You having lunch with Stephen?

Help out Bryant and Buzzkill and break bread with No. 30. Auction.

The Currys, the community and TCC

Reed Jackson on Cats.com:

About 20 minutes prior to the start, mama Curry arrived with garbage bags, scanned our section, and despite having only met a couple times, waived both mom and boys up. At which point she delivered a big hug to my surprised wife, and gave the boys two of the 30 Curry TCC towels. It was a moment that I think said a lot about moms and their common journey with their boys. Both what they hope for them, and what they hope they aspire to be as young men.

The TCC towels.

Distributed here by Camp Curry

‘No other place’

Claire:

I see more and more faces that I recognize, new students/townspeople/staff, and DCats folks that have -- first virtually, now personally -- welcomed me in.

Let me tell you, it is damn exciting to watch these three freshmen gain those cheers that roar over the announcer's soaring voice, that respect, that taken-in-ness that will last their lives. And it's moving to watch these seniors, my classmates, lead this team. Their determination and focus has started to shine on the court and on the bench, but so has their joy, their appreciation. I catch Will smiling and Bryant hustling on defense, Dan staying on his man, and Steve slapping hands, taking deep breaths, the heart of the huddles in the toughest moments. On Saturday, Will fouled out with ONE FRIGGING POINT to go before he reached 1,000. (one.thousand!) Rob, David, Zach, Carrie, and I had cheered for him unceasingly as he got closer and closer, to the point where I think everyone else in the endzone was turning around to shoot us weird looks, and when that fifth whistle blew it just KILLED us. Even though he'll get it tomorrow, I wanted him to have that moment with us so much. But we all stood and screamed for him, and from the bench he clapped and yelled and grinned. TCC.

Hey. This team is fun. This season is fun.

A treasure trove. “Hi, Claire.”

Makes me want to be there.

Bryant and Buzzkill

Got a call today from Bryant Barr. He wants to hear from you.

The second year of Bryant-led Buzzkill is scheduled for May 2. He’d like to know what you’d like to see on the list of items for auction. Jerseys? Basketballs? Memorabilia? Autographed? By whom? Last year he raised more than $16,000 for nets to help fight malaria in Africa. This year he’s shooting for $20,000.

Bryant’s getting married in July. He’s got a job lined up already and will be working as an actuarial consultant for Mercer in Chicago. It’s what he wants to do and it’s where he wants to be.

He said it over and over on Monday, so fortunate, so blessed, and the fact that he plays on the basketball team gives him a platform, and that platform gives him a chance to give back.

Whenever I talk to Bryant, I’m reminded that I’m glad he’s a student at my school, and today we talked for a while about how it’s hard to believe his time at Davidson is almost over.

I don’t think it’s untrue or unfair to say that the high point of his basketball life came two years ago in March. But taking into account everything it means to be a full participant of his place -- basketball, academics, life on campus and in the community -- “every year I’ve spent here has been better than the year before,” he said. “It’s been a hundred times better than what I expected.”

“If I had to do it all over again,” he said, “I’d choose Davidson again in a second.”

Post your ideas for items for auction at Buzzkill here or over on DavidsonCats.com.

The Lagos Project

Lauren:

I wrote an entry for the team’s blog “Signed, Sealed and Delivered” at Wildcats’ Roar, in which I wrote that I hadn’t come up with an answer to the question “How was Nigeria?” I still haven’t, and I don’t know that I ever will.

It was hot, and we were tired, and we were dirty, but I learned so much about the world, about Frank and Andrew and about myself in those 10 days. Even all these months later, I’m still processing it.

Andrew: “I know I am not there but my heart will be there on that very day.” Watch.

Interesting

The Observer: Davidson coach Bob McKillop brought his team to watch Hopewell recruit Jordan Downing and the Titans play Mooresville this week. Downing had 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists in the win. Bryant: Jordan Downing is gonna look really good in that Davidson uniform next year.

From DavidsonCats.com

McKillop The Youngest is becoming the heart and soul of this team.

Stephen: 2 minutes in NYC

Here’s what he said: “It sucks.” Also this: “I’ll ask some questions, because I hate this feeling. ... I’ll do it in a respectful way. I’ll do it in a way that shows I’m willing to work harder if I need to or do something different if I need to. I’m not going to walk in and yell, 'Coach, why ain’t you playing me?’”

Here’s what the Knicks fans said: “We want Curry!”

And here is what Chris Sheridan wrote after the game:

NEW YORK -- From starter to splinter-gatherer, that pretty much describes Stephen Curry’s evolution over the first eight games of the season.

At least Warriors coach Don Nelson had an explanation Friday night, no matter how invalid it turned out to be: “I told you. He needs to get some tattoos.”

Nelson was only joking, and Curry certainly stands out in the Golden State locker room for being one of the few players not to have a majority of his torso covered by body art.

But none? Nellie got that one wrong.

When the “He has no tattoos” comment was related to Curry, he rolled up his left shirt sleeve and turned his wrist up, revealing the tatooed letters T C C and the number 30. “That’s trust, commitment, care -- a little slogan I picked up at Davidson.”

Damn.

Last time playing at the Garden was a little different. Stephen: Searching for answers ... just gotta be patient and keep the faith.

‘I’m a math geek’

Bryant. Also because he took and posted this picture.

Jordan’s son’s sneakers

Y’all been following the most interesting sports business story going right now down here in the Sunshine State?

A couple summers back I tagged along for a couple days on a recruiting trip with Matheny down to the Peach Jam. One of the guys Matt was watching was Marcus. Davidson was on his list. Kid was good, and lefty. I thought of Chris Alpert, Ali Ton -- lefty points, Davidson hoops. Could work, I thought.

Or not. Yikes. Just a head-shaker of a situation over in Orlando.

Two reasons this would never have happened at Davidson: 1. Nike school. 2 (and much more important). Bob McKillop. Can you imagine? No. Just no.

On emotional investments

Here’s Kyle over at The Mid-Majority:

When I hung up, I sat alone on the couch with an weird feeling in my gut and chest. I didn’t ride the whole ride, so I didn’t get the full high. I didn’t deserve to celebrate at all.

Makes me think of when I met with Brandon Williams in New York in June of ’08 for the book. He said that during those 10 days in March he kept getting asked: Did you EVER think THIS would happen? Maybe most people thought he’d say, No, never, but his answer, he said, was the opposite: Yes, always.

Brandon, Class of ’96, who came to Davidson via rural Louisiana by way of Phillips Exeter, committed to play for Bob McKillop when Bob McKillop was coming off a 4-24 season. By Brandon’s senior year the team went undefeated in the league. And by March of ’08, by that weekend in Detroit, by the night before the game against Kansas, he went to visit his old coach in his room there at the Dearborn Inn, and he knew what his old coach was feeling, he could see it and he could hear it, because he knew what he was feeling, too. Because he knew where they had been.

Did Brandon EVER think THIS would happen?

Yes, he told people. This was the whole point.

Says Kyle:

If you have a true understanding of loss, you’re better equipped to recognize victory -- whether it comes or not.

Billy Thom gets a new title

Just noticed this: student assistant coach. I’m happy for him. Billy’s awesome. The Journal News.

Bryant on Stephen

On Twitter: great start for roommate.

Across the Atlantic

Andrew: Thanks to skype and Molly who held up the webcam for me to watch Steph play live on TNT against the suns at 5am my time. STB Le Havre.

Thoughts at this moment

E-mail to some Davidson friends today:

Back when he was making his decision, then still to some extent when he made it, I figured I’d have some mixed emotions come draft day: happy for him, but wondering what might have been, or something like that. No. None of that. I’m looking forward to tonight, unconditionally, really happy that our guy has gone out over this last month or so and done so well in workouts and moved himself into a very fine and deserved position heading into this evening. And I’m also totally looking forward to next year, games at Belk, Blue Moons at the Brick House, a new team still playing what we’ve come to know over so many years as Davidson basketball.

His night tonight

Washington

Michael Lee:

When the Wizards met Curry in Chicago, he wowed them in the interview from what I hear. Curry is probably the most NBA ready of the three point guards at Verizon Center that are expected to go in the lottery. He seems grounded and has a great basketball IQ (At one point, Wizards Coach Flip Saunders shouted up toward Grunfeld and tapped his right temple, which I assumed was a signal that Curry was pretty smart. After all, the guy is still studying for his college degree at Davidson).

Dan Steinberg:

Curry has just one tattoo: the letters TCC and “-30-” on his wrist. TCC is a Davidson motto that stands for “Trust Commitment Care,” while 30 is Curry’s number. Of course, -30- also means the end of a newspaper story, which I guess Curry wasn’t referring to. He also said he would never become a tatted-up NBA star.

“I’d go home, my mom would slap me around,” he said. “Can’t do that.”

From another fan

In my inbox:

He doesn’t really owe it to Davidson so much as he owes it to himself to stay and graduate so that it can be said that he genuinely “walked the talk.”

The kid has “TCC” engraved on his body, right? And it’s the only thing engraved on his body, right? And he’s not the kind of kid to do something like that just on a whim, right? Given his strong spirituality (constant pointing upward as an ever present reminder) he likely believes in the “body as a holy temple of the divine” thing and so “TCC” engraved on the “holy temple” is something pretty significant, right? When he originally signed up, he understood and appreciated “TCC” better than most, right? All about how it is supposed to mean through thick/thin and good/bad and 4 years rather than 2 or 3 he’s got to be as much a part of “TCC” as “TCC” is a part of him. He invested in all that more than most, right? And so “TCC” will win out in the end, right? The decision is already engraved on his body and all he needs to do is look and realize it, right?

That amateur (NCAA)/pro (NBA) line is to me one that will likely forever equate at least to some extent to some childlike innocence still left/not so much childlike innocence left anymore and so I guess I’ll never really fully understand why anyone would cross that divide before absolutely needing to …

TCC