Stuff on Stephen

Don Nelson to USA Today: “Everything I dreamed of what he’d be in three years, he’s doing now. The toughest position in the league is a rookie point guard.” Stephen’s bracket tips (with a Rossiter name-drop). Last night against the Lakers: 29 points, nine assists, zero turnovers.

Anthony Morrow

On his buddy from Charlotte: “I told people Stephen Curry was going to be a lot better than people thought.”

An oddity?

In some SoCon notes:

Davidson’s recent three-game winning streak -- between Dec. 21-30 -- came with a bit of an oddity. Three Wildcats led the team in scoring in those three games. In the first, against Hofstra, Jake Cohen had 18 points. Brendan McKillop’s 19 points led the way against Pennsylvania. And J.P. Kuhlman scored a team-high 18 against UMass.

More like a necessary part of the plan. (Also, note to AP, ESPN, etc.: It’s not J.P. It’s JP. JP JP JP.)

I’d watch that backcourt

Larry Riley: “He’s going to play a lot for us next year. He could play some two as well. We see him and Monta complementing each other quite well. ... I expect they’ll both be on the floor quite a bit together.”

USA Today’s preview

Chris Colston: Want a pure shooter with NBA bloodlines? Stephen Curry is lights out.

Little things

Reid Cherner:

All rumors are just that. But it seems that Davidson superstar Stephen Curry may be a factor in how the upcoming NBA draft unfolds.

41

I was hoping someone would write this. Now I’m hoping someone will write still more.

Andrew is the eighth of 10 children. He lost his father when he was 13. He didn’t start playing basketball seriously until he moved to England when he was 17. He sings gospel songs, every day, often alone. He says it uplifts his spirit. He says it keeps him in touch with the source. He says his favorite is God Will Make A Way. “A roadway in the wilderness,” that song says. In the locker room after the win over Gonzaga, he told me last spring, he saw peace.

Before he started playing basketball in England, he said, when he was maybe 15 and still living in Benin City, Nigeria, he barely knew the rules of the sport. He was curious enough, though, to go to the playground near his home to watch the “big boys,” he said, bolt barefoot up and down the concrete court with wooden backboards and rims with no nets. They were older, bigger and stronger, but the way they played, he thought, was wild and unstructured.

“I felt,” he told me, “they were running without purpose.”