Wildcats hold down Winthrop in BracketBusters, 60-47

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Davidson 60 Winthrop 47

The Wildcats will have yet another chance to shine on national television this Friday when they head to Rock Hill, S.C. to take on Winthrop in the BracketBusters game. You can check out previews for the game at Bracketography and ESPN.com.

This post will be updated throughout the game as I live blog all the Wildcat action. Be sure to send in questions via the comment feature about the game or things that you would like Kyle Whelliston to answer about the Wildcats.
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Most of Davidson's media/staff crew got here a little after five and made our way around the arena. Asst. SID Lauren Biggers used to work here so she gave a brief tour of the athletic facilities. Their baseball stadium is state of the art. The basketball gym is nice as well, but the dark maroon colors make it seem very dark as you get farther away from the court.

Kyle Whelliston is indeed here, although I didn't get to talk to him because of his marathon chat. He had his iPod on and was sitting at the far corner of the media room when I came in. Now he's hanging out with his ESPN cronies...for someone who preaches this whole "rage against big-timing, big schools" he certainly seems to act pretty big-time himself with his whole ESPN credential. We'll see how things develop...

The two student sections are literally right next to each other. Davidson's fans are in two sections behind their bench and going into the corner, while the Winthrop students are in the facing section behind the basket. They just got into a cheering match that was precipitated by the Cat in the Hat, Boxer, and Pirate/Ninja (?).

Finally, Winthrop ran out of staff/media food. They put the spread out at around 4 p.m. and all the ESPN people ate it up before Davidson people got here. I had to do a Chick-Fil-A run to fill some stomachs. Winthrop needs to get it together.
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TV Teddy is back in the building. Twice in one week. I hope we get the same type of reffing like Tuesday. That seemed to work out well for us.

Winthrop has a really nice video board over center court, but their lineup video wasn't working right. They REALLY need to get it together.
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18:20 D 6 W 0
Winthrop is known for their defense and they looked pretty much like Max on that first possession. Flailing arms, lots of intensity. Two problems though. They aren't 6'6". And um...Stephen Curry.
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17:00 D 8 W 5
Oooh...Curry cools off though with two turnovers and then gets called for a blocking foul as the guy leaped into him on the fast break. Very questionable...Steph got called for a charge for much less against Duke. And here we go...Davidson hasn't penetrated much so far...and then Lovedale gets a good look.
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15:50 D 8 W 8
Because of both student sections being in one corner, all of the noise feels very concentrated. Davidson will be shooting into it in the second half.

Winthrop's D is nothing to scoff about. They are playing physical and hustling more than Davidson right now. Three steals and a block...make that four. Five.
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14:20 D 12 W 8
Davidson has the reputation of being a very physical team around the SoCon. And right now, they are the ones looking to the refs for protection and they aren't getting it. The Wildcats need to man up a little and play to the refs as they are. Unfortunately, that led to a charge on the last possession by J-Rich. Woop, TV Teddy with an offensive foul on Winthrop at the beginning of their possession. And Sander gets to the free throw line at the other end.

The scoreboard sightlines in here are weird. Both scoreboards are in the upper corners behind fans while the main board over center court just has an Eagle logo.

Jason Richards with the outside touch tonight which is great. He has two threes.
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12:41 D 16 W 8
Wildcats are cutting well and throwing lasers into open cutters in the paint. While Winthrop is turning it over on their entry passes. Curry showing the Rock Hill crowd how effective he is at defensive rebounding and starting transition. Wildcats on a run now.
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11:08 D 20 W 8
Davidson on a 12-0 run after Stephen Curry does the impossible and comes out with the ball from two Winthrop guys who are trying to control it in the corner. Then he whips the ball to Lovedale in the paint. Davidson's crowd is pretty loud and rowdy. If we could get all of the random collections of dedicated fans that we have in these two sections and put them right on top of the court at Belk, we'd have our "energy" problem solved. Phi-delt and ninja cheering together peaceably...it's a beautiful thing.
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9:30 D 20 W 10
One Canadian causes five seconds while the other air balls a shot on the other end. Let's go Will. Winthrop fans a little chippy after another call doesn't go their way. Ooh...Lovedale now getting in on the air ball action. I wonder if there is a sight line problem on that baseline. Winthrop breaks the drought on a nice jumper. And Curry is on the bench with two fouls. This 10-point lead might evaporate quick.
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7:39 D 22 W 13
Davidson is in the bonus, however...J-Rich draws a block on an overzealous Eagle defender and gets two easy ones from the line. Archambault will need to help out with the offense, as well as Boris. The Wildcats scored over thirty in the paint against Greensboro. This team isn't much bigger...they need to look for close shots. Richards isn't a bad option either.

Thankfully, it seems that Winthrop doesn't really score in bunches. They look really athletic out there but they've only got 13 points.
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7:20 D 22 W 13
Paulhus Gosselin with a big kick of the ball right in front of me. He knocked over Martin McCann's water. And then Steve knocks the next one out of bounds. And then Max steals the third. I wouldn't want to inbound against us.
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4:40 D 25 W 17
Richards now with 3 threes. Always "interesting" to watch Davidson's offense when Curry is on the bench. Archambault misses another one. Where's that Furman effort? McCullough and Gaynor have six apiece for Winthrop.

Teddy Valentine with his patented "i'm gonna stop the game without calling anything" just to talk to you on TV. He gets away with everything.
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3:13 D 28 W 17
Richards with his fourth three and he has 14 points on the game. He gave a very fired up look to Davidson's crowd.

Will and Bryant are way off. Short on everything. That's so frustrating because we know they can shoot.

If you think that watching Max play D on TV is fun, you should try it from courtside. He always yells at himself when he can't come up with the steal and on his last steal in front of me...he uttered some sort of "Oooh (look there's a loose ball, I'm gonna get it)." It's incredible to watch someone with so much passion for defense.
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Halftime D 31 W 21
Barr finally connects. I have to say, though, that it doesn't feel as if Davidson has a 10-point lead. Without a scoreboard in here, it feels as if the game hinged on each possession. Gaynor is very quick...very quick. But there's still no reason for him to have this many steals. We have to be more careful with simple swing passes.

However, Winthrop should probably be pretty disappointed that Curry played so little time and they still trail by ten. Davidson's defense stayed strong throughout the half and their transition D did not allow too many easy points.
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18:00 D 31 W 24
So Stephen Curry isn't hurt. ESPN announcers can be boneheads sometimes. They implied that Curry saw limited time in the first half (9 min) because of an injury when it was just because of his second foul.

But, that aside, Winthrop has taken a page out of Davidson's book and come out very strong and emotional so far to start the half. The Wildcats' offense has looked anemic so far.
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15:32 D 37 W 27
Max draws yet another five-second call. He is a maniac on in-bounds plays. And then he hits a three. He seems to put a little more arc on the ball when he is confident and he is playing with a lot of it right now.

After a Winthrop three, Lovedale keeps a rebound alive and J-Rich knocks home his fifth three of the game for his 17th point. Curry is about to break out here. You can feel it.

And I try to keep things respectful on here, but Winthrop's cheerleaders/dance team is well...they are laughing out there. They know how ridiculous this thing looks. They do.
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12:05 D 40 W 31
Wow white ref. Wow. You are really bad. He just made a ridiculous out of bounds call saying that Sander lost it off his knee. And Curry continues to be cold. This place is really loud after an Eagle dunk. They realize that they have been able to do something very special. Hold Curry down. So far.

Boris Meno draws an elbow to the face which is called intentional and he hits 1 of 2. The ref who called it just took about 150 decibels from McKillop on consecutive possessions. Now the Eagles cry foul. Yet another foul away from the ball and this place is pissssssed off. I didn't see the recent foul or the intentional one too well so I can't comment on their viability, but these refs seem to be going back and forth and back and forth on questionable plays.
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9:20 D 44 W 31
Apparently the Winthrop Eagle is named Big Stuff. He isn't very big...in any way that you look at him.

This game is a real grind. Curry is so far off. I haven't seen anything like this in a long time. Maybe ever.

Davidson is having trouble tracking down rebounds and they send MPG back in. Sander picked up a pretty bogus foul as Buechert dropped the ball with Sander straight up and down.

And Curry finally hits. Finally! A little MPG and Rossiter get the rebounding going for Davidson and Winthrop is out of sorts on offense.
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6:09 D 51 W 36
Richards is having his way tonight. He gets points number 18 and 19 off that patented hesitate and roll on the baseline. Davidson's defense has made Winthrop look silly on offense. The Eagles are down 15 but their fans are still going nuts with every play. Meanwhile Davidson's fanbase is loving this. Working toward a non-conference win on the road. It feels good.
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2:49 D 51 D 42
Winthrop with a little run and this thing is a little too close for comfort. Davidson has not gotten off a good shot after several long possessions, while the basket has gotten really big on Winthrop's side of the court. And the Eagle fans are still here. The Eagles' scoring has been few and far between tonight, but 2:49 is still a good bit of time. Davidson can't just nurse this and hope Winthrop misses.

Coach might not know that Lovedale's got four fouls (he picked up three in the last few minutes). Meno has been riding the bench for a while. At this point, though, it might not matter.
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1:06 D 53 W 42
Lovedale with a huge dunk on a feed from Steph and the drought is broken. That might have been the dagger right there. Davidson has won the hustle battle tonight in the second half.
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34 sec D 57 W 44
And the students strike up an a capella Sweet Caroline tune. They did a great job tonight. And so did Jason Richards. More on him later. Davidson wins its 17th in a row. Depending on what happens tomorrow in Tennessee, that might become the longest winning streak in the country.
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Final D 60 W 47
Great statement for Davidson on the road on national television. Curry didn't have his best night but his good buddy Jason stepped up huge for 21 points. Curious to see what Whelliston will write about this one. Big Stuff and his cheerleaders sway on the court to the alma mater and we wrap things up here on press row.

Wildcats draw Winthrop in BracketBusters

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

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

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

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

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

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

Davidson 68 Winthrop 63

I will be live blogging today's Women's basketball game today against Winthrop from here in Belk Arena. Although this year's team temporarily lost their fifth year scoring leader, Katie Hamilton, and sensational froshes, Ashley Lax and Chloe Woodington, to injury, the team is 3-2 with a 1-0 mark in the Southern Conference.

The Wildcats picked up their first conference victory against Georgia Southern last Thursday night. They were led by Mercedes Robinson, who recorded a double-double, and Alex Thompson who had 12 points and three assists.

Winthrop enters today's game with a 6-2 record with victories over Norfolk State and East Carolina.
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17:50 D 2 W 2
Julia Paquette gets Davidson on the board early. Winthrop looks a little slower than some of the teams that Davidson has played so far. But they did bring their own personal camera guy. Davidson Sports Info director didn't know he was coming.
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15:43 D 4 W 4
Davidson looks a little sloppy early. They are getting the ball inside but are not putting up good looking shots. Mandy Halbersleben was called for three seconds after missing a shot and getting her own rebound. And the Wildcat just came over and started stroking my head. Only at a women's basketball game at Belk Arena.
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12:47 D 7 W 4
There are a couple of Winthrop parents here today who are displeased at the officiating. It can be awkward when there isn't much noise and all of a sudden someone just screams at the ref. Winthrop isn't helping their own cause as they are now 2-11 from the field.
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9:20 D 12 W 10
Monica Laune hits a big three pointer to break the scoring draught, but this thing is still pretty ugly. Winthrop is shooting 14% from the field and have turned the ball over six times. Davidson on the other hand has had trouble with Winthrop's defense which is clogging the paint. The outside shots are open if Davidson takes them. And they are now...two three point tries on that last possession.
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7:49 D 16 W 16
And the shots are finally beginning to fall for both teams. Mercedes Robinson leads Davidson with 5 points. And I just noticed but Davidson has 7 team fouls to Winthrop's 2. The Eagles are making it rain from the free throw line, going 5-7. Monica Laune airballs her second three-pointer of the contest and Coach Watts replaces her with Kelly Gardner.
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4:52 D 18 W 26
And we just witnessed a pretty ugly display here right in front of the bench. Honna Housley went down on a drive to the basket being hit in the face. The play continued as Housley remained on the ground and the ball came back to hit her on the head while a Winthrop player ran into her back inadvertently. While the refs don't usually stop live play for an injury, many of the Davidson contingent was pretty upset at watching their senior guard being kicked around like a rag doll on the ground. It also doesn't help that Winthrop has been on a 10-2 run over the last three minutes.
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39 seconds D 22 W 26
Danielle Hemerka finally breaks Davidson's shooting slump with a big three. Both teams now have double figures in turnovers, and over 20 rebounds a piece. This game is not pretty.
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Halftime D 25 W 26
Davidson finished the half strong to go into the locker room down 1. Robinson leads all scorers with 8 points, while Hemerka has six points. The turnovers continue to be an issue for each team and if Davidson can control their dribble a little more effectively, I think that they have a good chance to pull out the win. They are getting the outside looks, they just need to knock them down.
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17:12 D 27 W 28
Kelly Gassie has been in the game for a good many minutes so far, but her speed and quickness have largely been unproductive. She's only scored four points to go along with three turnovers. Julia Paquette has also been pretty quiet today. Alex Thompson continues to emerge as this team's leader...she just forced another turnover and got an offensive rebound.
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15:00 D 28 W 30
And the shooting woes continue for Davidson. The Wildcats have the been the beneficiary of a few questionable calls (those Winthrop fans were going nuts!), and yet they haven't been able to pull away at all. The video producers in the Sports Information office are excited that this might be the first close game that they've broadcasted all year from Belk Arena.
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13:55 D 28 W 32
That whole foul thing evened up pretty quickly. Four straight fouls on Davidson and Winthrop is now in the bonus. And they can hit their free throws. Monica Laune drew a foul for Davidson to even up the foul race. Her shots look like they touch the roof before coming back down.
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11:46 D 35 W 35
Davidson had been held without a field goal for the first 6 and a half minutes of the stanza. But two quick layups has Davidson back in the game with a little bit of momentum. Both teams are in the bonus now with Mandy Halbersleben on the bench with four fouls. No one else for Davidson has more than 2 fouls.
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9:33 D 45 W 36
A three-pointer from Robinson, another one from Monica Laune and a layup from Paquette has Davidson on an 8-1 run coming out of the media timeout. Winthrop calls for time. While the shots looked pretty, the biggest play of that last sequence was SID Marc Gignac making a big stop on a sideline loose ball to save my laptop. And then Housley gets into the three-point act. Shooting daggas! (or whatever Coach Watts calls them)
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8:45 D 47 W 42
Several big shots from Winthrop keeps them alive and forces Coach Watts to call time. We have us a ballgame.
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6:16 D 53 W 47
A couple more fouls on each side of the floor and neither team can really affect the margin all that much. If Davidson can keep playing strong perimeter defense and hitting their free throws. They should pull out a win.
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4:30 D 55 W 54
Winthrop is getting their inside shots to fall and making this a ballgame. Davidson, on the other hand, can't seem to hold onto the ball. Thankfully, the refs are whistle happy and Davidson has still gotten chances at the line. But Winthrop is scoring on every possession now and Davidson needs to keep up. A bad three from freshman Kelsey Cary didn't help.
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3:30 D 57 W 59
Julia Paquette gets a big basket to break Davidson's FG slump. But Winthrop is hitting on all cylinders from outside. The Wildcats picked up a break on a loose ball foul right before the media timeout. Davidson needs to score on most every possession from here on out or step up the defense. Winthrop is close to pulling it away from a one possession game.
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1:14 D 62 W 61
Honna Housley with a huge three from the top of the key after Julia Paquette came up with a big defensive stop. The Wildcats need one more stop to win though.
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35 seconds D 64 W 61
Davidson got the stop. Alex Thompson made a huge shot on the other end to put Davidson up three and now the Eagles need a perimeter shot to win. The crowd here isn't large but they are on their feet and cheering.
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30 seconds D 66 W 61
Davidson steals the inbound pass and Honna Housley is fouled at the line. Free throws will put this one out of reach. Those were three big turnovers for Winthrop.
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Final D 68 W 63
Huge win for the Cats. Their defense came up big at the end and offset a somewhat sluggish offensive performance for three quarters of the game. Four Wildcats scored in double figures and Annette Watts became Davidson's new all-time leader in wins for women's basketball.