The World’s Most Famous Arena

More (and more to come) over at The Davidson Project.

We’ve seen this before

Tripp took this picture. Ann Arbor. First weekend of Stephen’s college career. Everyone who cares to know probably knows something about the circumstances: 13 turnovers against Eastern Michigan one night, 32 points against Michigan the next. Who knows what exactly McKillop is saying to his freshman shooting guard here but Tripp and Bro like to think it went something like this:

“Keep shooting.”

Thus beginneth and whatnot.

Anyway, right now is the first time I’ve opened my laptop since flying from Tampa to Denver Friday night, but I’ve been half-following the action in Vegas on the BlackBerry via Google Alerts and the occasional e-mail and text. I scanned the stats and the coverage off his first game with the Warriors and thought to myself: Interesting, but his second game will be more telling, because if I know Stephen ...

Here: 29 points, 27 after halftime, and quotes like this: “But he never dropped his head ...”

It’s hard not to think about Gonzaga, Georgetown, West Virginia, etc., etc., etc.

Claire sent an e-mail last night with a link, and also some words from the past, spoken on CBS on March 23, 2008:

“He’s not gonna stop shooting, I can assure you that, Jim.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like, he’s not hangin’ his head … Shots definitely not anywhere close to droppin’ like they were on Friday -- but he can still light it up with half the half to go…”

The latest chapter

He never stops shooting.

Never.

Not ever.

Back before LAST season, back when I had seen Stephen play in person all of once, back before the second straight 29-win season, back before Gonzaga, Georgetown, Wisconsin and a shot in the air -- back before all that -- I went to Davidson to report a story for Charlotte magazine and this is what the coaches told me: The kid can miss a shot. He can miss two shots, three shots, four shots, five shots, 10 shots. It doesn’t matter.

He never stops shooting.

Lives in the moment. Never about the last one. Always about THIS one.

And so this is what I found myself writing, over and over, in my notebook tonight at the Garden.

He never stops shooting.

Back rim.

He never stops shooting.

Front rim.

He never stops shooting.

In and out.

He never stops shooting.

So there’s more to say about tonight, much more, and I’ll get to it, but right now I kind of want to go meet Meg and Chip and Eddie for drinks at the Playwright on 35th between 5th and 6th.

Just quickly, though, just so we’re clear about what happened here: These guys played at Madison Square Garden tonight and they did so without their best defender. They got out-rebounded 58-32, which is hard to do, and gave up 29 offensive rebounds, which is hard to do, too. They missed seven free throws. A freshman walk-on played nine minutes. Most of the team was in foul trouble most of the night. And Stephen missed more shots than he has in goodness knows how long.

And they won.

On ESPN.

In The World’s Most Famous Arena.

And when Stephen hit that first late three deep from the left wing, and then that second late three deep from the right wing, ESPECIALLY that second late three, this place was nothing but noise for No. 30 and the rest of the kids from the village.

“He is,” McKillop told all the people at the press conference after the game, “a very, VERY rare young man.”

Acclaim

Mike DeCourcy: Stephen Curry has done just about everything a college player can do in less than two-and-a-half seasons, but this will be his first chance to play at Madison Square Garden. Davidson and West Virginia are the opening act for this year’s Jimmy V, which means defensive ace Bob Huggins will have to devise some way to stop Curry that doesn’t, say, lead to his team being defeated by 30.

It’s possible he’s not getting enough acclaim for what he has accomplished so far this season. Curry is averaging 31.3 points in spite of the scoreless night he endured against Loyola’s constant double-team. In both games this year against major-conference opponents, he scored 44.

Oh, and by the way, he also is averaging 6.4 assists and shooting better than 50 percent from the field. He deserves this stage.

To watch Tuesday

One man’s blog: Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry. Sorry, but why else would you watch this game? No offense to Alex Ruoff or Devin Ebanks, but let’s be honest here. Prediction: Davidson 77, West Virginia 67.