Davidson marched into its third straight conference title game with a convincing 30-point blowout of UNC-Greensboro in yesterday's semifinal. Elon comes to the final by virtue of a tough win over a soul-less College of Charleston squad and an upset of UT-Chattanooga in the quarterfinals.
The Wildcats pulled rankings in both the AP and Coaches Poll this afternoon, making it the first time in decades that they have been ranked in consecutive weeks. Davidson sports the country's longest winning streak at 21 straight games and the Wildcats were projected as a 7 seed in Joe Lunardi's recent ESPN.com Bracketology.
During yesterday's game, Stephen Curry scored his 1500th career point yesterday and will likely pass Ian Johnson for 10th all-time on the Davidson scoring list after just two years. His 134 three-pointers this season puts him right outside the Top 10 for most threes in one season in NCAA history, the record set at 158 by Darrin Fitzgerald in 1987. Curry is currently third in the nation for three-pointers per game (4.3).
Davidson's Jason Richards continues to lead the country in assists with 7.9 per game.
Keep it here for up-to-the-minute coverage of tonight's championship game, including an exclusive blog entry from Michael Kruse.
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Davidson fans outnumber the maroon of Elon about 4-to-1 but Elon is outcheering the red and black in the warmups. Davidson fans sound more like a deep roaring wave that's far away while Elon sounds more like a siren right in your ear (the large numbers of girls in their section probably has something to do with that).
Davidson players have a smiling confidence in shootaround while Elon is much more stoic.
I just grabbed a Coke from the press fridge (yes, there still some left) and Pat Forde is absolutely huge. Kevin Cary says that he wouldn't be surprised if Forde ended up writing about Elon in this one. They really do have a great story and sentiment going into this one. I did tell myself before the tournament that Elon was the only team I didn't want to face. Well, here we go boys.
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Wildcat fans now loud
Know the boys will make us proud
Bring home the prize now!
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17:50 D 2 E 0
Max Paulhus Gosselin opens the scoring with a nice runner in the paint. The ball was just out of bounds in front of us and Kevin Cary mouthed Hi Mom to the baseline camera. Elon's defense is very good.
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15:57 D 4 E 2
But Davidson's defense might be better. The Cats know they won't score as much tonight but they are limiting Elon's chances with some great rebounding. Curry is going to have to get his points in the paint until the three pointer comes back to him (Remember that he was 1-10 going into the final minutes of that road game).
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11:58 D 10 E 6
I apologize for the delay, my computer is unbearably slow right now. Curry getting going in the lane and Archambault hit a nice jumper on the baseline. During one double team on Curry, Valentine yelled out "that's enough." Elon is only shooting 2-12 from the field right now.
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7:41 D 20 E 14
Sander with two big shots in the paint as Elon overpursues defensively. TJ Douglas made my "I wish I had him in a Davidson uni team." Ya'll are seeing why. Richards on the bench with a charge foul. This is so hard to type when the cursor won't keep up with you. Curry doing a great job of directing things.
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7:24 D 20 E 14
"This is Davidson's pace right now," says KC. Yeah it is, I just wish that my computer could keep up. Wildcats 2-7 from three (7-12 from two) and Curry is still off in terms of percentage. He finally hit one so there's no worry that he will stop shooting. But Elon better not get in a gun-slinging fest with Davidson. They will lose.
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5:00 D 23 E 18
Elon only now has as many twos as threes (3)...now four twos. Davidson has defended the paint very well so far. But Elon can shoot threes fine. Wildcats running and gunning as Sander was inches from a full court alley oop. And Elon finds an answer for the Richards drive. How are these guys a seven seed?
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3:55 D 26 E 20
Elon chants air ball every time Jason touches it now...Richards says that's ok, I will just feed it to Sander for a three-point play. Sander really aggressive with his dribble tonight. He gets called for a charge and that's two fouls...Davidson fans a little red in the face with that one. Really could have gone either way. Elon's shooting is now out of the 20% range and they are making this tough.
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2:26 D 28 E 22
And the five second inbound call rears it ugly head for Elon. We hadn't seen as many of those in the first two rounds, but Davidson's in-bound defense is back tonight. Lovedale eating some little Phoenix birds on the offensive boards. Arrr. Elon playing strong and emotional and mostly in control by all accounts. Valentine's making a living calling offensive fouls on both teams.
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55 ssc D 28 E 22
Elon slowing it down and dirtying it up now, which is more their pace. Richards not having his best game offensively (0-4, several TOs). Elon has five steals and Davidson only has 1 (really? not sure about that official stats people).
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Half D 30 E 22
Wildcats before-the-half play works like a charm as Elon keys on Curry and Lovedale comes wide open under the basket. Richards with his fifth assist of the game. 25 more to the Davidson record.
Curry has 12 points in the first half and Sander has seven. Lovedale, Meno and Sander all have three boards. TJ Douglas disappeared after his first three shots which is good for the Wildcats. He could be a giant-killer down the stretch with that height and pure release.
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18:02 D 34 E 23
Set to go in the second half. They just handed us the ballots for All Tournament team. Any suggestions for my votes. I can be bought.
Constantine picks up his third foul early here and Ola (Ola Ola Ola Ola) is back in the game.
That was a crazy weird posession for Davidson. Curry didn't touch the ball...Thomas forced a shot that hit the backboard and Max beat the shot clock with an ugly floater off the front of the rim.
But Lovedale finishes the fast break after a steal and hits a free throw for the slap. This is judgment time for Elon. But Thomas just picked up number three...Drama.
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16:55 D 36 E 26
Sander stays in the game...and puts back a Steph miss for two. Powerful, very powerful.
And there's a rogue whistler in the building who is making a sound that is unhuman. Curry is offfffffff.
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15:55 D 39 E 26
Well, not for long. Curry from DEEEEP. He's got 3 threes and 15 points.
And yes, anonymous, Biggers is in the building.
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12:51 D 45 E 34
Max shows some length and a half going for that high Jason pass as he cut down the baseline. Max reeled it in and put it in for two. Richards with seven assists. Elon is getting looks closer to the basket too. But Davidson just keeps coming. Archambault to Richards.
"Here it comes..." says KC.
Not yet, Elon with a bucket, steal, another bucket and a timeout. Hold on, Kevin.
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12:50 D 45 E 34
Elon's really not going to go home until the turn the lights off in this place, and I think that this Chris Long kid might keep playing in the dark. Hats off to them for answering the Davidson run. They have shown for the third time that they are the only team in the Southern Conference that have any clue what it takes to beat Davidson. Not saying that they will at all, but they have a clue on how to do it.
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11:00 D 45 E 34
Sander picks up his fourth foul and his nine points and five rebounds go to the bench. The call was a good one as Sander hit the guy's head on the rebound. Wildcats can't buy a jump shot right now (5 or 6 missed in a row). This is the formula for Elon. This is the only way to do it. Let's see Curry do something off the dribble.
Nervous?
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8:30 D 45 E 39
Curry driving to shut Elon up. They are loud and excited now. McKillop with a timeout. Davidson hasn't scored in at least four minutes. Wildcats are 4-17 from three. They are hunting it now and forgetting everything that they learned in this whole stretch. Go inside. Don't fall in love with the three.
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6:31 D 49 E 39
Curry does it and you had to feel it was coming even if I doubted a little. Curry came off the screen and daggered it home falling backwards to the floor. Huge three-pointer for his 20th point of the game. Richards continues to struggle.
The Wildcats are so close now...they can't fall short of perfection. Not here, not tonight.
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5:24 D 51 E 41
Boris Meno called for a pretty bad foul at the end of the shot clock as he reached from behind and squarely held the ball back on the shot. But he is wide open on the other end and the clock keeps ticking on Elon.
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4:22 D 51 E 46
The Phoenix are going with a double team/trap outside the perimeter and Richards draws a foul. But Douglas again! He has fifteen points on 5-8 shooting from the perimeter. He is a great shooter.
Sander back in the game and we are at five poitts again.
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2:21 D 58 E 46
Meno, Meno, Meno. I'm telling you that he loves this building. And then Lovedale with a lay-in. Twos, twos and more twos...
Stephen Curry grabs a championship round defensive board right there...skying between two big forwards and .....
BAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!
An excited hush fell over the place as Barr caught it and then it just collapsed with a wall of sound as it swooshed for three.
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2:05 D 58 E 46
Haha Jason Richards. He goes 1-8 from the field with too many turnovers and still has 11 assists. 11!
Wildcats going nuts with Sweet Caroline in a way that they haven't done since Duke. The emotion is back.
They continue the refrain into the ensuing Elon inbound and the Phoenix are called for five seconds. Davidson's students were so busy singing that they were a little slow on their reaction to the call. It takes a Max fist pump back to the huddle for them to realize it and go nuts again.
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56 sec D 62 E 49
There's the keep away and there's the requisite "dunk Davidson back into the NCAA Tournament." This time Thomas takes the honors from Boris.
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Final D 65 E 49
Curry with a three from the top of the key and...well...that's the message he's sending to everyone in the NCAA Tournament. Watch out! Here comes Davidson!
Jason Richards, Thomas Sander and Boris Meno become the second class ever to go for three in a row and the first class to get to the postseason every year in their Wildcat careers.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Davidson 65 Elon 49
Kruse Thoughts From SoCon (Day 2)
*** Collective wisdom had it that Greensboro was the group that was going to knock off Davidson if that was going to happen this weekend. There was that much-discussed 20-point first-half lead in the game at Greensboro, the game in Belk was quite competitive throughout, and when those tournament pairings came out the eye couldn't help but go immediately to that likely semifinal rematch.
A thread on DavidsonCats.com indicated that at least one Wildcat fan was "terrified" going into this one.
Um.
Okay.
Here's the thing, though: For a good chunk of the first half Sunday, Greensboro had made I would say two or three contested threes that were out of the ordinary, and Steph and Bryant Barr had missed I would say two or three relatively uncontested threes that were also out of the ordinary. And the good guys were still up by 14 at the break.
In the second half, when those shots stopped going down with that frequency, and when the Wildcats just kept doing what the Wildcats do ...
Well.
Y'all saw it.
The boys are making hard look easy.
*** I'm not really a stats man – you can use numbers, I think, to say just about anything – but then again most of the time box scores don't look like … THIS.
Check it.
Points in the paint: Davidson 44, UNCG 8.
Second-chance points: Davidson 21, UNCG 3.
Points off turnovers: Davidson 13, UNCG … ZERO.
*** Kyle Hines is one of six men in the history of college basketball to have over the course of a career gotten 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocks. The other five? Davidson Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, Tim Duncan, Pervis Ellison, Derrick Coleman. It's a hilarious list, but a total testament, really, to Hines, a nice, (not) 6-foot-5, under-recruited kid from Jersey. He came into Sunday evening with 80 straight games with 10 or more points. In what turned out to be the last game of his career, that streak went to 81, but barely. Put him down for 10. And the Wildcats made those 10 a HARD 10. While we're on the topic of Hines, it looked, during Civi time, with like a minute or two left, just for a sliver of a slice of a moment, like Dan Nelms was going to finish his head of steam down the lane by (gulp) dunking on Hines. Not that it was going to happen, ever, but it could have, maybe, perhaps, which would have been, you know, kind of an unlikely and ignominious end to an otherwise stellar collegiate career.
*** Okay. Right about now I feel a real need to throw this out there: The Wildcats don't get to take that 63-point aggregate margin of victory into the championship game. Pretty sure the score is going to be 0-0 Monday night at 9 when the cameras click on.
*** Steph sure has a way of making crazy shots par for the course. Said Derek Smith on press row: "Cue the circus music." For the most part, though, his 26 points were quiet. There are many, many things to love about Steph, but this is what I love the most: He is as big as he needs to be. He ups the ante when the ante needs to be upped – the 41 in Greensboro, of course, being the most conspicuous case in point. He had, what, 19 on Saturday, and then 26 against Greensboro, and it's just a flat-out fact, no ifs, ands or buts, that full-on Steph hasn't had to show up so far this weekend. You get the feeling he's saving some of that A game for when it's more necessary to roll it out.
A quiet 26.
Davidson basketball.
I love that.
*** Know what else I love? Rossiter's minutes. He had seven boards Sunday. Seemed like more. Seems like he's getting 'em all when he's out there. Kid's going to be good. Shoot. Kid IS good.
*** That McKillop running layup near the end? Looked kind of like Jason Richards. Didn't it? DIDN'T IT?
*** Need three. That's two.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Cats muscle their way into SoCon finals, 82-52
Davidson gets yet another 30-point victory in the Southern Conference Tournament, beating UNC-Greensboro 82-52.
Davidson scored 44 (that's right, 44!) points in the paint and held Greensboro to 8. Hines finished with just 10 points on 3-9 shooting. Davidson's defense forced five turnovers on Hines. On the flip side, Hines' shot blocking did not stifle Davidson's big men as Meno finished 6-6 from the field while Lovedale and Sander both hit several field goals.
"Hines is a great player," Thomas Sander said. "We did a great job as a team getting a quick double, and he got a little frustrated early on. Any time you hold him to 10 points, you can be pretty successful."
The Wildcats recorded 21 second chance points on 13 offensive rebounds. Many of those plays came as a result of double teams on guard penetration that left the forwards open for easy putbacks.
Stephen Curry continued to drive the Davidson bus with 10-17 shooting and 26 points, despite being bodied around for the whole game. Curry continually hit the deck and yet his shot attempts kept going in. Curry passed the 1500-point mark for his career with little fanfare ("I didn't even know about it to be honest.")
The Wildcats did not need to rely on the three pointer throughout the game as they shot 28-46 from two-point land. The Wildcats' physicality shined forth defensively and offensively and the vastly underrated Wildcat frontcourt got their time in the sun on this semifinal night. Rossiter had a strong performance, coming down with seven rebounds and several big forced turnovers on Hines.
"Davidson probably played us harder tonight than they did during the regular season," said UNC-G coach Mike Dement. "Sander did a great job of denying the ball to Kyle [Hines]. They had more to do with the final score than we did. This whole league can learn a lot from how hard they play, especially in the paint."
Davidson's win is their 21st consecutive, a streak that is tops in the country. The Wildcats will look to move up in tomorrow's polls which come out before the championship game begins. Davidson was ranked 25th and 27th in the national AP and Coaches' Polls, respectively. They were also given a nine seed in the latest version of Joe Lunardi's ESPN.com Bracketology.
Davidson will enter their third straight tournament final in Charleston tomorrow night at 9 p.m. and will face seventh-seeded Elon. The Phoenix gave Davidson problems in their game at Alumni Gym earlier in the season. Although this same Greensboro team had Davidson down twenty at one point. These Wildcats are rolling and it will take a few miracles from Elon to stop them.
Davidson 82 Greensboro 52
Here at the North Charleston Coliseum and the Big Red Machine is ready to go again. The team looks loose during shootaround, especially Can Civi. He's looking to follow up yesterday's big performance with a breakout night in the SoCon semis.
I've been spending the whole day warding off bad karma. As most people remember, Davidson's last perfect season was spoiled by the Greensboro Spartans in the semifinals of the 2005 Southern Conference Tournament. Several members of that team, including Matt McKillop, Eric Blancett, Logan Kosmalski and, of course, J/T/Bo are in the house tonight. When asked about the pressure in yesterday's press conference, Coach McKillop did not shy away from that memory, but rather invoked that game as the reason that Davidson would be fully prepared for today's matchup.
Davidson's crowd doesn't seem to be substantially bigger today than yesterday, but a few more Wildcat fans might trickle in at tipoff.
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18:30 D 3 G 0
Steph gives Boris his hug and we are ready to go here in Charleston. Greensboro has unveiled a new yellow look. App State tried those for the Niagara and Davidson games and we all saw how well that worked for them.
Wildcats slip the screen and Lovedale gets the basket and the foul. Great strength from Andrew to fight through the hack and hit the layup. Wildcats playing great perimeter defense and Hines hasn't seen the ball yet.
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16:22 D 10 G 6
Hines finally gets it, gets doubled, and finds Koivisto for a three. Then he blocks Thomas in the paint. This one's going to be a fight. Max continues to make plays on every loose ball...Curry for three and Oleksiak answers. He and Koivisto want to shoot all game, and Greensboro is showing a ton more offensive efficiency than they did against ASU yesterday.
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15:58 D 13 G 7
Stephen Curry pulls a Maryland and unleashes in a split second right in front of UNCG's bench off of transition. He is 2-3 from three, while Gosselin already has three rebounds. Hines getting doubled on every touch, but he has handled it well...better than any other forward we have played this season including Hansbrough, Stepheson, Thompson, Zoubek...(maybe not Love).
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13:40 D 15 G 13
MPG playing really strong right now with several loose balls and a J in the paint. Meno and Archambault in for their normal time. Greensboro is either hitting shots or turning it over, not too many misses. Archer tries a shot at the same spot as Max's hit and shorts it off the front rim.
This game is a lot like the one in Greensboro except that Steph has hit his threes. Greensboro is playing much of the same, though, by reversing the ball and hitting open three-pointers.
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11:37 D 19 G 13
Forgot to mention that Valentine is reffing this game. Curry got murdered on a transition that he somehow made. This place was mad, but would have been worse if he missed the layup. TV Teddy is giving us the UNC-Duke leash that he gave the rivals last night...."you can hit someone as hard as you want, but I won't call it for either team." Curry now with 10 points.
Greensboro has cooled off on the shooting, now just 4-12 from the field (Hines 0-2).
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9:44 D 26 G 15
Curry is getting stretched on the sideline and the TV is eating it up. He's not hurt. Meno with his first points of the game. Meno again with a nice spin move. He is stepping it up in this building I tell ya. Hines and Curry were briefly sitting next to each other at the scorer's table...that's a photo Op waiting to happen. And Curry drains it right in Oleksiak's face. Nothing Kevin could do about that one. Stephen Curry just wanted it and took it.
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7:40 D 30 G 21
Andrew Lovedale retrieves an offensive rebound and is wide open for a layup. But he waits for the defense to get to him and then does his turnaround. I don't think he knows any other way to shoot. Then Lovedale with a huge pack on Hines. Get that out of here.
Thomas Sander on a steal, gets away with a slight travel and dunks it home.
Koivisto and Toney doing their best to keep Greensboro in this one. They are a combined 5-7 from three. With this deficit, Greensboro is going away from Hines and just chucking it up. If Davidson can keep scoring, I don't think Greensboro can play three-point shootout for forty minutes. Twenty? Well we've seen them do that. Forty? No way.
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4:35 D 34 G 23
Rossiter playing really strong D on Hines. Nothing wrong with him today. Wow! Richards in for a layup that rims out and Meno kills the rebound into the net, literally. Wildcats playing really hard and being really effective.
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3:36 D 34 G 26
Greensboro playing out-of-their-minds tough right now. This performance from them would completely bury any SoCon team, yet they are down eight to Davidson. G fans might have one or two beefs with some charging calls, but the officials are trying to let the teams be physical and not put the stars in foul trouble. Because of that, it seems like every foul is random. Davidson only has 5 team fouls and G only has four. Greensboro shooting 7-12 from three, but Hines only has 1 point.
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1:35 D 36 G 26
Hines picks up a really stupid place to pick up his second foul, reaching in on Curry in transition. Sander follows up his scoreless game yesterday by going 3-4 from the field here in the first half.
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Half D 40 G 26
Wildcats finish the half strong on a Meno putback as Richards once again draws two defenders on his drive and Meno is wide open to put back the trash.
Curry is Davidson's leading scorer with 13 points, while Rossiter is the team's leading rebounder with four boards. The Wildcats have shot only 3-10 from three, but have gone 15-24 on two-point attempts. Greensboro has shot 50% from three and 40% altogether but they have turned the ball over 11 times which effectively counts as a missed shot.
And Davidson senior Blake Poole takes the court at halftime and hits three three-pointers to win a $1200 gift certificate to Sherwin-Williams. It was an impressive accomplishment, but really, what is he going to do with all that paint?
So you gotta love SportSouth's graphics...in their Star Watch you've got Hines with his 1 point, 0/3 shooting and three rebounds...and then Curry, 13 points, 3 rebounds, 5/10 shooting. Hines better go nuts here or these will be the last twenty minutes of his college career.
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17:55 D 44 G 30
Lovedale really developing quite a repertoire of moves. His shot is unblockable, his rebounding is both strong and very high, and his on-ball defense is extended so that he can pressure the ball on a small forward 25 feet from the basket and there is more of a chance of him getting a steal than the offensive guy taking him to the hole.
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17:30 D 46 G 30
Davidson is now 18-27 on two pointers. Their ability to take mid-range jumpers and put them at the bottom of the net is what sets this team apart. People want to peg these Wildcats as three-point shooters...and at one point, they might have been right...but you would look silly trying to claim that now. Wildcats hitting singles and knocking in runs.
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12:40 D 54 G 37
The refs have both teams upset right now...thinking that things are happening that aren't getting called. It's quite comical when everyone in here feels screwed over. But Davidson continues to hit singles and score near the basket.
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12:17 D 54 G 39
Hines finally coming alive on the offensive end, and Greensboro too close to write off and yet not close enough to feel too worried about. Rossiter the only one with three fouls.
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11:28 D 57 G 41
Curry for three and he now has 1500 points in his career (18 today). Once again, Davidson leads a game despite a gross discrepancy in free throw attempts. The Wildcats have been to the line once and Greensboro 10 times.
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9:43 D 61 G 41
Greensboro fans starting to feel desperate...their complaining on the calls has gotten more feverish after every Wildcat basket. Davidson still going for twos: dribble penetration, back-door cuts, back-to-basket postups...Davidson is getting it done inside the three-point line.
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7:58 D 66 G 42
Bryant Barr throwing daggers...that one hurt for Greensboro. And Greensboro missing on the offensive end. Wildcats are shooting 59% tonight. This performance would beat a lot of Tournament teams. Especially when LOVEDALE PACKS HINES AND MPG SLAMS IT HOME! No fear here. Wildcats have done their due diligence, shown up to play, and they deserve the tournament championship now. They will have to keep it up for 48 more minutes though.
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5:57 D 67 G 46
Hines is still fighting, but Steve "Heart of a Lion" Ross-it-er is fighting harder. He knocks a loose ball away and then knocks down a Greensboro guard on a half-court pick. Wildcat fans coasting now and getting ready for some College of Charleston action here at 8:30.
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2:52 D 73 G 49
And Brendan McKillop into the lineup. Great to see Coach giving these guys so much time at such a big stage. He is so steady with the ball. Stephen Curry getting killed inside, but he still finds a way to fade away, get knocked to the floor and bank it off the glass.
Curry knocked to the deck on the next possession and he needs to come out now.
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2:15 D 77 G 49
Someone said that this might be the championship game right here with the two best teams in the conference. It certainly has that feel with the crowd intensity, Sunday night tip and chants of NCAA Tournament. One more game, guys. One more game.
Civi Time!
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1:00 D 80 G 52
Civi throws a pass across the court and Will converts a three. It looked like he was a throwing a base ball from left field into home. Nelms would have had a big dunk but Hines blocked him badly.
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Final D 82 G 52
Yet another big statement from these Wildcats. Statement from every man on that team as well. Jason Richards with a long embrace and a few words and a smile for Kyle Hines at center court. On to the press room where Scott Fowler and Pat Forde join us to ask Coach McKillop how good we really are.
Kruse Thoughts From SoCon
SATURDAY IN CHARLESTON***
One-man team?
Two-man team?
Evidence, ahem, indicating otherwise:
Max. First possession of the game. Wide the heck open on the baseline, surprise, surprise. J is good.
Lovedale at about 9:40 or so. Turnaround jumper in the lane.
About 30 seconds later? Bryant Barr for three.
Should I keep going?
Thought so.
Rossiter at about the five-minute mark. O board. Good and earned. Up strong, to the line, make make.
Boris not even a minute later. One dribble and strong. Finish with a hit. Free throw good.
Then Barr again.
All before the half.
That said, driving layups from Jason and those patented off-glass runners of his, and Steph being Steph and spotting up from the wings and taking it into the lane and finishing just because he can -- well, that's nice, too. And it'll come in real handy in games that don't end up, say, 82-49.
*** To all that, though, I feel like I should say this: Dear Max. Don't take this the wrong way, seriously, because I love your game, baby, love your grit -- but there's a reason you're open. NINE shots? Could do without those 18-footers. Be the top prong on the D end. Be a pest. Be ferocious. Make us all tired just watching you. Do what you do.
*** Does anybody else out there hear a very particular noise inside their head when Steph gets the ball and sets up and lets loose with a top of the key three in transition? Sounds kind of like a whistle, or a high-pitched whine, or a ... oh? Just me?
*** About the second half I have three words and only three words: Civi to Nelms.
*** The coaches of the SoCon have been trying to fatten up the 'Cats with spoken love letters over these last few weeks, saying nice things, too nice, what with Cremins rolling out the whole "Duke of the Southern Conference" thing. Here's Houston Fancher: "They're head and shoulders better than anybody in our league." Mike Young declared the Davidson men "the big red machine." Young kept it up after the game: "I'm glad we don't have to play them anymore. That was our third time. That's enough for me." Two things: 1. All well and good. 2. Hope the guys aren't hearing any of it.
*** McKillop-speak: Thrilled. Consistency. Full 40 minutes. Same old same old. McKillop was asked one question in the presser. That's it. What, really, was there to say?*** Need three. That's one.
*** I'm thirsty. To King Street ...
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Thoughts and quotes from Davidson vs. Wofford (82-49)
Davidson rolled over the eighth-seeded Wofford Terriers in convincing fashion on Saturday afternoon. The win was uncharted territory for a Davidson team that has historically struggled in the first halves of tournament quarterfinal games against teams that already have a game under their belt.
The Wildcats were led by sophomores Stephen Curry and Bryant Barr who combined to shoot 10-18 beyond the three-point arc. The roommates accounted for 36 of Davidson's 82 points.
Andrew Lovedale and Boris Meno were stout in the interior as they held yesterday's star Noah Dahlman to 3-6 shooting, while corralling 18 boards between them. Davidson outrebounded Wofford 50-36.
The Wildcats never let Wofford see one ounce of daylight from the opening tip to Nelms' final basket.
"I'm thrilled with our consistency," Coach McKillop said. "I'm particularly impressed with how we played 40 minutes from top to bottom on the roster."
Despite having all of the pressure of a Top 25 ranking and 20-0 mark in conference, the Wildcats were extremely loose and having plenty of fun on the court.
"Our coaches kept us ready to play all week at practice," Stephen Curry said. "We've been taking it one step at a time all year. This is no different."
From Nelms big buckets to rebounds from Rossiter to jumpers from Archambault to threes from Barr and Curry to drives from Richards and defensive stops by Lovedale and Gosselin, the Wildcat machine was well-oiled at every turn and never let up or got bored with their success.
"We stuck with our Davidson system," said Jason Richards. "We played strong, our bench played well, and we never left the system. And our fans were phenomenal. We owe so much to them. We look forward to getting even more of them down here tomorrow."
Davidson featured the second-largest fan showing so far this tournament and certainly took the cake for decibel level and intensity.
Davidson will tip off tomorrow evening against the winner of Appalachian State and UNC-Greensboro.
Davidson 82 Wofford 49
What a bad morning so far. The women’s team loses badly in the morning game and I’m stuck running around the coliseum trying to find lunch and Blogger crashes on me.
The crowd is immense here in the North Chuck. No one outside of CofC even begins to parallel it, and the Wildcat supporters are much more into it than the College was last night.
The rims were really tight in the girls game and Davidson is missing some here in the warmup. This day better not get any worse. This is practically like Belk Arena since Wofford didn’t bring a band. Davidson’s band played Welcome to the Jungle on their entrance.
I will be keeping the blog on a Word document in case this thing keeps crashing. So it will all be up eventually. Also, be on the lookout for a blog entry from Michael Kruse later today and pictures from Tim Cowie.
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18:03 D 2 W 2
MPG opens the scoring after waiting for twenty minutes on the perimeter. No defense is getting near him. If you are that wide open, you have to be able to shoot. MPG defending Nichols and Godzinski (Wofford's tall guy who lit up Western yesterday).
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16:11 D 4 W 3
Richards with a sweet drive to the hoop. Max must have read that USAToday blog. He is all over the place on every play. Now he's on Gibson. Thomas picks up his first foul. It never takes too long for that to happen. Dahlman has been pretty stout inside for Wofford defensively and Sander hasn't looked so hot offensively (misses a wide open layup that time).
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14:51 D 8 W 3
Curry on the board with a nice pull-up in transition. Max is everywhere! Andrew with some nice boards as well. Davidson looks like a well-oiled machine right now.
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12:36 D 14 W 10
Jason Richards connects on his first three and the Wildcats are confident. No wasted movement on offense. Tons of intensity on Defense. The Terriers move to a zone and Boris gets a good shot from the paint but misses. Noah Dahlman starting to get some looks inside…but see then there’s this guy named Stephen Curry. He’s got five and just took a charge called on Wofford.
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10:02 D 17 W 12
Richards on the bench and Curry gets some time at the point. Rossiter and Barr also in the lineup so we've got next year's team on the floor. Steph takes the ball from the top of the key and goes all the way to the bucket. I think that he'll be OK at point guard.
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8:17 D 22 W 15
Rossiter gets put on his back on a free throw rebound and the ball lands in his lap. Wofford fans call for travel but...uh...it wasn't.
Being at Davidson for four years really emphasizes the ideal of the underdog...small student body...often overmatched team that plays really hard, etc. But here in Charleston, Davidson is the team you pull against. I've always known that, but it is really evident when you hear the roar of the coliseum on every made shot.
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7:43 D 25 W 15
Bryant Barr with two straight three-pointers. Kevin Cary turns around and claims that he was really close to predicting that. Curry and Richards both have 7 points right now.
Dahlman hasn't seen the ball recently which spells trouble for Wofford.
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5:44 D 30 W 19
Barr is outrageous right now. Huge loose ball play to tip it back to Sander. And then Curry hits a three at the other end. Wofford is not hitting threes and Lovedale is beasting Dahlman on the boards.
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4:18 D 32 W 19
Wofford has been getting to the line but they aren't hitting a high percentage. Archambault and Barr both in the lineup and playing with great intensity. Rossiter had a nice offensive rebound and made it to the line. But then he goes a little too far and is called for over the back. Wofford back on the line and this game has slowed down a lot.
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3:50 D 35 W 21
Boris Meno attacking the paint off the dribble and he gets the shot to foul and is fouled. Walking to the huddle he looks really confident. He has been a completely different player here in the last month...especially at Georgia Southern.
And the pep band plays Get Low. That's a new one.
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2:23 D 40 W 21
Wofford is getting to the line but they can't put em down. Boris Meno continues to be a hoss. He hands the ball to Barr behind his screen and Barr waits, waits, and fires. Good! Third one tonight.
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1:00 D 43 W 23
Curry for three. Wofford called for charging. Daaa-vviiidd-sooon. Da-vid-son. This building likes the Wildcats.
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Half D 43 W 23
Davidson might be guilty of going for too many homeruns there at the end of the half. They connected on several, but they could be up by even more if they would have put together a few more singles. Curry unleashed a lot of threes. More stats upcoming.
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18:00 D 43 W 26
Drew Gibson hits a three on MPG and Wofford picks up a delay of game warning for kicking the ball. Max misses a short jumper and Wofford gets a small opening to make something happen. That closes fast as Thomas gets a steal.
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16:23 D 49 W 28
Curry with two straight threes and he has 19 points. Get a really tall guy, run Steph behind him. Shoot and hit. Repeat.
And I swear that Jason's cowlick has gotten bigger.
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13:38 D 54 W 28
Lovedale with a very nice turnaround off an offensive rebound but he gets called for a foul on the other end and Rossiter gives him a break.
When Jason starts that whole drive to the side thing and hits the shot over his head, it is a thing of beauty and absolutely unstoppable. That play could kill some BCS team in the tournament.
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12:00 D 58 W 30
Boris with a big steal on defense and Will Archambault connects on a nice J. Boris and Steve connect on the "Jrich-Steph jump and bump." They need to practice it a little more. But Boris likes this building. I think he wants a t-shirt to start waving now.
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9:00 D 66 W 36
Every time I repost, I see that first line. It really has turned out to be a pretty good Saturday.
Barr now has 11 points off a drive down the baseline...not his preferred method of scoring, but it looked pretty good. Then Max hits a three. Wow...just looked at the scoreboard and realized Thomas hasn't scored. Only two fouls so that's not it. Davidson just hasn't used the post-up much today. And Barr for three again.
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6:40 D 71 W 36
Bryant Barr! With five three-pointers! He's got 17 points today...and he might be making his first visit to the Southern Conference press conference. Big-time, Bryant. Big-time.
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3:59 D 73 W 42
Brendan McKillop into the game and he has an open look with the shot clock winding down, but he hands it to Max. Max chucks a three and he now has a new season high for FG attempts.
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1:36 D 78 W 46
McKillop for three! And Civi's shorts are really high. Dan Nelms misses badly. And Schmitt sees action! This is fun. Civi to Nelms for Nelms' second field goal all season. Civi wanted it to be an alley-oop but Nelms wasn't ready for that yet. So he just layed it in. Nelms with a new career high four points!
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Final D 82 W 49
Wildcats win it big here in Charleston...and the big red machine keeps rolling. Stats, quotes and pictures coming up.
Monday, March 03, 2008
SoCon Tourney guide to Charleston, SC
Now that the regular season is over, all eyes turn to that great city on the water: Charleston, SC. Whether you are coming to Charleston for the first time this weekend or for the umpteenth time in your life, you should take a look at my handy SoCon Visitor's guide that I have put together about my fair home town. Every once in a while, writers need to go out on limbs and open themselves up to disagreement, and I'm sure that this list will lend itself to that. Please feel free to post thoughts and additional suggestions in the comments section.
Here are my DO's and DONT's on Charleston visiting.
DON'T necessarily get a hotel right next to the Coliseum unless plan on going to nearly all of the games. Because of the big roads, you can't easily walk around the area which means that you have to get in your car anyway. If you are in your car driving, you might as well stay at a place that is more serviceable to the rest of the city.
DO check out cheap hotels in Mt. Pleasant. The new bridge is within walking distance and you can quickly drive Downtown or to the arena while not paying the high rates of hotels downtown. (Unfortunately, most hotels are already booked up for Friday and Saturday...so I hoped that you read my mind and already got your room).
DON'T eat at some of the restaurants at the top of all those tourist lists. Hyman's Seafood and Jestine's Kitchen are the worst offenders of passing off mediocre food for high prices and convincing everyone it's great...just because all the tourists are doing it.
DO check out some of the following eateries...
Fleet Landing on Concord St. for great seafood and an impressive view of the harbor, a little pricey...
Fig on Meeting and St. Philip, cozy atmosphere, diverse menu and it's right across from Sticky Fingers where you can go in and check out Stephen Colbert's original portrait within a portrait within a portrait...eat at Fig, walk into Sticky Fingers...
Five Loaves Cafe at multiple locations, moderately priced with casual lunches and great dinner entrees, excellent food at a corner cafe kind of feel
Kickin Chicken and Andolinis Pizza for the college kid in you (or you the college kid)...the Kickin Chicken is on King St. while Andolinis is one block off King on Wentworth, great filling sandwiches and pizza with a college atmosphere...wear your Davidson gear and get taunted by all the servers, bring up Davidson's record against CofC and you might get slower service, but it's completely worth it. (I just found from their website, that there is a new Kickin Chicken with brand new widescreen TV's over in West Ashley where I live, and which is closer to the stadium...more details will be coming, but I am proposing that Davidson fans take it over on Saturday night to watch UNC/Duke.)
DO get out and walk around the city. Charleston is small for its size and you can get a better feel for things by walking around. See the cannons down on South Battery and the old well at the College of Charleston. Charleston has some really cool old houses and churches and a quaint little lake and park on Beaufain and Ashley. Obviously, no walk through Charleston is complete unless you mosey down King St. It has great shopping, really interesting buildings, great bars, and unlimited opportunity to flash your Wildcat gear at unsuspecting Charlestonians.
DON'T bother with a lot of the tour things because of your limited time. Carriage rides, house tours, ghost walks and the like don't let you see anything you can't see on your own and most of their stories are all made up anyway.
DO go to the aquarium at the end of Calhoun Street. It has a great view of the harbor and the bridge and a monster tank in the middle with a lot of sharks and rays and cool looking fish. I have been there a ton since my Dad is a member, but I still enjoy looking at the fish...it is "enchanting" (not like Coach McKillop has said that Cameron Indoor is "enchanting," this is a different type).
I hope that this is helpful to all Wildcat fans coming to our fair city this week and weekend. Again, please post additional suggestions and disagreements in the comment box...and make sure to wear your Wildcat red wherever you go. I will be...
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Surprise! Davidson wins Championship
Davidson's second SoCon tournament championship in as many years did not come as easily as many had hoped. The Wildcats overcame adversity in the forms of early game foul trouble to Jason Richards '08, strong shooting by Charleston's frontcourt, and a raucously biased crowd that registered one of the highest recorded decibel mark in Coliseum history.
In the end, Davidson prevailed by not giving up. The Wildcats refused to be intimidated by clutch plays by their opposition or the hostile environment produced by a stadium two-thirds filled with Charleston natives. Their 72-65 earned them yet another conference championship and a bid to the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years.
With five minutes left in the game, the Wildcats found themselves down by three to Charleston after David Lawrence hit a three-pointer that brought the house down.
The College of Charleston had not been to the NCAA tournament since 1999 and the hometown crowd was hell-bent on pulling their Cougars through to one more magical victory.
Davidson responded by staying in their system. At a time when natural adrenaline would dictate a forced play, Richards calmly found Stephen Curry '10 for the game-tying three. Boris Meno '08 gave the Wildcats the lead on the next possession and then Curry forced a steal and Richards found a wide-open Thomas Sander.
With the momentum firmly back in the Wildcats favor, Davidson seemed poised to weather one final push by the Cougars. That push came after Phillip McCandies cut the Davidson lead to two with under two minutes remaining.
McKillop called a timeout to set up a play to keep the Wildcats ahead. From the top of the key, Meno found a back-cutting Richards who finished with an easy layup. The Cougars never recovered.
"The play was actually supposed to go to Stephen [Curry]," McKillop said afterwards. "But Boris [Meno] and Richards made the right reads and the backcut came open. That play showed us that our system really works."
As the final buzzer sounded, the team rushed to the center of the court in celebration. The energy and excitement was emblematic of this team's spirit all season.
"Last year was fun, but this was really special for us," Meno said. "This was a better experience in winning."
Curry finished with 29 points in the contest and was named as the tournament's MVP. Richards also made the media's all-tournament team.
With Davidson's fourth tournament title in ten years, Bob McKillop surpassed Lefty Driesell for most NCAA tournament appearances while coaching at Davidson. Being the second youngest team in all of the NCAA, Davidson achieved the unthinkable. They ran through the conference season, they won games on the road, and they beat the giant in his own lair.
Surprise.
The Table is Set
However, after all of the Davidson players had returned to the hotel and kicked off their shoes, the Southern Conference and the city of Charleston was treated to one of the most exciting basketball games that I have ever seen in person.
College of Charleston knocked off Appalachian State 89-87 in OT. Dontaye Draper finished with 38 points as he hit clutch shot after shot down the stretch. This game had so many turning points that it's hard to remember them all. The most important was a questionable foul call with 2.2 seconds left in regulation that sent ASU's Donte Minter to the foul line. With both shots, Minter would be able to secure a victory for the Mountaineers. He choked on the second and the game went to overtime.
In the extra period, Draper made play after play to keep his Cougars alive, even as Josh Jackson and Phillip McCandies were sitting on the bench with five fouls. With ten seconds remaining, CofC had the ball and a three-point lead. ASU, however, was not able to foul and the Cougars got the ball down the court for a monster jam. ASU threw up a three-pointer at buzzer to cut the final margin to two.
This Cougar team has a lot of emotion propelling them right now. This was supposed to be the year that they got rid of all their demons, and with this tournament run, they are on the verge of returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999.
Tonight's attendance was clocked at 9,000+ and tomorrow's might be even higher as it is on a weekend. Davidson should be able to expand on their large crowd from today as more students and fans make the trip down from Charlotte. The entire city of Charleston has been summoned to come support the Cougars, and I have no doubt that tomorrow's game will have the electricity and atmosphere of anything that could be produced in the ACC or SEC. NCC will see some big-time college basketball.
If you can't make it to the game, keep it here for live in-game updates. I will try to be at the Coliseum early to set up shop and crunch some numbers during the pregame.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Thoughts from Thursday's SoCon tourney action
-While there still might be issues about attendance in this Charleston conference tournament, the local media has embraced it in a great way. The local paper has put a lot of energy behind their coverage of this tournament, and Charleston’s Comcast Channel 2 has bought the feed for tomorrow’s semifinal games from ESPN FullCourt. That channel had special tournament coverage tonight. Even the Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler is down here covering this baby!
-It has been great to see so many Davidson employees in the North Charleston Coliseum today. However, I did hear reports from Davidson that many students were at the Baker Ticket office today looking for ways to get tickets. No one there seemed to have Jamie Hendricks’ cell phone number. The athletic department needs to do a little bit of a better job covering the home front.
-If Davidson’s quarterfinal game against Chattanooga was turned into a battle of the bands, the Wildcats would have been blown out. The Mocs’ band was exceptional as always. I love their rendition of the theme of SportsCenter.
-This year’s tournament could sport one of the biggest mid-major games of the season if ASU and Davidson meet in the finals. One more day will tell if the local sports community will come out and embrace some of the best Southern basketball outside of the ACC. If the College of Charleston isn't playing, local fans often don't put forth the effort to come out and watch. Davidson has reportedly sold their allotment of tickets, so here’s hoping that the state of NC will bring its fan base down to SC.
-Starting this year, the women’s side of the tournament is being hosted in the North Charleston Coliseum in the morning. Although these games started on Tuesday and are being played in the early morning, I think that this change is a good thing. Last year, there seemed to be no communication between McAlister Field House and the Coliseum about game results, and many of the men’s fans are also the primary women’s fans. It is really bad to have to split them up in the early rounds.
-There have been no upsets of note in this tournament so far. In their tourney preview insert, the local paper had a picture of roulette wheel, saying that the championship was anyone’s to win. So far, it really isn’t anyone’s to win. You can only say that a league has parity when any given team can beat anyone else on a given night. I really just don’t believe that applies to Davidson, ASU, CofC in the men’s bracket or Chattanooga and WCU in the women’s bracket. We will have one of the conference’s best teams represent it in the NCAA tournament.
-For those of you who attended today’s games, feel free to send or post any comments that you might have. Thank you to everyone reading the blog today. Your readership is a testament to the electricity and excitement of this Davidson basketball team.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
SoCon Coaches Awards
The Southern Conference Coaches have named their awards winners for the 2006-2007 season. The media will announce theirs tomorrow.
Player of the Year: Kyle Hines
Freshman of the Year: Stephen Curry
Coach of the Year: Bob McKillop
All SoCon Team:
Kyle Hines (UNCG)
D.J. Thompson (ASU)
Dontaye Draper (CofC)
Stephen Curry (Dav)
Nick Aldridge (WCU)
Jason Richards (Dav)
Donte Gennie (GSU)
Moussa Diagne (Fur)
LeVonn Jordan (Elon)
Robby Bostain (Fur)
SoCon Freshman Team:
Stephen Curry (Dav)
Nick Aldridge (WCU)
Jake Robinson (WCU)
Junior Salters (Wof)
Ben Stwall (UNCG)
Will's SoCon Awards
If I were to turn in a ballot for the end of season Southern Conference awards, this is how I would have done it:
1st Team
Stephen Curry (Davidson)
D.J. Thompson (Appalachian State)
Dontaye Draper (College of Charleston)
Jason Richards (Davidson)
Kyle Hines (UNC-G)
2nd Team
Jeremy Clayton (Appalachian State)
Thomas Sander (Davidson)
Shane Nichols (Wofford)
Nick Aldridge (Western Carolina)
LeVonn Jordan (Elon)
3rd Team
Boris Meno (Davidson)
Donte Gennie (Georgia Southern)
David Lawrence (College of Charleston)
Kevin Hammack (The Citadel)
Keddric Mays (Chattanooga)
Player of the Year: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
Freshman of the Year: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
Coach of the Year: Bob McKillop (Davidson)
All Freshman Team
Nick Aldridge (Western Carolina)
Stephen Curry (Davidson)
Tony White Jr. (College of Charleston)
Kendall Tone (UNC-G)
Kellen Brand (Appalachian State)
Wildcats Aiming For Back-to-Back titles
The men's basketball team heads into the 2007 Southern Conference tournament with their second top seed in three years after the Wildcats set a new conference record with 17 conference wins in the regular season. Winning the tournament will not be easy, however, and so this section notes some of the teams that will try to knock Davidson off of the top.
Appalachian State (24-6, 15-3)
Appalachian State has put together the most impressive 2006-2007 campaign in recent SoCon history. With their quality wins over top 25 teams like Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wichita State, the Mountaineers have made ripples throughout the basketball world as a team to watch for in March.
ASU is led by firebrand point guard D.J. Thompson, who has gone largely unnoticed in his four years at ASU.
When opponents aren't worrying about Thompson driving the lane, they have to keep the ball out of the hands of big UVA transfer Donte Minter and athletic forward Jeremy Clayton. Clayton ranks sixth in the conference with seven rebounds per game and he is shooting a league-leading 61% from the field.
The second-ranked Mountaineers handed Davidson its only conference loss this season, and the Wildcats will be waiting for revenge if both teams make it to the finals.
College of Charleston (20-10, 13-5)
The College of Charleston entered the season with high hopes after hiring former Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins in the offseason. The Cougars returned a core group of players from last year's squad and the preseason polls picked them to win the conference handily.
The Cougars were unable to defeat the league's top teams this year as they dropped two contests to both Davidson and Appalachian State and enter the tournament as a three seed.
See the rest of this article at The Davidsonian.
