutual admiration for what each guy is doing, and as time goes on, that friendship and respect should build into a high-intensity on-court rivalry.

The three of them knew each other well before All-Star weekend, but their bond was encapsulated in the celebration that came from one of their own winning a competition built for guards. Whether Towns had made that shot or not won't matter in the context of his career, but it did go in. He's still well on his way to superstardom, where he'll join his counterparts.

And the three of them were there to celebrate together. Their excitement said it all.