The homecoming: 25 in a loss

AP:

... an electric evening as one of the city’s favored sons returned home.

Curry, the son of former Charlotte Hornets fan favorite Dell Curry, grew up attending NBA shootarounds and practices, starred in high school here, then did the unthinkable in leading tiny Davidson to within a missed 3-pointer of the 2008 Final Four.

“Pretty much everything I’ve done in my life has been within a 30-mile radius of Charlotte,” Curry said.

Curry arrived wearing a suit and hugged several Bobcats and arena employees as camera crews tagged along. His pregame availability was moved to the interview room to fit the crush of reporters, and he said he bought 105 tickets.

Read this too. Stephen: “I’m just happy to see so many familiar faces.” DavidsonNews.net: The crowd of 19,392 included numerous pockets of Davidson residents and fans decked out in red. Curry’s former Davidson College teammates were there, as were many family and friends from Charlotte. And Curry delivered, both in his performance and by recognizing his fans. He played all 48 minutes of the game. Sorensen: But Davidson never left him. Wildcats’ red and white is much more prevalent than the Bobcats’ colors. Chron: They gave a nine-second standing ovation when Curry was announced before the game. They erupted when he made his first shot. They even cheered his first touch, a routine accepting of an inbounds pass under his own basket. GSoM. Pictures from Tim.

Sports in the Carolinas

My contribution about Davidson and March 2008 is in here, pages 21 to 34, along with essays about Dale Earnhardt, Michael Jordan, Big House Gaines, Kay Yow and many others, from writers like Tom Sorensen, Lenox Rawlings, Will Blythe and Ron Green Sr.

Still ...

Sorensen: ... tough to watch anybody else.

May 19, 2008

Charlie Newton in Atlanta: “There was no disappointment. They lived up to it every step of the way.”

Tom Sorensen on the phone from Charlotte: “When Thomas Sander said ‘we,’ he didn’t mean basketball players. He meant Davidson.”

Terry Holland on the phone from Greenville: “When I took the AD job, it was not to return Davidson to glory. It was to give the program a chance. Division III was a real option at the time. The teams were not competitive. My job was really to give us a stable program; if that meant Division III, I like to think I would’ve done that. But the facts said that was not the best thing. I felt like we owed ourselves one more chance.”

Observer Q&A

Question:

Is there a more over rated team and player than Davidson and Curry? Very weak division, they lost every hard game they played. Curry a NBA pro? Uh no … maybe in Uzbekistan. Also what local kid goes to Davidson? For 40k a year?

Answer:

if you saw what i saw last season, if you were there when davidson beat georgetown and wisconsin and almost kansas, you would have been mesmerized, also. we wrote about curry almost every day, it seemed. but he was one of the great stories in the sport, locally and nationally, and a great guy. he will play in uzbekistan only if the nba puts a franchise there. he had little help this season. missed his point guard, richards, tremendously. like hansbrough, he’ll be a first-round pick.

More here.

Thanks

Sorensen:

Alas, the loss Sunday almost certainly knocks the Wildcats out of the NCAA tournament. Some other team will be this season’s Davidson. But those of us who watched last season, and that was almost all of us, will always remember the original.

On yesterday

Sorensen:

When Curry is not the best player on the court, the Wildcats rarely are the best team. And Curry struggled mightily against the Bulldogs, missing his first eight field-goal attempts. He scored 20 points, but he needed 23 shots to get them. He had seven turnovers and no excuses.

If you need another reason to like Davidson, here it is. Neither Curry nor coach Bob McKillop cited Curry’s obviously injured ankle as a reason for the loss. Curry said that once the game began, he was fine. Rather than talk about the ankle, McKillop talked about Butler’s defense.

Olson:

Curry, in fact, seemed to be about to lead a Davidson spurt when he knocked in his first three-pointer 20 seconds into the second half, trimming Butler’s lead to 34-32. But the Wildcats (22-6) turned the ball over their next four possessions, and the Bulldogs (23-4) went on a 10-0 run.

Woods:

“They have a winning attitude,” McKillop said of the Bulldogs. “They have great confidence. Their players are custom-made for their system -- versatility, the ability to put it on the floor, the willingness to defend any position.

“And they have that inside/outside presence. They’re a superb basketball team and deserving of a Top 25 ranking.”