State of the SoCon

Here's a quick glance around the Southern Conference's internet outlets to find out what's on the fan's minds:

In Davidson-land, fans have begun to get over the slight from ESPN that placed Davidson in a Bracketbuster game with a Winthrop team that is 40-50 RPI points its inferior. Fans are now more concerned about how to keep themselves interested and involved while the Wildcats blow out their conference opponents. There has also been a recent little discussion over how students get tickets, where they get them, and how the stadium staff enforces different sections.

Down in the lowcountry, College of Charleston faithful have joined the ranks of UNC-Charlotte fans in questioning the heart of their team's players and the strategy of its coach. While the Cougar faithful have not been called out by the local press for their gab, things are getting pretty downright depressing in Cremins' backyard. College of Charleston suffered their worst defeat in SoCon history on Saturday and the anger that usually accompanies a proud following has started to border on exasperated resignation. It seems that the only corner of South Carolina where basketball still has legitimate standing is in, of all places...Clemson! The Tigers are third in the ACC and go into Chapel Hill tonight with a chance for a signature victory after falling to the Tar Heels in OT a month ago.

In the North Division of the Southern Conference, the Chattanooga Mocs suffered yet another loss to the "dirty", "better than they look" Davidson Wildcats before dropping an embarrassing loss to Western Carolina, a team with only eight players on the active roster after several mid-season defections. But wait, it gets worse. Chattanooga then went on to beat 4-win Furman by a mere three points, and then was kicked out of the North Division lead thanks to a 20-point blowout by Georgia Southern. Things are so bad up in Chattanooga that starting point guard Kevin Bridgewaters rolled his ankle in pre-game warmups just so he could stop committing turnovers.

So, all this means that reigning North Division champ Appalachian State is now back in first place and ready to make a run at Davidson in the Southern Conference tournament...right? Well, Appalachian State gave up 10 unanswered points at home to fall to the Cougars in the final minutes on Thursday. (Yeah, those Cougars...) Then the Mountaineers end up needing the karma of a missed Citadel free throw just to get the Bulldogs to overtime on Saturday. The Appies came away with the win and the outright lead in the North Division. But that doesn't matter too much, because...they scheduled LSU to start next year's football season! Heck, there is more discussion on Baton Rouge hotel rooms than App's loss to the College of Charleston on Thursday.

So...um...who else? Oh yeah, Georgia Southern! They did beat Chattanooga by 20 on Saturday and are now the projected three seed for the tournament. But...um, I can't find their message board. I did find this, but it seems that's just football-only. Heck, even the Eagles' own fanbase have somehow found better things to do than attend a home basketball game against the North Division-leading Chattanooga Mocs. Only 2400 people were on-hand to watch the Eagles shut down that high-flying Moc attack.

I would mention Wofford's recent streak of winning six out of their last eight games, but I'm afraid they would immediately want to kick me out of the SoCon for not playing D-I scholarship football. Oh wait, I was complementing the Terriers on their basketball team? Well, nevermind.

Curry and Wildcats travel to Chattanooga

In case anyone forgot, Stephen Curry is freaking good. He currently ranks fifth in the nation in scoring (24.4 ppg) and sixth in the nation in three-pointers per game (4.1). Just this week, Curry was selected SoCon Player of the Week, a Top-30 candidate for the Wooden Award, a Top-30 candidate for the Naismith Award, CSTV Player of the Week, and AOL.com's Mr. Excitement.

The last time that he faced off against UT-Chattanooga, Curry outscored the Mocs by himself 27-26 in the first half. Curry finished with 37 points as Davidson thwacked Chattanooga 85-58.

Tonight, Curry and the "most exciting show on four wheels" Wildcats will take aim at the Mocs in a rematch of division leaders. Davidson is 12-0 in the conference while Chattanooga is 9-2. Davidson has not lost a conference game on the road since Feb. 2006 and are now 62-7 against conference opponents over the last four years. However, Chattanooga is 30-17 against Davidson all-time and 15-3 against the Wildcats while playing in Chattanooga.

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.

Kruse Thoughts

Michael Kruse is a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times and friend of Will's World. A graduate of Davidson and former editor of the Davidsonian, Kruse was in town to enjoy the 100th anniversary festivities and kindly wrote up an article for the blog.

Good, rich weekend for the Wildcats, was it not?

So much to just fill you up: old friends and familiar faces, the 100th anniversary festivities, beers at the Brick House, a big, dominant win over the "other" best team in the league, and the much-anticipated panel discussion with greats like Lefty, Snyder, Gerdy and others. But my favorite thing about the whole weekend was that the panel discussion wasn't my favorite thing about the whole weekend.

Not because it wasn't interesting.

It was.

A little TOO interesting at times, actually, thanks to Gerdy, the program's all-time leading scorer who grew up, of course, to write books with titles like Sports: The All-American Addiction.

"I'm very proud of Davidson that we've readjusted our expectations," he said at one point.

(Uh oh.)

"I've never been more proud of the program than over the last 10 years," he said, with Lefty and Jerry Kroll sitting a few feet to his right.

(Uh oh.)

And then this: "The bottom line," he said. "The basketball program is not essential to the mission of the college."

(Yikes.)

It's maybe a worthwhile if tired debate, the Division I vs. Division III thing at Davidson, and all that goes with it, but it's best had almost in an intellectual vacuum in a coffee shop somewhere.

Thing is, I don't disagree with a bunch of the stuff Gerdy likes to talk about, and you can make the argument that what McKillop has done over the last, say, 15 years, in some ways, and at this point in College Sports, Inc., has been even harder than what Lefty did in his nine years in the '60s. And that's no knock at all on what Lefty did here. What he did that decade at Davidson adds up to absolutely one of the most amazing stories in the history of the college hoops.

But on a panel on a weekend celebrating 100 years of Wildcat basketball? Not totally the time and place to have snippets of that conversation, or to raise the kinds of issues that beg a back-and-forth on the complicated, pretty much impossible comparison between the program's two most successful eras. Too many things have changed. Everyone here knows what they are.

Lefty on the panel?

Lefty was Lefty. Gravelly voice, folksy showman, big man, big presence. People can't not listen and watch. There's just something about him. Anyway, he told some of his stories from the '60s, some of which might actually have been true.

"Lefty," Kilgo told him at the end, "I want to, in deference to you, to give you the last word."

But here was the best part of the weekend.

Lefty's word wasn't the last word.

The vibrant present took over from there.

Practice like you play, play like you practice, and the 27-point win over Chattanooga rolled out like a natural extension of the workout I watched Friday afternoon. So much purpose and precision within all that sweat and heavy breathing.

"We're gonna kick their ass," first-rate, first-row fan Jim Richards said before tip.

And so we did.

McKillop's teams, when they're right, they play with such a level-headed fury.

Jason did his thing, all angles, intellect and body control.

Max was Max. That kid, and I don't know that I fully understood this before, at least not to such an extent, but sitting press row at Belk for the whole game for the first time in years and years made me appreciate his play more than ever. He plays, defense in particular, with an utter ferocity. You can practically hear his exertion.

Steph was awesome, of course, he of the light that's as green as green can be. You always know he's going good, though, when you notice, just as much as the threes, the floaters, the runners, the pull-ups, the crafty little dribble drives that turn into layups that lead to him piling up all those twos like he does all those threes.

No wonder middle-aged men in the stands at Belk wear those No. 30 jerseys. The part of me that's a sensible adult thinks that's kind of ridiculous, but I've got to be honest here: The proud, almost primal part of me kind of digs the hell out of it.

Steph aside, though, the tenor of Saturday's game was established just as much by the whole team's sticky fingers and active hands. Thomas Sander had SIX steals. All of it was a 40-minute reminder that being in the right place at the right time doesn't have to be an accident, and shouldn't be.

After the game, in the little press get-together, Thomas said this succinct thing about Steph: "Seeing him feel like he can do anything makes us feel like we can do anything."

Steph, asked about his 37 points, said this: "We played our best game of the year."

The kid said we.

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.

Davidson 85 Chattanooga 58

The Wildcats tip off against the Chattanooga Mocs today at 2 p.m. on this 100th anniversary celebration Saturday. Lefty Driesell spearheaded a panel discussion this morning that was moderated by John Kilgo and featured Mike Williams '49, Hobby Cobb '56, Dick Snyder '66, Jerry Kroll '70, John Gerdy '79, and Kenny Wilson '84. More on that to come...

Today's game will be the biggest matchup for the Wildcats in Belk Arena this year. The students will be in town and fired up as this is rush weekend on campus. Unfortunately, the bad weather forecast might keep away Davidson fans who were planning to drive home in the afternoon. Most forecasts call for icy roads and dangerous conditions starting around 2 p.m. It is not far from anyone's minds that the last two conference home games that Davidson has dropped in five years were on Saturday afternoons with either cold or wet weather.

Updates on starting lineups and matchups from Belk Arena soon to come...including a special feature article from Michael Kruse.
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20 minutes before tipoff

Can Civi is still dressed out in street clothes today, along with Bond and Allison.

The D-Block crew has found its way into section 8 while the back of the basket filled up pretty quickly. Students should be lining the corner sections all the way up to the ceiling. The electricity in Belk Arena has not reached this level in a long time.

Chattanooga will be starting Watts (6-7), Doaks (6-7), Hartwell (6-8), McDowell (5-11) and Bridgewaters (5-9).

Wells Black of Davidson Basketball Update fame will also be here today filming. He has acquired a pass and will be shooting from the baseline.
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15:30 D 11 C 6
I apologize for the delay as the wireless internet is going haywire right now and I'm also answering phones. But Curry opened with five big points and Meno just finished a big slam off a slipped screen. Belk Arena is rocking and rolling with a full contingency of students.
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13:12 D 17 C 8
UTC's Kevin Bridgewaters reminds me a lot of D.J. Thompson or Tim Smith. He has the ability to break everyone down off the dribble and find open people inside.

But Stephen Curry is still the class of the conference. He gets a steal and a big defensive rebound and goes for two huge threes from 25 feet out. He wants the MVP now! J-Rich forces a turnover and Belk Arena comes down in a waterfall of noise. This feels like the finals of the SoCon tournament.
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11:39 D 19 C 11
Things calm down a little with a missed BBarr three pointer and a Meno turnover. Unlike App, Wofford or Georgia Southern, these Mocs don't seem to be intimidated by Davidson's emotional starts. They are not pressing and still getting pretty good looks from their offense. It will take 40 minutes to put this one away. UTC did not let App St. run away from them on Thursdy and it won't happen this afternoon.
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8:33 D 25 C 15
Things get chippy after Sander gets hit without a call at midcourt. Jason Richards sends a signal by putting his shoulder into his defender's face. That charge call was booed extensively but it was legit. The no-call before it was bad. Don't mess with Sander because you will get all of Jason Richards. Needless to say, this place has a lot of emotion. The Wildcats have a few teardrops rim out in consecutive possessions.
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7:50 D 26 C 15
Curry with a layup in traffic and then hits a wide-open three-pointer. He now has 16 points on 6-9 shooting including three three-pointers. A media timeout keeps Shulman from taking one himself.
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6:41 D 26 C 17
The Wildcats have not had any hangover from playing some of the bottom teams of the Southern Conference. They are playing at a good clip tonight and have been sharp from the field. Meno has continued to play better and better and better. Richards has five assists as well.
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4:28 D 33 C 22
Curry finished the first half of the Appalachian State game with 26 points. He might push that today...he's already got 21. Talks of half scoring records are now circulating around the SID crew. Hetzel has the Davidson mark with 28. Not sure about Belk Arena records.
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3:55 D 33 C 22
After a steal and finish and then another jump ball tie-up, Jason Richards is talking at Bridgewaters. These Wildcats are taking no prisoners today. They are now calling all former basketball players down to the tunnel...thankfully there are plenty of photographers and videographers to film this. It's going to be special. I see that Lefty is sitting down next to Kilgo, not sure if he's on the radio all game.
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1:21 D 41 C 24
Curry hits a big three to put him at 24. I just checked out the hit stats for the blog and saw that no one is following online. That is excellent. I feel like everyone is here today sitting around and watching this in all of its glory. Make that 27. Curry needs 1 point for the Davidson 1-half record. ---
Halftime D 41 C 26

Curry misses a shot right at the buzzer and finishes with 27 points for the half with 6 threes, one point behind Hetzel's record of 28 which he set twice. Richards has 6 assists.
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16:39 D 49 C 26

The internet is down again. And so are livestats. The halftime show was an incredible event as Wildcats from every generation lined the court with the Hall of Famers standing at the middle. Curry hits two free throws to put him at 29, but he might be starting to tire now. He short-armed a layup. But Boris finishes a huge two hand slam on the next possession and then gets an alley oop monster. What an emotional game! Meno now has 10. I’ve never seen so many videographers here along the baseline before. This game might not be on TV, but its incredible footage will be getting out soon. Chattanooga is about to give up.
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15:28 D 51 C 26

Football quarterback Ryan Alexander came extremely close to winning 10,000 dollars at the media timeout but he misses the half-court shot. Davidson is starting to run away now. Too bad Curry is getting tired. He might have had a career day after that first half. He is still at 29.
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12:43 D 57 C 31

Meno with the turn around alley oop jam on the baseline out of bounds. You could get a full highlight video out of this game alone. Meno has 12 while Lovedale has 8. Curry takes a seat to give Barr some looks while Rossiter replaces Meno. Lovedale’s little jumper falls again. That thing looks pretty this year. Too bad he just picked up number 4 on the foul category.
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11:41 D 59 C 35

Richards pulls a little Stephen Curry out of his pocket as he hits a very difficult fallaway with the shot clock expiring. And Curry comes back in during Shulman’s 30 second timeout. This is an incredible display today and a message to the Southern Conference. I also thinks that it sends a message to the students that this season is still one of a kind even without the wins over Duke or UNC.
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8:37 D 66 C 41

Richards is now 1 assist away from a double-double after scoring his tenth point at the foul line. Davidson’s defense has continued to play very well although the offense has sputtered now. Lovedale becomes the victim of some tough calls inside and he gets a standing ovation for his efforts. The refs are calling a lot now and really slowing this game down. It can’t be too fun for either team to watch anymore. The excitement left after Meno’s last dunk which seemed like an hour ago.
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6:51 D 70 C 47

Sweet Caroline does its magic again as the students continue the chorus in a cappella into a Chattanooga free throw. As the Moc free throw missed, the student section went nuts. An MPG dunk lights everyone up again.
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4:05 D 76 C 50

Poor Curry. His shot is off in this half. He has only scored four second half points. The Will’s World jinx works again. He hits a three as I type. He hits another one from 30 feet out falling down. Poor Lefty. He is missing quite a show by hanging out in the SID office watching the Maryland game (his son is an assistant coach).
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3:24 D 79 C 51

Matt Gwynne picks up an intentional foul by knocking Thomas Sander to the deck. Sander is still down with Ray Beltz attending to his face. That will be a continuing theme for this year. SoCon teams getting frustrated with Davidson’s play and physicality and retaliating by playing dirty. Coach puts in McKillop, Nelms and Rossiter to keep Richards and Curry safe. Curry finished with 37 points and eight threes, one point behind his career high.
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Final D 85 C 58

A complete display from the Davidson Wildcats today. Stephen Curry had a performance for the ages while Jason Richards, Boris Meno, Andrew Lovedale, Max Paulhus Gosselin…heck, everyone played really well. Davidson will take the greatest show in the Southern Conference on the road next week when they head to Cullowhee and then Charleston, SC.

SoCon North Division

Chattanooga

While Davidson likes to flaunt its rich tradition of basketball, no Southern Conference school can hold a candle to the basketball history of UT-Chattanooga. The Mocs' men's and women's teams have each won 24 conference titles and have been in the title game in most other years. Two years ago, the Mocs took a young team, after graduating a conference championship class the year before, and returned to the title game as a five seed. And we won't talk about how dominant the Chattanooga women's team has been over the years.

But last year, the Mocs fell on hard times. They finished 6-12 in the conference and were bounced by Davidson as an 8 seed in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. They finished eighth in the league in scoring offense, and their top scorer, Keddric Mays, finished just 11th overall in the conference in points per game.

With Mays and Casey Long lost to graduation, fans in Chattanooga had little to look forward to in 2007-2008. The Mocs were picked to finish fourth in the preseason polls while most of the outside attention of the Conference went to Davidson and UNC-Greensboro. But now, at the end of December, the Mocs sit with the conference's best record of 3-0 (7-4 overall). They have knocked off the College of Charleston and handed Elon its own conference loss of the season. They also came within six points of knocking off regional rival Tennessee.

This year, little known Stephen McDowell has stepped into the scoring role and has averaged over 15 points a game. He has been joined by fellow junior Nicchaeus Doaks who has averaged over 12 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. As a team, the Mocs have shot 48% from the field and averaged 81 points a game. Only five of Chattanooga's fourteen players have hit less than half of their shots taken (compare that to nine players for Davidson).

Davidson has struggled to play well in Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena over the years, sporting just a 2-5 record in that building since 2000 (that includes Davidson's 1-1 record in the 2005 SoCon tournament in McKenzie Arena). The Mocs have averaged nearly 40 rebounds a game this year. Combine that number with their high shooting percentage and it shows that most of those rebounds must be coming on the defensive end. Davidson will have to play very crisp basketball in order to sweep the season series with the Mocs this year. Chattanooga looks to be back to defend their basketball tradition.

Elon

When the Elon Phoenix joined the Southern Conference several years ago, most conference fans complained about adding another basketball cupcake. The tiny school from Burlington, NC has a gym that doesn't even seat 1,500 people and a basketball program with little notable history. But two years ago, Elon found themselves at the top of the North division and playing in the SoCon tournament semifinal game against Davidson. The Wildcats bested the Phoenix and sent them back down to the road of mediocrity as they put together an atrocious 7-23 record while going 5-13 in the conference last year.

Little more was expected from Elon this year, but they have been a pleasant surprise so far, putting together a 3-1 conference record with their only loss coming at Chattanooga. The Phoenix have been led by returning starter Ola Atoyebi who has averaged seven rebounds and fourteen points per game. He has been helped by senior guard Montell Watson who has averaged just over 10 points a game.

While Elon was one of only a handful of teams to beat Appalachian State last season, they dropped an embarrassing loss to Davidson in front of a home crowd that was louder for the Wildcats than the Phoenix. Davidson's first matchup comes next week when they travel up to Burlington for a late 9 p.m. tip.

Western Carolina

The Western Carolina Catamounts were counting on this year to be one in which they moved out of the basement of the Southern Conference. The Catamounts have not won a conference title since 1996, but they looked to compete in a weakened North Division because of returning star forward, Nick Aldridge. Aldridge would have been a shoo-in for Conference Freshman of the Year in 2007 had it not been for some guy named Curry.

But less than a month into the season, word came out of Cullowhee that Aldridge was gone. Personal issues between him and the staff and players led the school to cut ties. All of a sudden, the Catamounts did not have an identity. Role players were forced to produce and they were unsuccessful. After starting 2-2 with a two-point loss to Cincinnati, the Catamounts have gone 2-6 with their only wins coming against first-year D-I programs N.C. Central and Presbyterian.

Stepping in to fill Aldridge's shoes has been 6-6 sophomore Brandon Giles and 6-2 freshman guard Michael Porrini. Both have averaged double digits in scoring while Giles scored 46 points in Western's two conference losses against College of Charleston and Elon.

Appalachian State

Through the middle of last January, App State thought that they had become the most dominant sports program in the Southern Conference. The school had wrapped up back-to-back football national championships, and had rolled through their basketball season picking up wins against Virginia, Vanderbilt, VCU, and defending SoCon champion Davidson.

But then, they lost...to Elon...at home. Then, in the SoCon semifinal, star Virginia transfer Donte Minter had the chance to send the Mounties to a finals rematch with Davidson. But he missed the free throw. App State lost to CofC, went on to the NIT and got blown out in the first round. D.J. Thompson graduated and then everyone started watching football again. Not that football was ever questioned as the premiere sport up in Boone, but after a stunning upset of Michigan and a third straight national title, fans could care less about a Mountaineer basketball program trying to find an identity.

So far this season, it has seemed as if the players don't care much either. App State now sits 0-2 in the conference and 5-6 overall after dropping games to Davidson, San Jose State, Georgia Southern, and East Tennessee State. Against the Wildcats, App gave up 39 points to sophomore sensation Stephen Curry while star forwards Jeremy Clayton and Donte Minter struggled to produce offensively.

But then Appalachian State went and messed up all the trends. They went out on the road and beat SEC power Arkansas on the Razorbacks' home court. Donald Sims, a young point guard who had pretty much averaged the same amount of points as he had turnovers, went off for 24 points including 4 threes. He only turned the ball over once and managed the game perfectly for Houston Fancher's squad. Minter, a player who had underachieved ever since he arrived in Boone, scored 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

The Mountaineers have shown that they have the talent to make noise in the North Division. But only time will tell if they can play well consistently, and draw enough fan support to create a menacing home court environment.

Weekly Wrap-up

As many of you have already seen from the Dson Bball Blog and the message board, there is a new 'Cat in town. The blog's name is Lefty's Legacy and it is run by some Davidson alums from 4th Watts and Base Rich. Although the blog is still in its infancy, I still like its tumbling format. The quote feature is pretty cool.

I want post that, unless otherwise noted, all images used on the site now come from Davidson volleyball coach, Tim Cowie. You can find some of Cowie's photos that are available to purchase here.

This week all eyes turn to Raleigh, N.C. for Davidson's game with the N.C. State Wolfpack. I won't be doing a live writeup, but I will post some observations on Saturday at some point. Although Davidson suffered a 4-5 record from a very tough front end of a schedule in November and December, it means the Wildcats get to relax a little throughout most of their holiday break. In the past 5 years, Davidson has sported a less-than-stellar 10-11 record against D-I opponents over the holiday break. If you take out last year's 5-0 mark, that number becomes even more discouraging. This year's holiday break extends so far into January that the Wildcats will have already played six games before students get to see them again on January 19th against Chattanooga.

Speaking of the Chattanooga game on the 19th, fans should begin to make plans to come to Belk Arena for both that game and the Feb. 16th game against Furman. On the 19th, Davidson will honor players and coaches that have helped build the Davidson basketball program over the last 100 years. While legendary coaches Lefty Driesell and Terry Holland will be in attendance, fans will miss out on seeing Davidson legends Mike Maloy, Fred Hetzel and Derek Rucker who will not be attending. On Feb. 16th, Davidson will honor another class of inductees into its Hall of Fame. The class of 2008 includes soccer goalie Alex Deegan '95, Steve Heckard '65, Rodney Knowles '68, and Carolyn Kirsch '97.

Wildcats advance with 10 point victory

After the game, Coach McKillop said he didn’t have to remind his players about last year’s SoCon quarterfinal game against The Citadel. “That memory was refreshed for these guys several times before today’s game.”

In last season’s game, Davidson came back from 18 points down in the first half to overcome The Citadel on the way to winning the Southern Conference tournament championship. Although the deficit was never larger than eight against Chattanooga today, Davidson looked like a team in the headlights for most of the game. Their 78-68 victory came as a sigh of relief for the Davidson corps that made the drive down to Charleston, expecting a weekend stay.

The Wildcats shot only 34% in the first half, and led by two at the break. Although Davidson had beaten Chattanooga twice this season, the Mocs refused to relent in this meeting. They continually drove hard to the lane and tried to keep the Wildcat frontcourt on their heels. The strategy nearly worked as Boris Meno ’08, Thomas Sander ’08, Andrew Lovedale ’09 and Steve Rossiter ’10 combined for 12 fouls on the game. The Mocs also held a 46-34 advantage in rebounding, including 21 offensive boards.

The Wildcats relaxed in the second half as the veteran poise of Meno, Sander, and Jason Richards ’08 kept the Davidson offense in sync. Richards finished with 20 points along with five assists and five steals. Stephen Curry ’10 also found his poise in the second half as he poured in 20 points and three steals.

“In the second half, I used defensive intensity to give myself some offensive touches,” Curry said. “It is tough to play in this environment for the first time, my teammates helped me gain my confidence.”

With his three treys in the game, Curry moved to within three three-pointers of the NCAA record for three-point shots in one season.

Davidson sealed the win in the final minutes with some dramatic plays from Meno. The forward from Paris, France found himself on a fast break one-on-one and he was able to slam the ball home over a Chattanooga defender. The play all but ended any hopes of a Moc comeback.

With the Wildcats victory, they advance to the tournament semifinals for the sixth time in the last seven years. They will face Furman tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

Steph breaks record; Wildcats trample Mocs

With 24 points in only 23 minutes of play on Tuesday, Stephen Curry set a new Davidson record for most points scored by a freshman as he now has 502 on the season. As John Kilgo carefully put it in the postgame, "this game never really was a game," with Davidson running out to a big lead in the first half and ultimately defeating the Chattanooga Mocs 87-57.

The story of the night was Davidson's defense spearheaded by 6-6 jitterbug, Max Paulhus Gosselin. Davidson forced 30 turnovers on the game, including 21 in the first half, and converted 37 points off of those turnovers. Chattanooga shot a respectable 54% from the field, however they didn't really take many shots.

As Davidson broke down the Chattanooga zone early on in the contest, the Mocs became very frustrated on both ends of the court and began to make stupid errors. Passes were thrown straight to Davidson defenders, Wildcat post-men were routinely left open as they cut through the paint. It was as if the Mocs just lost their soul and decided to wait for the Elons and Western Carolinas of the world. The game also featured a total of 47 combined fouls on each team.

With the victory, the Wildcats put even more space between themselves and second-place Appalachian State. With one game to play with (Appalachian State has the tie-breaker), Davidson has a little bit less pressure as they head into Charleston on Monday. That doesn't mean that the Wildcats won't play to win. They have had the Cougars' number in recent years and they know that the College of Charleston have been waiting on this game ever since January 6th.

**photo by Richard Shayegan**

Davidson vs. Ohio University

Coming off of an impressive 12 point victory at Chattanooga on Monday, the Davidson Wildcats will travel out to Tempe, AZ to play in the Arizona State Sleep America Classic. Their first round matchup on Thursday comes against a top mid-major program in the form of the Ohio Bobcats. The Bobcats are currently ranked 27th on the Mid-Major Top 25 poll (yes, 27th). Their last NCAA tournament appearance came in 2004-2005, when they lost their first-round matchup to fourth-seeded Florida by a mere 5 points.

This year's team enters this game at 6-2 and, like the Davidson Wildcats, have five players averaging in double digits for points scored. They are led by 6-6 senior forward Sonny Troutman who has been averaging 16 points and four assists per game. They have been shooting lights-out on their home floor, including a 60.4% shooting performance in their most recent win over St. Josephs.

Ohio has very good depth with eight players averaging over 20 minutes played per game. This team also knows how to draw the fouls, as they have gotten to the free throw line nearly 100 more times than their opponents this season. The Bobcats only have one top scorer over 6 feet 6 inches which would imply some sort of height advantage for Davidson. The 6-8 junior starter Leon Williams looks to be the Bobcats' main threat in the paint with 13.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg.

In order for the Wildcats to be successful in this one, they must learn from several of the things that Chattanooga did to them. The Mocs upset nearly all of our post offense by doubling down and applying pressure to our perimeter passing game. Instead of being patient and finding the open man, our bigs routinely dribbled to the sideline and gave up position, and sometimes possession. We have to do a better job of feeling the pressure, anticipating where it's coming from and executing our inside-outside offense. We cannot be content with passing the ball on the perimeter and jacking treys the entire game.

I also think that Davidson needs to be more ready to switch to a zone defense. The Mocs exposed our man defense by making simple screens and executing the entry passes. Ohio doesn't seem to shoot nearly as many three-pointers as Davidson or even Chattanooga, so we should force them to make skip passes and to shoot one-timers (no opportunity for rebounds).

Both teams will be traveling a good distance for this one, so expect a little bit of offensive sluggishness in the first half.

Prediction: Davidson 85 Ohio 78