(More) thoughts on the shot taken

Strange in a way to read in the current ESPN The Magazine a redux of the 16.8 seconds about which I wrote 40,000 words. My first thought, when I looked at the double-truck spread, and of course this is silly -- but my first thought was: But that’s OUR moment.

So you’ve got the comments from Kansas assistant Joe Dooley and you’ve got the comments from Stephen, and they’re short and simple and unavoidably revisionist just due to the passage of time if nothing else. And you’ve got the comments from McKillop in the part of the companion story about final possessions, which had additional comments from Stephen, which conspicuously had no comments from Jason. And anyway there are any number of things that could be said about it.

For now, though, I want to key in on just one part. Cue Stephen:

“I got a good ball fake in, and Rush really bit on it. But Jason’s defender [Sherron Collins] got a late break when Jason came back up the sideline, and he ended up in the perfect place at the perfect time to pick me up.”

Here’s what Steve Rodgers said on the resulting thread over on DavidsonCats.com:

The mistake JR made was coming towards the ball (Curry) when it looked like Curry might not get his shot off. It was instincitve, that’s what JR always did to get the ball back and restart the offense. When JR came towards Curry, Curry had pump fake his guy but JR’s man was now close enough to Curry to disrupt Curry’s shot. This left JR open but everyone, including JR would rather have had Curry take the shot.

That’s what I saw.

That’s what he saw because that’s what happened.

From the book:

Jason was in the right corner. He watched Stephen stop going to his left and turn and start heading to his right and toward Thomas' second screen near the top of the key.

Six seconds.

Jason watched Chalmers duck past Thomas and chase Stephen, and he watched Rush get up off the floor and start chasing Stephen, too.

Five seconds.

Jason decided he had to move, because he didn’t want this game to end with him just standing there, and if he stayed in the corner he would be doing nothing. He didn’t want to be watching.

He wanted to help.

You could stop there. Or ...

Jason started running toward Stephen.

Four seconds.

Stephen pump-faked and Rush jumped up and off to the side. Maybe here was a sliver of an opening for a shot. But Jason’s defender was running after Jason and left him now and bolted toward Stephen. He had his arms straight up.

The opening closed.

Do you want to end on help? Or do you want to end on closed? That moment within that moment always has been difficult to parse. I wrote it the way I wrote it because of what I knew and I knew what I knew because of the reporting I’d done. The reader as always can and should think whatever he or she wants to think.

In any event I like what Eddie wrote on the board:

I get the feeling JRich thinks we don’t complain about the missed shot because we're just being nice or something. That’s not true. We don’t complain about the missed shot because there isn’t a soul among us who thinks he is to “blame” for anything. What we remember, as we should, is that he’s a huge reason why we were there ...

It’s like William said so beautifully early in the week right after: ... in that moment, we had in our hearts and minds, proleptically I think the theologians would say, the joy of having it go in. Before it was not in, it was as good as in. For that fraction of a second, we had that experience, and it is enough. It is well worth the journey. At least for me it is, and I guess the ultimate point of this too-long post is that I hope it is also worth it for Jason. He took the shot. He gave us that moment. He trusted, and all we can do is be sure our reaction is worthy of that trust.

Basketball in March (and the other months too)

Brady in Kansas City: Self often breaks down games as simply as he can. Who made shots and who didn’t? In 2008, Davidson didn’t make the shot, and a week later, Kansas’ Mario Chalmers did. This time, Northern Iowa guard Ali Farokhmanesh made the shot that shocked the college basketball world. This fine line between winning and losing ...

Davidson 74, Georgetown 70

Easter Sunday in Raleigh

In the St. Pete Times:

The drive back from the games in Raleigh ended with a police escort into town past toilet-papered trees. The lights of the team bus swung toward Belk Arena and landed on 500 cheering fans. The first hug Richards got was from his history thesis adviser.

At the Brickhouse, with satellite trucks outside, the crowd hollered and yelled every time the Davidson highlights played on ESPN. Then came the clip of Curry in the postgame news conference. The people looked up at his face and the place went hush.

“You should’ve heard all the horns honking,” she told me, “here in this little town.”

Best case?

Austin Bell sent me an e-mail tonight on tournament eve reminding me what Pat Forde wrote about Davidson in his annual best case/worst case piece heading into the first round two years back.

Best Case: Stephen Curry goes thermonuclear shooting the ball, averages 30 ppg and leads the Wildcats to the regional finals, running their winning streak to 26 on the way. Davidson shoots Gonzaga out of the gym, somehow figures out how to guard Roy Hibbert in the second round, grinds past Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 and finally succumbs to Kansas in the Elite Eight. Nation appreciates the work of point guard Jason Richards, who leads the country in assists, and the Wildcats’ brute refusal to beat themselves. Bob McKillop’s hair is perfect.

I e-mailed Austin: Scary, right?

Austin e-mailed me: Extremely. I think it’s interesting to think about the fact that this is the “best case” like the shot couldn’t have gone down, you know?

I e-mailed Austin: That is interesting. Because if that shot had been -- what? -- a foot and a half to the right, March 2008 for Davidson would’ve become April 2008, and better than the best-case scenario.

Two years ago now

The Post and Courier in a story on Wofford: Davidson’s run to the Elite Eight in 2008 earned the SoCon an extra $4.5 million.

Three thoughts for now

1. Davidson lost 15 games this year, including this one, not only because of the loss of the kid who’ll play across town tomorrow night for the Golden State Warriors but also the loss of the coach who spent this afternoon coaching his ass off down on the other end of the court.

2. Speaking of No. 30: So no appearance for him to watch his former teammates and classmates and roommates here in the conference quarters. That’s too bad. Would’ve been a cool moment for the school. Would’ve been a cool moment for him.

3. Steve Rossiter, Bryant Barr, Will Archambault, Dan Nelms: Steve was a captain, Will was a 1,000-point scorer, Bryant hit those threes in Detroit. Steve and Bryant were on the court when Jason took the shot. That happened. They were a part of it.

7th-best game of the decade

Davidson-Georgetown: “I forget what timeout it was, but we were down 16 and Coach is asking us if we’re having fun,” Davidson guard Jason Richards would later tell reporters. “We got to smiling a little bit ... and this kid started getting on fire again, like he did the other day, and when that happens it’s tough to stop him.”

Media guide of destiny

Via Kyle.

Tough for Jason

Update:

Richards was waived due to injury.

Jason on Facebook: tore my left acl again in our last game ...

The decade in Jayhawk sports

Brady at the Star:

One of the enduring images from the Jayhawks’ miracle march was Self falling to the floor after Davidson guard Jason Richards’ game-winning three-point attempt missed, clinching Self’s first Final Four.

Made me think of something Wells Black ’94 posted last week on The Davidson Project Facebook page: Interesting conversation yesterday. Totally unexpected. I was on the phone with an IT guy helping me update some software at my law office. We were on the phone together for a while, so it was inevitable that we would have some conversation outside the subject of the software he was helping me with. As we talked, he told me he had move to Raleigh in the summer of 2008 ... from Kansas, where he had grown up. I asked if he was a Jayhawk fan. He enthusiastically responded that he was a Jayhawk fan. I then told him that I graduated from Davidson. He then said, “Man, am I glad that guy missed that three pointer.” So we are not the only ones that remember “the shot.” Kansas fans do, too. It was “a moment” for them as well.

Jason makes an All-Decade team

Here: Jason Richards (Barrington) -- Talented guard set multiple school records during four-year varsity career with Broncos. He went on to help Davidson reach the NCAA Elite Eight in ’08. Currently, he’s playing for the Utah Fear in the NBDL. (Note: The “Fear,” of course, is the Flash.)

Jason in Utah

Season so far. Today. Also this: “I think that what the Flash Family Foundation does for the community is great. The community support in return will hopefully contribute to success on the court.”

‘Connections across the country’

Claire:

I like watching JP drive and being reminded of JRich. I LOVE watching Brendan hit threes and talk to his teammates. I’m proud that they play like they do, not saying I like it when they make stupid TOs or miss FTs, but I can see them starting to play like a team, moving fast and working hard and clumping into huddles and not stopping. Bob roaring on the sidelines, Kilgo in the background of the screen, cocking his head, chatting away in that sandpaper south voice of his that I can’t hear but I know it’s there, Kruse with laptop up and eyes on the court. I love connections across the country, sending texts to Sarah and knowing that her phone is ringing in the same building that I’m watching on tv thousands of miles away (and she called me afterwards, and I could hear the smile in her voice). I love starting to understand how the freshmen play, and realizing that I will get to watch them go and grow through the ups and downs of four years of Davidson basketball.

Jason in Bakersfield

His last two.

Life after Stephen (and Andrew, and Max, and ...)

Jeff Hartsell in Charleston:

But as Davidson comes to McAlister Field House tonight, Citadel coach Ed Conroy expects a team that’s much better adjusted to life without Curry, now playing for pay with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

“From what I’ve seen on tape so far, they are a typical Bob McKillop-coached team,” Conroy said. “They have a lot of talented players. Maybe they haven’t found their perfect chemistry and mix yet, but they will. And they will have a heck of a season, I believe.”

I appreciated this story because it did something a lot of stories so far this year have not. It at least alluded to the reality that the first year of the post-Stephen Curry era for Davidson is also the first year of the post-Andrew Lovedale era and the post-Max Paulhus Gosselin era. I’ll add, too, that this is the second year of the post-Jason Richards era and the post-Thomas Sander era. All these guys for the Davidson College basketball program were historically good.

Jason with the Flash

Salt City Hoops:

Until the next chapter in the Jason Richards story is written, he’ll be known as the guy who was very good at getting the ball to Stephen Curry. No shame in that, and he did a great job of it. I’ll be looking for more of the same at the next level.

We know better. Now maybe others might too.

Tonight in the NBDL draft ...

Jason goes to the Utah Flash. On Twitter: “can’t wait!!!” Salt Lake Trib. Deseret News. SBN.

Where will Jason play?

North Dakota? The NBDL draft is tonight. Alpert will be on NBA TV.

Elon’s media guide

Six quotes about Matt in his bio. Three of them from Davidson guys.

Stephen: “Matt Matheny is an outstanding coach who got the absolute best out of me every day during my tenure at Davidson. He recruited me, saw my potential and helped develop me into the player that I am today.”

Jason: “Coach Matheny has been an influential part of my success not only as a college athlete, but also as a professional athlete. He has helped me on the court with workouts, studying film, and scouting opponents as well as off the court in life.”

McKillop: “Matt is a terrific teacher, a superb leader and an even better person.”