Coaching moves

Katz: Seton Hall should try to woo someone like McCaffery or Davidson’s Bob McKillop, but the school is also smart enough to know that both coaches are in good situations. McKillop loves his life in the Davidson community north of Charlotte. Why would someone want to leave what makes sense for the craziness of the bottom of the Big East in the competitive New York metro area? Seton Hall?

Andy Katz to Pat Forde

On Twitter just a minute ago: Are you on the Gael bandwagon yet? This could be a Davidson like run to the Elite Eight if they win here. How people talk.

Taking another shot

DeCourcy:

It’s amazing how quiet it is now that Davidson is Davidson again.

With Stephen Curry gone to the NBA, the Wildcats finished 16-14, 11-7 in the Southern Conference. So maybe they’re not really Davidson; even before Curry, this wouldn’t have been a vintage finish under Bob McKillop.

His teams have won the Southern’s automatic bid five times. The Wildcats begin their trek toward another NCAA appearance Friday against the Elon Phoenix, whom they defeated on the road in overtime in their final league game.

There’s no more Steph Curry, but Davidson still is one of college basketball’s best programs. The 2010 Southern Conference tournament is another chance to prove it.

Katz on the SCT: Nobody from the Southern Conference has a player like former Davidson guard Stephen Curry. But at least some of these teams have had the experience of beating a high-level opponent and will go into this tournament with confidence. If the semifinals in Charlotte are Western Carolina-Wofford and Charleston-Appalachian State, the league should have a highly competitive final two days. The Observer points out: Brendan McKillop’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.7 is the best in conference.

(More) how people talk

Tommy Amaker on Cornell: “That’s a team capable of making a Davidson kind of run like two years ago. You could see them in the Sweet 16, and from there, anything is possible. They are very talented and have a lot of seniors. They’ve been in the tournament. They’re legit. They pounded us. I voted for them in the Top 25 well before we played them.”

How people talk

Andy Katz: This Cornell team is Davidson-like and could go on a run come March.

Puerto Rico next year

Andy Katz: The Puerto Rico Tip-Off will be really entertaining with North Carolina, West Virginia, Minnesota and Vanderbilt leading the way, followed by Western Kentucky, Davidson, Hofstra and Nebraska.

Links and a thought from 35,000 feet

The links?

Andy:

... the Wildcats, who are playing their first game without Stephen Curry in four seasons.

Gary:

... now that Stephen Curry is with Golden State.

Jeff:

Not exactly an easy start to the Life Without Stephen Era for Davidson coach Bob McKillop.

The thought? I know it’s hard to avoid, and I know it can’t be ignored, and I wouldn’t want it to be -- but I do hope that this game at some point can be less about who’s not on the court and more about the guys who are.

‘Rebuilding,’ but …

Andy Katz: ... don’t be surprised to see Bob McKillop’s team find a way into the title race with the College of Charleston and Appalachian State.

Andy calls Bob

McKillop: “We learned we’re going to have to have an equal opportunity offense. We can’t have guys stand around waiting for Steph to shoot it. They all have to swing the bat.”

That staff in ‘78-‘79

Andy Katz: Bzdelik is coveted in the NBA. But he has been able to bridge the NBA and college game because of his wealth of knowledge and spending quality time early in his career at Davidson with Eddie Biedenbach (now at UNC Asheville), Bob McKillop (now the head coach at Davidson) and Rick Barnes (now the head coach at Texas). That was before he went to work for Wes Unseld and Pat Riley in the NBA.

In a story on Buzz

Katz: Davidson will still be one of the top teams in the league, even sans Curry.

Slots are set

NYT: The Knicks would have been thrilled at the opportunity to select Rubio, but may set their eyes on Stephen Curry, a sharp-shooting guard who captured the nation’s attention with Davidson’s N.C.A.A. Tournament run in 2008. Katz: McKillop did say, however, that he was assured Curry was a top-10 pick. Warriors?

Raised $15,000

On Andy’s blog:

Davidson BuzzKill, a 3-on-3 tournament for kids that was started by Wildcats guard Bryant Barr, raised $15,000 on campus for the “Nothing but Nets” campaign. The organization provides anti-mosquito bed nets for families to sleep under to prevent malaria in Africa. The money will help send 1,500 insecticide-covered bed nets to African villages. The hope is that it would protect more than 6,000 people from malaria.

There were 27 teams in the event and coaches were selected, led by former Davidson guard and likely top-10 draft pick Stephen Curry.

(And at NothingButNets.net.)

Where does he stand?

Andy Katz: Outside the aforementioned six players, the rest of the top 10 was hardly a consensus. Memphis freshman Tyreke Evans received the seventh-most votes, followed by Davidson junior guard Stephen Curry and Louisville junior forward Earl Clark. In this poll, the 10th spot went to Syracuse sophomore Jonny Flynn, but only by a slight margin. At least one team didn’t consider Curry a top-10 pick, showing the wide range of opinions.

No thanks

Also from Andy: Davidson coach Bob McKillop said he has turned down the head coaching job of the World Championship for Young Men’s team this summer in New Zealand.

Hard to argue

Andy Katz:

Curry was the face of Davidson for three years, had a magical Elite Eight run as a sophomore, led the country in scoring as a junior and was in a win-win situation with his decision. He's a lottery pick now and would be if he decided to return for his senior season.

What they’re saying

Gary Parrish:

I believe Stephen Curry will be a very good (and possibly great) NBA player, a lottery pick who won’t bust because, don’t let that baby face fool you, he's got decent size for a ball-handler, great vision and a high basketball IQ. Also, he can shoot. Perhaps you’ve heard. So while people will spend the next month debating whether the Davidson star will be effective at the next level, let the record show that I’m a believer in Curry, and if I could extort money from Rick Pitino, I’d take every penny and bet it on Curry being a solid pro for 10 to 12 years.

That’s what I believe.

Better yet, that’s what I know.

But I’m less sure Davidson can keep its spot in the national conversation.

Chris Littman:

With the announcement that Curry will forgo his senior season, hire an agent and depart for the NBA, one of the more compelling characters in the last decade of college basketball makes his exit.

Andy Katz:

The Wildcats can finish setting their nonconference schedule. Davidson was penciled in to play at Kansas had Curry returned. McKillop said the Wildcats were slated to go to the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden in December, too. But both were contingent on Curry’s return. Now they're gone.

Chris Chase:

Either way, Curry was a breath of fresh air in a college basketball world that is increasingly dominated by blue chip recruits and big-time programs. Curry’s jumpshot was as pure as Jimmy Chitwood’s. It is a thing of beauty. Here’s hoping his NBA career is the same.

Today’s update

Katz: Another day, another dispatch from Davidson that leaves little indication as to what Stephen Curry will do about declaring for the draft. Davidson coach Bob McKillop said Wednesday that he conducted individual workouts with the Wildcats’ guards, including Curry, who had “great bounce in his step.” The deadline to declare is Sunday.

How would it work?

Here’s something that isn’t discussed enough by the people who are so interested in discussing Stephen’s decision-making process. From Andy’s blog last week:

Davidson doesn’t offer summer school, just two independent study classes, which would certainly make it a longer-term project for Curry to graduate if he left early for the NBA.

Also: Next year’s schedule will depend somewhat on whether he stays or goes.

Games left to play

Katz: McKillop said Curry is handling the possibility that he might not play in the NCAAs this season well, saying he was just wondering what time they will practice Sunday.