Final look at anniversary weekend

The alums have all flown home now. The snow has all but melted. And the basketball team is off in Cullowhee thinking about the next set of bodies that the SoCon will throw at them. The once in a lifetime moment came and went...but thankfully, we are left with more than just a ticket stub and maybe a few autographs. Here's a look at all of the different takes from the weekend of Davidson basketball.

Just recently published here on the blog, Michael Kruse put up the caution sign in this article about the Hall of Fame panel that gathered on Saturday morning. Kruse argues that Saturday was not the best time for the politics of John Gerdy and yet firmly believed that the high-flying act of the 2007-2008 Wildcats all but erased any bruised feelings between members of different generations and worldviews.

Over on the Wildcats' Roar blog, Lauren Biggers gave a nice take on how the Wildcats were finally having fun on the court. From Jason Richards' several fist pumps and exhortations of competitive fury to Stephen Curry's smooth pointing to the crowd, the entire game felt like an unleashing of Wildcat fervor that came from somewhere very deep down inside. I will also have an article on the athletic website's blog page in the near future.

Throughout the afternoon basketball game, Lefty Driesell sat with John Kilgo at the press table and talked about the game and his experiences as the Wildcat coach in the 1960's. He repeatedly said that Curry was one of the best guards that he had ever seen play basketball, and that McKillop had coached his team to play great defense. Even in the 1960's when defenses were less physical, Driesell always taught his Wildcats how to play shut-down D and force turnovers.

As pointed out by AppFan over on his blog, Davidson's celebration was not without its ironic humor. This poorly deluded youngster was getting an autograph from Driesell while wearing an App State hoody. This photo by Marty Price appeared in the Charlotte Observer slideshow of photos from the basketball weekend.

In another bit of irony more pleasing to Davidson fans, the Chattanooga Free Times' David Uchiyama wrote that Chase Allred, a local 8-year old was happier to have gotten Stephen Curry's autograph than Driesell's. "I can't believe I got Stephen Curry's autograph."

One of the darker moments of Saturday came late in the game against Chattanooga when the Mocs' Matt Gwynne intentionally fouled Davidson's Thomas Sander. The Davidson bench was irate and Sander refused to comment on the incident after the game. As you can see by the footage, Gwynne was ferocious with his elbow and nearly broke Sander's nose. Sander had been punched in the groin earlier in the game by Chattanooga's Kevin Bridgewaters.



Sander seemed to be without any permanent damage after the game, as he was cheerfully signing autographs for kids on the court. The Wildcats return to Chattanooga on February 2, and if this video continues to be played over and over, it is a guarantee that some more sparks will fly.

Stephen Curry video highlights vs. Chattanooga

'Cats win big in front of alums, 85-58

***photo by Marty Price***

Davidson extended its conference winning streak to 18 games on Saturday afternoon by defeating North Division leader Chattanooga 85-58. The Wildcats have now started the conference season at 8-0. Davidson has only opened the conference season with eight straight in three different seasons: they finished undefeated each time.

Davidson was led by the incredible talent of Stephen Curry. Curry fed off the raucous crowd of 5,361 to lead Davidson from the opening tip. The crowd had an especially emotional feel as scores of Davidson basketball alumni, including Lefty Driesell, were in town for Davidson's 100th anniversary celebration.

Curry hit three-pointers from all parts of the court, scoring 27 points in the first half. That was one point short of Fred Hetzel's Davidson record of 28 set back in the 1964. Curry finished with 37 points, one short of a career high, with eight three-pointers. His last three came from well beyond the three-point arc with a hand in his face.

Curry was not alone in harnessing the fever pulse of the crowd. Boris Meno finished with 12 points off the bench, including several big thunder dunks that brought the crowd to its feet.

"It was good to get the crowd going and my team going," said Meno. "Steph was making shots like crazy, so I had to do something."

"The crowd was extraordinary," said Coach McKillop. "It was emotional for me to have all these people assembled that have allowed me to be here. They built the foundation of this program, and I wanted us to play well in front of them. I was incredibly proud of our guys because it was such a special day."

Andrew Lovedale and Thomas Sander joined Meno in dominating Chattanooga in the frontcourt. Lovedale made several fallaway jumpers to finish with 12 points in his sixth game as a starter. Sander set several impenetrable ball screens to set up Curry threes. He finished with six assists and six steals, leading Davidson's defense all night.

"Sander was flawless out there today," said McKillop.

McKillop and his players had the opportunity to interact with Davidson basketball alums at Friday's practice and Saturday's dinner.

"Those guys are proud to be a part of a program that has the excitement we have now. They are all part of that foundation," said McKillop.

On Saturday afternoon, that foundation seemed impenetrable.

100th Anniversary Celebration, January 19th

Help Us Celebrate 100 Years of Basketball at Davidson, Saturday, January 19, 2008!

You and your family are invited to take part in celebrating 100 years of Davidson College basketball next Saturday, January 19. Players and coaches – including Lefty Driesell and Terry Holland ’64 – from eight different decades will return to campus during the weekend. Don’t miss your chance to hear from them, get autographs, and share the special bond of the Davidson basketball family… then and now.

Please join players, coaches, alumni, and the campus and local communities at the following public events:

10:00 a.m. – Panel discussion: “Meet Davidson Basketball’s Hall of Famers,” Duke Family Performance Hall, Knobloch Campus Center (formerly Johnston Gym) Moderated by The Voice of the Wildcats, John Kilgo, and featuring Hall of Fame inductees Lefty Driesell, Hobby Cobb ’56, John Gerdy ’79, Terry Holland ’64, Jerry Kroll ’70, Dick Snyder ’66, and Kenny Wilson ’84. Welcome back to campus the legends of Davidson basketball, and take part in an audience Q&A session!

2:00 p.m. – Davidson vs. Chattanooga, Belk Arena Cheer on the Wildcats in a key conference game vs. the Mocs from Chattanooga. For tickets to the game, call the Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-768-CATS. Call today as attendance for this game is expected to be very high!

4:15 p.m. (approximately) – Fan Meet & Greet and Autograph Session, Belk Arena Grab a scorecard, uniform shirt, or other basketball-related item and collect as many autographs as you can! All returning Davidson basketball alumni are the stars of this show – come down to the main floor a few minutes after the game ends and meet the alumni! Limited edition Centennial Basketballs, suitable for autographs, will be on sale at the game.

Don’t miss this important day in the history of Davidson’s basketball program! Brought to you by the Office of Alumni Relations, Davidson Athletic Foundation, and Davidson Athletics.

McKillop Era Brings Renewed Success

When Coach Bob McKillop moved to Davidson in 1989, he didn't make too many long-term plans. While McKillop had been an assistant at Davidson in 1979, he saw this coaching stint as an opportunity to springboard into the coaching ranks of major college basketball. McKillop knew Driesell's story, and he knew that he could use this opportunity to his advantage.

In Driesell's first year, he made an immediate impact by upsetting Wake Forest early in the season. McKillop went 4-24 with a team that wasn't even playing in the Southern Conference. The next two years were not much better. By the time Davidson rejoined the Southern Conference in 1992, McKillop had been humbled enough to realize that maybe he should refocus his priorities.
The Queens native came to buy into the Davidson way and invested all of his mind and self in the Wildcat program. McKillop changed his philosophy and success followed.

The Wildcats made their first postseason appearance under McKillop in 1994 when they were selected to the NIT after losing by one point in the Southern Conference tournament Championship Game.

Two years later, the Wildcats had one of their best seasons ever as they went 14-0 in conference play and only lost three regular season games. But NCAA glory once again eluded the 'Cats as Western Carolina knocked off Davidson in the tournament championship game. It was a heartbreaking loss for a senior class that included eventual NBA player and Davidson Hall of Famer Brandon Williams.

Although the Wildcats lost in the first round of the NIT that year, a more important thing had transpired during the four-year careers of players like Williams and Chris Alpert: Davidson basketball had become a winning program again. The Wildcats won Southern Conference tournaments in 1998 and 2002 and have advanced to the postseason each of the last three years.

McKillop would go on to fashion the talents of players like Ali Ton, Landry Kosmalski, Michael Bree, Chris Pearson and Brendan Winters into a winning system. That system called for effective perimeter passing, unceasing picks and screens and the ability of every player on the court to hit jump shots. McKillop also emphasized extremely physical defense and smart basketball. Whether McKillop brought in a player from North Carolina or the Czech Republic, they were all taught to play one way: as a team.

Perhaps that is one of the biggest trademarks of the team's success over the last two decades. Davidson basketball has come to embrace a unique role in being a national competitor in a huge commercial business, while continuing to stress the importance of an elite academic experience. The recent USA Today article certainly summed up this paradigm in its headline: "Hoops, Books coexist."

With all the media exposure of the last few years, Davidson's program, and McKillop its orchestrator, has received recognition for its success, international focus, academic integrity and hard work. Yet, there is one modifier that is too rarely used to describe Davidson basketball or McKillop: dynamic.

Two years ago, Davidson sported one of its most experienced team of the last two decades and yet the Wildcats struggled to a 10-5 record in the Southern Conference. By the end of the conference season, McKillop decided that it was time to change things up a bit.

He shortened the practice times, he used more gags and jokes around his players, he started hanging out in the Union more to interact with the team in a different context. For a brief week or two before the Southern Conference Tournament, things changed a little. The 'Cats ended up sweeping through the tourney as a three seed and capturing another SoCon title.

Last year, McKillop took a look at his team personnel and realized that his system might need to be made more flexible. Throughout the season, fans saw a Davidson style of play that seemed really new: the players took quick shots, they played more pressure defense and tried to get run-outs, they were dunking the ball during warm-ups. During the press conferences, McKillop stressed a new theme: responsibility to your teammates coupled with the freedom to improvise a little.

Wildcat basketball has continued to be successful because it has been dynamic and changed in small ways when it needed to.

Every summer, when McKillop and his players and staff run the youth basketball camp, McKillop opens the week off with a call to be great. He brings out the 1964 "Sports Illustrated" in which Davidson was the top-ranked team in the country during the postseason. Then he says, "We can do that again."

Every year, there are usually a few 15-year-olds in the back who snicker at the proposition, perhaps dismissing mid-major Davidson to big conference teams. But this summer, McKillop followed up the "Sports Illustrated" with another display. It was Andy Katz's preseason Top 25 that tabbed Davidson as the nation's 23rd best team. No one snickered this year.


This is the final article in a four-part Davidsonian series on the 100th anniversary of Davidson basketball.

1969-1970 was the end of the "glory years"

I have asked many Davidson alums of the 1960's about their experiences in one of the most tumultuous decades of the 20th century. Some have said that small Davidson was often isolated from the decade's craziness. Others dispute that claim by pointing to several student protests against the Vietnam War. But nearly all of the alumni remembered those days for a completely different reason. Davidson had one of the best basketball programs in the country.

When Dick Snyder and Fred Hetzel packed their bags and headed for the NBA in '65 and '66, Driesell didn't abandon his goal of making Davidson a national title contender. By 1968, Davidson had not only rebuilt, it had reloaded.

That year, the Wildcats had one of their best season to date, finishing with 24 wins and advancing to the NCAA Tournament Regional Finals, where they lost their bid for a Final Four appearance to the North Carolina Tarheels. Leading the team was a host of impressive stars like Rodney Knowles, Mike Maloy, Jerry Kroll and Doug Cook. For the latter three players, this would be the first of three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Maloy, Kroll and Cook still hold prominent places in the Davidson record books.

The story of Maloy might be more interesting than that of Driesell. Maloy was one of the first prominent African-American athletes at Davidson at a time when North Carolina still upheld many Jim Crow laws. Maloy became one of Davidson's most prolific scorers and rebounders during his three years at the school.

In the winter of 1968, Maloy became the first Davidson athlete to grace the cover of "Sports Illustrated." He was one of three players heralded as "Challengers to UCLA." By the end of that season, Maloy found himself facing off against the player sitting in front of him for that SI cover shoot: Charlie Scott.

At that time, Scott was a star forward for the Tar Heels. He owns the distinction of being UNC's first black scholarship athlete, yet the history books leave out one important footnote: he wanted to come to Davidson. The legend goes that Scott attended Davidson for a recruiting visit but a local restaurant refused to serve his family because of his skin color. Scott ended up attending Chapel Hill. On March 15, 1969, Scott left one more indelible mark in the history books of Wildcat basketball.

Davidson set a new high water mark in 1969 by recording 27 wins en route to another Southern Conference Championship. After rolling over St. Johns and Villanova in the tournament's first two rounds, Davidson faced a rematch with North Carolina in a rematch of the Regional Final game from the year before.
With under a minute to play and a tie ballgame, Davidson had a chance to use up the clock and hit the game-winning basket. But Kroll was whistled for an untimely charging foul and North Carolina got the ball back.

After a timeout, everyone in the arena knew that Scott would be taking the final shot. With the final seconds ticking away, Scott dribbled to the foul circle and put up a jumper. The ball rippled the net as the final buzzer expired. North Carolina advanced to the Final Four. Davidson's "glory years" effectively ended.

By the end of that week, Driesell had accepted a new job at the University of Maryland. Although the Wildcats were very successful under replacement Terry Holland over the next two years, they faltered in the 1970 NCAA Tournament's first round. During that spring, Maloy left school early to enter the NBA but was cut before the season even started.

A 1972 "Charlotte Observer" article claimed that nearly all of Holland's initial success was due to the remnants of Driesell's recruiting. That same article also noted that many members of Davidson's faculty were not unhappy to see Driesell leave because they were not pleased by the academic sacrifices that seemed to have accompanied major college basketball. It was time, it seemed, for Davidson basketball to head in a new direction.

Between 1974 and 1991, Davidson had a combined record of 177-301. Davidson briefly dropped out of the Southern Conference in 1988. The program needed a major change. It needed a vision once again. That change came with the hiring of a high school coach from Long Island. The coach's name was Bob McKillop, and he would go on to become the winningest coach in Davidson basketball history.

***This is the third article in a four-part Davidsonian series on the 100th anniversary of Davidson basketball.***

'Cats emerged as national power in 1960's

When Davidson College first started playing basketball, the games were nothing more than friendly matches between classes of Davidson men…a glorified B-league, one might say. That all changed forever in 1907 when a student named James Wendell Rhea decided to put Davidson's name on the line and form a traveling basketball team that would compete against other schools. In the school's first season, a team of six won its first ever game against Guilford College before losing to Wake Forest and Duke. Davidson basketball was born.

For many years, Davidson basketball competed outside of what we now understand to be the general structures of college basketball. The NCAA had only been formed in 1906, and there was no tournament until 1939. Davidson didn't join the Southern Conference until 1936 when the College was invited to join the likes of Clemson, North Carolina, Duke, Maryland and South Carolina. Those teams would not split off to form the ACC until 1953.

Until the late 1930's, Davidson basketball was relatively unheralded. The team mostly played against regional YMCA squads. On the other hand, Davidson football seemed to have been getting all sorts of attention, with stadium improvements and scholarship fundraising to compete with the larger schools in the Southeast. In fact, the "Wildcat" nickname came after a 1917 football game against Georgia Tech.

In 1949, George "Buddy" Cheek put Davidson on the national map when he became the first Wildcat basketball All-American. In his three years at Davidson, Cheek led the Wildcats to a record of 54-25. Three years later, in 1952, Hobby Cobb arrived on Davidson's campus. During four years, he scored 1,424 points and grabbed 836 rebounds. Cobb has since been inducted into the Davidson Hall of Fame and his retired #21 jersey hangs from the rafters. Cobb is still a season ticket holder and tries to attend every Davidson basketball game, home or away.

Although Davidson experienced some team success in the days of Cheek and Cobb, the sport of basketball was still just an athletic exercise meant to stimulate the bodies and minds of the College's student-athletes and supporters. Davidson basketball was not a brand; it was not a reason to know about a small liberal arts school in North Carolina. In 1960, that changed forever.

In the spring of that year, the Davidson administration hired a former Duke basketball player who had never been the head coach of a college basketball program. His name was Charles "Lefty" Driesell. Over the course of his career, Driesell tallied 786 wins. He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

When Driesell came to Davidson, he didn't see the restrictions of a small student body. He refused to believe in an attitude of small-time athletics. During his nine-year tenure with the Wildcats, Driesell went to the NCAA Tournament three times and recruited three All-Americans and a number-one NBA draft pick.

Fred Hetzel and Dick Snyder were the first two Davidson stars of the Driesell era. Hetzel ranked eighth in the country in scoring during his senior year and Snyder ranked 14th nationally the next year. Between 1963 and 1966, Hetzel and Snyder helped lead Davidson to national rankings in the AP and UPI polls, as Davidson finished sixth in the nation in 1965. Both Hetzel and Snyder went on to prestigious NBA careers and were inducted into the Davidson Hall of Fame.

The real story of Lefty Driesell was not necessarily what he accomplished as a coach, but how he accomplished it. Although he had a very limited recruiting budget, Driesell knew that he had to travel outside of the Southeast to find some of the nation's best basketball players. He also knew that image was everything. Snyder remembered that Driesell would drive to regional airports around the country and get the parents of his recruits to pick him up, making the families believe that he had the budget to fly around the country. Driesell's recruiting creativity was unmatched even in his own time.

Back in Davidson, Driesell was able to schedule more and more home games at the Charlotte Coliseum for maximum exposure. Driesell apparently would sneak into the coliseum and put up Davidson signs around the concourse entrances to make the Coliseum look like Davidson's home arena. Driesell even opened a pizza parlor on Main St. and encouraged students and fans to mingle with him after games.

Driesell wanted to make Davidson a national powerhouse in college basketball. The 1964-65 Sports Illustrated College Basketball preview issue recognized his merit by selecting Davidson as their preseason number 1 pick. By the middle of the 1960's, Davidson basketball was a national brand, and its stock had nowhere to go but up.

***This is the second piece in a four-part Davidsonian series on the 100th anniversary of Davidson basketball.

2007 Men's Basketball: The Culmination of a 100-Year Story

As a sports writer, I have to find and write stories every week. It is a task that I mostly love and always find challenging. I have found that good stories can come in all shapes and forms, but the great ones can sometimes be hard to find until they land in your lap.

I have spent the last four years covering Davidson basketball and writing stories about winning streaks, the sons of NBA greats, coaching philosophies and the Davidson fan experience. I have had the privilege of watching the Wildcats win conference titles on national television, interviewing the players and coaches in press conferences and seeing how Davidson men's basketball has become a national story.

But this column isn't supposed to be about my story. It's supposed to be about you. What role does Davidson basketball play in your college story? Did you sing and help make "Sweet Caroline" the college anthem last year? Where were you when Davidson demolished Big 12 power Missouri in Belk Arena?

Many in the national basketball media are pointing to Davidson as having the potential to be this year's best college basketball story. They look at our academic values, on-the-court accomplishments and small size and label Davidson men's basketball as a great success story. They will use mediums like Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com to spread their interpretations of Davidson's story to the rest of the nation.

Davidson's players will play their own role in this story. Preseason expectations are high, and the players have to make their paper attributes take life on the basketball court. This story could feel very different if the Wildcats struggle in out-of-conference games and get upset in the Southern Conference tournament in March. It could also exceed our wildest dreams if Davidson lands a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and knocks off a team from a power conference.

But again, this story still reside with you. You don't have to wait on us media types to give expression to the plots taking place on the court and in the stands. Add your own layers to this larger narrative. Take a road trip with your friends to a road game when you have a huge test the next day. It really is true that you will remember the experience more than the material from your test. Hold a listening party in your room and take in the eccentricities of Davidson's venerable radio announcer John Kilgo. Show up early to games...be that fanatic.

But like all good stories, the story of the 2007-2008 men's basketball season is not complete without a little background exposition. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Davidson basketball, and the athletic department plans to hold a reunion event to welcome back some from the legends of the program's storied history. With the presence of players like Stephen Curry and Jason Richards and a community's aspirations for NCAA Tournament glory, it seems like a great year to do some reflecting on how Davidson basketball became such a big deal.

Names like Snyder, Hetzel, Gerdy, Cobb and Rucker might look familiar to frequent visitors of Belk Arena. Those are the names on the retired jerseys hanging from the rafters. But most of us look at those dates under the names and realize that we don't know the first thing about Davidson basketball in the 1940's or 1960's or even 1980's and 1990's.

I have decided to devote the next four issues of The Davidsonian sports section, leading up to the D-I opener against North Carolina, to enriching our collective understanding of the story of Davidson basketball. From the days of intramural competition through the glory years of national prominence and the subsequent years of relative insignificance, Davidson basketball has come a long way.

I urge you to expose yourself to a brief piece of our rich history by engaging the larger story of Davidson basketball. But don't forget to take the opportunity to write your own story this year. There's a chance that it could just as glorious as we all imagine.

This is the first piece of a four-part Davidsonian series on the 100th anniversary of Davidson basketball.