Philly

Dick Jerardi in the Daily News: Check out “Taking The Shot” by Michael Kruse. It is the story of Davidson’s run to within a made three of the 2008 Final Four. Don’t, however, go looking for play-by-play or statistics.

This book is about why those March moments meant so much to so many. And it is eloquent in the explaining.

There is a history to Davidson basketball and to the institution itself that few know still. Read this book and you will know.

There are the players, the coaches, the fans, the faculty, the alumni and just people who got caught up in the moment.

A Davidson alum and talented writer with just the right amount of passion and perspective, Kruse puts the readers in the gyms, in the huddles and in the minds of everybody, from star Stephen Curry to coach Bob McKillop.

McKillop went to Davidson 20 years ago for the wrong reasons and stayed for the right reasons. Like so many other young coaches, he looked at Davidson as his steppingstone to the big time. Countless losses later, the coach got some perspective that so many in his profession never get. It wasn’t, McKillop found out, about him. It was about them. It wasn’t about the wins. It was about the journey.

When the coach finally understood that, his team started to win. It was not a coincidence.

Getting Curry to come to the small school outside Charlotte certainly helped, but Davidson was already a winning program by then. Curry just took them places they had never been, places you will share while reading this book.