An interview with Stephen

On WarriorsWorld.net: ... when I went back to Charlotte for the first time to play, that kind of put it all into perspective, of how much I miss being at home and miss being a college student, but I’m definitely happy with that situation and I wouldn’t change it if I had the opportunity to.

A game of C-E-N-S-U-S

Wow. This happened.

‘This hook that he’s become’

Claire on why we watch:

This room -- okay, this cavern -- is brimming with people that I love. They gave my Davidson meaning, they’ve shared good days and bad days, unbelievable games and shitty games. So many together, uncommonly wonderfully so. The ’08 boys, Joe Pierce Nathan JB Chris, haven’t seen them all at once since their graduation, haven’t watched a game with them since 3/30/08, and tons before that. Pete, who, when I saw him, all I could think of was sitting in the Dearborn Doubletree cackling gleefully over countless newspaper articles. Morgan, Logan, Calucchia, dear faces a couple rows up, waving towels that the Currys gave out: TCC #30. Rachel, Grace, Laura, Sue. The Dails, connecting me to Davidson and Richmond, two families of mine. My professors. The Davidson athletics department. Wildcats. Michael and I had lunch when I got back this afternoon, and now I spot him right behind my section (and introduce him to Morgan -- WL -- at halftime, which is fun), I wave to David, Kate, and the Bakers in the upper bowl, I text Rob and Jessie over and over, I find Grace at the half. Michael Jordan has nothing on this family of mine, and our scattered cheers spill over into shared -- remembrance? sacredness? support? thanksgiving?

"Daaaaaav-iddddd-son!"

It drifts down from the nosebleeds, makes me laugh, another moment in another chapter in a good long story. Part of me wants to start it louder, hit the rafters, wants it to echo all through and knock the big million dollar franchises off their feet. But another part of me is content with keeping it soft, one voice speaking volumes. We know it. This is where we come from.

Read the whole thing. Claire references my question, that night at the Brickhouse, and of course kind of always: Why do we watch? And more than that: Why do we watch him, especially now, when he’s not wearing the name of our school on his chest anymore. He was a face of us. For many outsiders -- which is to say most people -- he was the face of us. For them, those outsiders, those most people, that hasn’t changed, and maybe it never will. Stephen Curry. Davidson. And I guess that’s fine. I mean I went to the game in Orlando earlier in the week before the game in Charlotte. Why did I go? Well I went to see him and talk to him because I figured I might have something to say to the people who might be interested in that. But also I was curious. I hadn’t seen him, or seen him play, live, with my own eyes, without a screen in between, for months and months. Why did I go that Saturday in Charlotte? Well I was in town and a lot of people were going. But I had the thought in my head in Orlando: What am I doing here? That thought was much, much louder in Charlotte: What am I doing here? Same thing when I heard that hundreds of alums in Atlanta came out the night before when he was down there: What had they gone to see, and why, and did they get it? Saturday, to me, for whatever it’s worth, probably nothing -- it felt a little uncomfortable. It felt a little ... disconnected. The space between us and him due to no fault of his own but the machinery that moves around the people who do what he now does where he now does it. It felt a little ... hero-worshippery. Clearly I overthink things, sometimes, this being a great case in point. I grant that. Claire’s answer, that night in Davidson, and in what she’s written about it here, is helpful and I think accurate: We’re there to see him, fine, I suppose, but more than that we’re there to see all the other people who are there to do the same.

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.

Last night after the game

Last night during the game

Last night before the game

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.

Stephen in Charlotte

15 at the half.

Distributed here by Camp Curry

In his pregame presser

1. “Different feel when I landed at the airport last night. I knew where I was.”

2. “There’s a lot of adrenaline right now.”

3. “Six classes away.”

(Laurie Dennis of DavidsonNews.net.)

Here

Left St. Pete at 9 last night. Need coffee.

And what’s he miss most about his hometown?

Pause. Smile.

“Chick-fil-A,” Stephen said last night in Orlando.

His itinerary for Saturday, then, before the Warriors face the Bobcats at 7: shootaround in the morning, tourney game at 2 if Davidson is involved, with a trip to his favorite fast-food spot in between. “No. 1 meal, order of nuggets on the side, honey mustard. And an Arnold Palmer.”

1. Pretty sure that’s a 16point8.blogspot.com exclusive.

2. Someone needs to get the Chick-fil-A folks on the line.

The Stephen show: in town after all

Scott:

There is one tinge of irony to the weekend. Southern Conference organizers hoped that Curry would stay at Davidson for his senior year and become the star attraction at this weekend's tournament.

Instead, Curry went pro a year early. Yet he's going to end up being in Charlotte anyway.

“I found out this was going to be a possibility in the fall,” Curry said, “when the schedules all came out. My one trip to Charlotte all season comes at tournament time. It's pretty funny. It's going to be great for me, of course, but it's going to be great for a lot of people besides me, too. A weekend like this just shows how big basketball really is in Charlotte, and how well the city can showcase such a great sport so many of us love.”

Cremins: “Is it inconvenient? In a lot of ways, yes it is.” Iamarino: “I would have preferred if the Warriors to come to Charlotte on a different weekend. Guess I didn't have David Stern's ear on that one.” Stephen: “I'm putting the pressure on my Davidson boys. They better win Friday so I can see them in person Saturday.”

A history lesson for the new folks in Charlotte

Terry Holland, in this morning’s piece by Ron Green Jr., which certainly is worth the read: “The burgeoning number of ACC basketball games on television had a tremendous impact on game attendance, particularly for Davidson with its small alumni base. The television exposure began to give every ACC team a recruiting edge over even the best Southern Conference teams, like Davidson. So what Bob McKillop has done in an even tougher environment is the greatest coaching 'resurrection' since Lefty did it in the 1960s.”

And a funny juxtaposition from Larry Brown: “There was nothing about that job that wasn’t appealing. It was just some things that happened that didn’t quite work out.”

One of those sentences is necessarily untrue.

Try again?

Getting ready for Friday

Elon game notes: The Phoenix is 4-5 in its last nine games, losing the four games by an average of 5.0 ppg. ... Davidson is one of only two league teams that Elon has not beaten during its time in the Southern Conference -- the ‘Cats are 14-0 against Elon over the past seven seasons. ... Davidson and Elon have met four times in the SoCon Tournament, the last time in the 2008 championship game when No. 23 Davidson turned out a 65-49 victory. At that time, current Elon head coach Matt Matheny was the associate head coach for Davidson. SCT info. The Wildcats have won four SoCon Tourney titles in the Queen City, including three in a row from 1968-70: Davidson game notes.

Saturday in Charlotte?

Stephen a bit ago in the tunnel: “Can’t wait.”

This weekend in Charlotte

From Peter Wagner’s e-mail: Want to see other Davidson fans? Meet at Strike City! The official alumni headquarters for the weekend will be Strike City in the EpiCentre in Charlotte. Located right across the street from Bobcats/Time-Warner Arena, it’s the place to go before and after each of the games in Charlotte.

An early SCT preview

Bleacher Report:

Davidson is a team that could be spurred on by the home-town crowd when the tournament comes to Charlotte in a little over a week for the 90th renewal of the tourney. Davidson probably stands the best chance of winning the SoCon title of the teams that play on Friday.

I’ll buy that.

This afternoon in Charlotte

Jordan Downing in the second round of the Bojangles’ Shootout after a win last night. Tip is 3:30. Who wants to go?