Thoughts from Raleigh

-I had the privilege of getting to see Friday's game from yet a new vantage point: the N.C. State student section. My roommate got tickets from an N.C. State friend and we were able to sneak in with his I.D. While I know that it was a holiday break game, I was mostly unimpressed with State's fans, especially their students. The crowd was pretty silent for most of the game and the N.C. State students in front of us never did figure out that we were Davidson fans. They projected their taunts after the game to the couple sitting in the row behind us. After Curry air-balled his first shot, they yelled "air ball" every time he touched the ball. When he broke the 20-point barrier, one student loudly exclaimed that maybe their strategy was not working. The line of the night came in our pre-game Bojangles tailgate when one of my senior friends said that "just because we're here doesn't mean we should act like idiots."

-The connections that have been forged through Davidson basketball are really quite amazing. I found an old friend that I hadn't seen in years in the arena concourse while the Davidsonian editor from my freshman year ended up sitting right behind me. This basketball team has been the emotional and physical rallying point of Davidson friendships for many years and I hope that it will continue that way.

-Boris Meno has been scrutinized to a T this year for his less-than-stellar performances. Many, including the FSN announcing crew, have already taken their shots at Boris for his 0-5 night from the three-point land. "That's not his shot," goes the outcry. While Meno's three-point percentage is significantly lower this year, most of that does not come from what plagued him on Friday. Against UCLA, Meno took shots off the elbow and in the corner which were not in his license. However, Meno is fully licensed and encouraged to shoot the open three from the top of the key. That shot opens the lane for backcuts and gets taller defenders out of rebounding position. Meno was simply long and off his touch. I was more disappointed in Meno's several missed opportunities right under the basket, when he didn't feel the defense to know when to go up, or when he let simple passes go through his hands. Those are mental mistakes that exams, brutal competition, and expectations have made more common.

-Stephen Curry "looks" like a ball-hog....or an NBA player. It is hard to criticize a guy that consistently scores 20+ and responds to hecklers chanting "air ball" by hitting go-ahead threes in the final minutes...so I won't. Everytime, he steps on the floor, Curry has to decide how to attack without being a ball-hog...how to lead without hurting his team. The line between freedom and responsibility is thinner than ever before. But I'm putting the "Curry" problem on the shoulders of the only man whose shoulders are big enough to handle it: Jason Richards. The fact of the matter is that Stephen Curry can score 30 points every night if he always has the ball in his hands. And yet, his scoring proficiency has not translated into success because it hasn't been supplemented by offensive production and threats elsewhere. Being the undisputed leader of this team, Richards has the responsibility of getting Steph his twenty, pulling down 10-15 for himself and finding those all-important baskets from everyone else that will ultimately put Davidson back in the wins column. I felt like Richards did an excellent job of that in the second half...but once again, it takes a full 40 minutes for Davidson to beat an ACC team.

-The saddest part of watching Davidson so far this year has been seeing what Thomas Sander has gone through. Sander is only averaging 3.5 field goals a game and is shooting 53% from the free throw line. He seems to have lost his defensive discipline at times this year as he has constantly been in foul trouble (he leads the team with 30 fouls and has fouled out twice). Last season, McKillop called Sander the General of the defense because he played relentlessly and was consistently disciplined, always drawing charges and forcing big men into bad shots. This year, he is jumping and reaching for blocks instead playing for the charge or the rebounding position. As we saw against N.C. State, this strategy is failing badly.

Wildcats still locked out, fall to NCSU 66-65

Closer. Bob McKillop's Wildcats are closer. Their 1-point loss to preseason Top 25 N.C. State did not completely transpire until the final 3.9 seconds when Gavin Grant gave the Pack a 66-65 victory with two free throws. Yet Davidson heads into the long, cold run of 18 brutal conference games with very little consolation. They now have six losses on the season and only one OOC win against a D-I opponent. The Wildcats have fallen a long way from their highly publicized romp on the outskirts of the Top 25. No one is competing with Kevin Cary and myself to get interviews anymore.

In their most recent loss to the Wolfpack, Davidson was once again led by their fantastic backcourt of Stephen Curry and Jason Richards. The two combined for 43 of Davidson's 65 points. Curry still ranks eighth in the country with 24.6 points per game, while Richards leads the nation with 8.7 assists per game.

Davidson recovered from a slow first half by shooting over 50% from three-point land in the second. Bryant Barr finished with three big trifectas, while Curry had seven, including the go-ahead shot with 43 seconds remaining in the game.

The image of this season continues to be one of an elusive puzzle piece. Although no team ever plays a perfect game, Davidson has always seemed one puzzle piece short of pulling off the big upset. Against North Carolina, they couldn't hit layups. Against WMU, Stephen Curry was taken out of the game with foul trouble. Against Duke, the team could not hit their normal percentage of free throws. Against Charlotte, Davidson could not play effective perimeter defense. Against UCLA, Davidson gave up dumb turnovers and allowed too many transition points. And against N.C. State, the entire Wildcat frontcourt was held to 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Yet, despite recognizable lapses from Davidson throughout each of these games, one can point to a specific play in each one where the opponent beat Davidson. UNC, WMU, Duke, Charlotte, UCLA and N.C. State all rose to the challenge at the end of the game and punched the Wildcats in the mouth with a gutsy play. Gavin Grant was shooting 65% from the line going into Friday. Yet, he went 8-8 and hit the game-winners with everything on the line and 3.9 seconds on the clock.

Over the last four years, Davidson has benefitted from a rising tide of college basketball where smaller schools have significantly caught up to larger programs in terms of player quality and the ability to make every game interesting. Davidson is one of several case studies of mid-majors who don't let national powerhouses push them around.

And yet, within these big games we have also seen examples of how hesitant the powers that be (major college AD's, NCAA, ESPN...) are of letting everyone feast at the table. Davidson is a great story, but they aren't supposed to really beat all those teams. Davidson is a few layups, bad fouls, and nagging injuries away from being the number 1 team in the country. A school with a gym that seats less than 6,000, a student body that worries more about homework than Stephen's autograph, and a lineup that doesn't exceed 6'8" should never be #1 in the country. So we aren't. The doors remain locked, and the ACC Store still sells its product and won't have to worry about competing with t-shirts featuring a "hopelessly outdated charcoal drawing of a cat head."