Wildcats hold down Winthrop in BracketBusters, 60-47

Jason Richards scored 21 points and tallied five assists on national television as Davidson knocked off Winthrop 60-47 in the ESPNU Bracketbusters opener. The game featured a raucous crowd of 6,105 and the level of intensity was extremely high for forty minutes despite sub-40% field goal shooting from both teams.

"This game had a feel like a second-round NCAA Tournament game," said Winthrop coach Randy Peele. "Davidson is NCAA Tournament worthy. It felt like the second round because we played them on one day's prep. They have a very good basketball team."

Davidson coach Bob McKillop came into the press conference with the highest praise for his team defense. The Wildcats hassled the Eagles on every inbounds pass, forcing multiple turnovers. Max Paulhus Gosselin followed up his seven steal performance with three steals tonight.

"We've become a very good defensive team," McKillop said. "Max Paulhus Gosselin is the catalyst. He's like a Spiderman. He has a knack and passion to play defense. He sets the tone. And then at each position we can defend. Sander played great help defense. It was a collective effort."

Winthrop's defense was very good all night, holding Stephen Curry to 4-17 shooting and 12 points, his season-low. But at the end of the day, it was Davidson's defense that stole the show tonight. They held Winthrop to 47 total points and 15-50 shooting from the field.

"We feel good about the statement we made to the national media," McKillop said. "Steph Curry is a legitimate All-American candidate, but if he doesn't have an All-American game, we have the players to step up and take over."

Both coaches were asked in the postgame whether Winthrop and Davidson would meet after the Bracketbusters was over. Both coaches made very positive statements about the environment of tonight's game and the level of competition that has risen since the two teams last met over a decade ago.

Peele was very complimentary of the Cats afterwards, commenting on the play of Richards.

"Steph Curry is their most outstanding player," Peele said. "Jason Richards is their most valuable player."

Davidson has continued to raise their level of performance as the days roll closer to March. Tonight's performance was no exception. 17 straight and App State is next on the plate.

Wildcats draw Winthrop in BracketBusters

As announced on Monday by ESPN, Davidson will play at Winthrop during the 2008 ESPN Bracketbusters Weekend. Davidson will play on TV on the evening of Friday, Feb. 22. Although it has not yet been revealed whether Davidson will be on ESPN2 at 7 or ESPNU at 9, all signs point to the 7 pm slot since UC Santa Barbara at Utah State will be the only other game that night.

Despite being featured in primetime on ESPN2 against a regional rival, most Davidson fans feel like the selection committee slighted them in this draw. Winthrop currently has an RPI of 111, while the Wildcats hold at 69 with the potential to move higher. Although the Eagles got a huge upset by knocking off sixth-seeded Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament's first round last year, this Winthrop team has not followed up. In the offseason, they lost their coach to the big money at Wichita State and they lost their guard to a tragic accident.

Although this year's Eagle squad sports two OOC ACC victories (Georgia Tech, Miami) and a nice mid-major win (Akron), they have not held up to expectations, stumbling to a 14-8 record and a second place standing in the Big South conference behind UNC-Asheville.

Just three weeks ago, ESPN's Kyle Whelliston chronicled Winthrop's heart-breaking loss at High Point with an article about the Eagles' struggling season. "The Eagles have flown under the national radar this season, primarily because of a level of inconsistent play that would have been unthinkable during the glory days," Whelliston writes.

While a win over Winthrop might not help vault Davidson back into at-large contention, it would help to galvanize basketball interest in a county whose three teams just can't seem to stay on the national radar for a prolonged period of time. The writers at ESPN the deuce will not have a very difficult time writing a pre-game script for this game, while Davidson should be back on the cover of the Charlotte Observer a couple times over the next month (in ways that even a victory over a Top 25 St. Mary's might not have done just because of the game's proximity).

But the Wildcats have more pressing issues than worrying about their bad draw in the bracketbusters. Elon comes to town on Wednesday and Davidson needed several miracles from Stephen Curry to pull out a victory over those Phoenix the last time the teams played in January.