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.

Davidson rips Cougars...again

Here are some quick post-game thoughts after Davidson's 81-56 win over the College of Charleston.

-I got several comments over the last few days for calling out Davidson's fans during Wednesday's Elon game. They showed up in force today and did their best to create energy in what was yet another beatdown in Belk Arena. I sat in the student section for the first time in over a year, and definitely felt the strain of creating energy when possessions become less and less urgent as Davidson's lead increases and the Cougars continue to jack up bad shots (they shot 19-50 and turned the ball over 18 times).

-Stephen Curry left the game early with two fouls and Davidson's offense slowed a bit without him anchoring the wing. It was frustrating to see capable scorers continually pass up good shots. On several instances, Jason Richards was forced to jack a bad shot with an expiring shot clock just because the team could not find a satisfactory look.

-Thomas Sander continues to get beaten up like none other. While I am not denying that he is a physical player and that comes with the territory, Sander puts himself into suicidal positions sometimes as he continually gets run over by 240 pound forwards while trying to take a charge (they gave him two tonight). His defense is very effective, but it often leaves him battered and bruised. He came out of the game and did not return after being hammered on a fast break.

-My favorite moment of the game came in the second half when Max Paulhus Gosselin let loose a three-pointer in front of Davidson's bench and Coach McKillop leaped 10 feet into the air as if his team had just won the national championship (in fact, I think he would have been more sedate if Davidson won the national title). Pens and paper came flying out of his pockets and he quickly tried to recompose himself by picking up his things. He was so proud of Max.

-Because of foul trouble and Sander being beat up, Dan Nelms made it into the game at the 11 minute mark. Unfortunately, Nelms was not very productive on the offensive end and he seemed to have trouble securing rebounds despite his height. He will be called upon to provide some important minutes next year, so he will need to be a little quicker and stronger.

Davidson hosts College of Charleston in Blacked-out Belk

70-58....January 26, 2008-Thomas Sander scores 21 and Davidson's defense holds College of Charleston to 17% shooting from behind the arc.

72-65....March 3, 2007-Stephen Curry goes off at the end of the first half, scoring eight points in a row from the point as Jason Richards sits on the bench in foul trouble. Dontaye Draper is held to one field goal in his final game as a Cougar.

73-63....February 12, 2007-Stephen Curry scores double digit points in the second half to help Davidson pull away.

81-73....January 6, 2007-Dontaye Draper misses two three-pointers to make it a one possession game in the final minute and a half. Davidson wins with free throws.

65-63....February 25, 2006-Kenny Grant comes off a screen at the top of the key to hit the game-winning three-pointer with 25 seconds remaining. He had not hit a three throughout the entire game.

80-70....January 17, 2006-Thomas Sander hits his first career three-pointer with the shot clock expiring to seal Davidson's 10 point win in the final minutes.

76-74....February 14, 2005-"Tie game. Wildcats trying to get on the bus back to Charlotte. Grant stepping out, three seconds. Morton loses the handle, gets it back, shot goes up and in at the buzzer! Wildcats stay unbeaten and win it."

67-62....January 15, 2005-Tie ballgame. 35 seconds to go. Matt McKillop comes off a screen on the perimeter. Turns and fires the game-winning three pointer. It was his second career game-winner. The first came just four days earlier against Appalachian State.

74-68....February 7, 2004-Wildcats start streak of victories against College of Charleston with a solid victory at home.

Some might call it a rivalry. Others claim that Davidson has gotten a lot of lucky bounces. "45-9 all-time" says just one thing: domination.

Wake Up People!

The defining moment in Davidson's 12th straight victory and 14th conference win came at a stoppage in play late in the second half. Elon trailed by only seven and had the ball. I glanced over to the opposite corner of the arena to find President Ross and his wife let out simultaneous deep yawns. Then, as if compelled by some higher god of yawns, I watched an Atlanta Braves-like wave of them just roll down the opposite sideline, make its way back up the sideline behind me and culminate with five students plopping down into their seats in the middle of the student section.

Elon came out of the timeout to hit a three and cut the lead to four.

Davidson has one of the nation's longest conference winning streaks right now (23 games in the regular season, 26 counting the tournament). The Wildcats have only lost two home conference games in five years and have not lost a night conference game in Belk Arena since February 2003.

But here were the Wildcats, struggling to put away these pesky Phoenix with their zones and long possessions and 6-7 three-point shooters, and their own fanbase could only yawn.

And here's the problem. Stephen Curry won't let anyone worry about the outcome. After Elon cut the lead to four, Curry came down and hit a three. The Phoenix responded by hitting another three. After then after some free throws from Jason Richards, Curry split a double team and hit a driving lean-in jumper to put the lead at nine and get all of the 3424 on hand to stand up and give a golf clap.

The Davidson ticket office had just put on one of the best student ticket pickups ever on Monday morning as they gave away record numbers of tickets to the Elon and "blackout" College of Charleston games. But, for whatever reason, most of those students did not show up on Wednesday night, and the ones who did seemed preoccupied with Physics equations running through their heads. Many of Davidson's season ticket holders also did not make it to the game because of threatening weather and the 9 p.m. tipoff of the Duke-North Carolina game. The official attendance of 3424 was extremely optimistic, at best.

Now there were many problems in last night's 10-point home win over a 7-14 team that did not directly stem from the lethargic fan support. Richards seemed a little flustered at the point of the Wildcats' offense, only recording one assist in the first twenty minutes of play (he finished with an uncharacteristically low four assists against four turnovers). The Wildcats did not execute their offense when faced with high-ball pressure in the 1-3-1 zone. Lovedale and Meno were off on their interior shooting, combining to go just 3-12 from the field. And somehow everyone misread the scouting report on 6-8 forward T.J. Douglas who went 4-9 from the field, all of which were three-point shots. Davidson did not guard him as a shooter until he had already made his fourth three.

But dangit if Stephen Curry doesn't always seem to sweep in for the rescue and forego the punishment of a loss that Davidson fans probably deserved last night. Curry hauled in seven defensive rebounds and had four steals, which, considering how few possessions Elon had, means that Curry ended more Phoenix possessions on his own than most of his teammates combined. The sophomore guard scored 23 points in the second half to finish with 36, including a stellar 9-9 performance from the free throw line.

Although the team did not play its best ball in the least, I would be remiss not to qualify this critique with the observation that Jason Richards always seems to turn struggling personal performances into gutsy offensive production and that Andrew Lovedale probably would have looked more natural than Brad Pitt in that opening scene from Troy where Achilles thrusts the sword into the giant's shoulder.

As the game remained close, Richards continued to attack the paint where he was rewarded with free throws and layup opportunities (he hit 8-10 FTs to finish with 16 points). Lovedale set a new personal season high with 13 rebounds, many of which had him beating guards out to the sideline to chase down the ball. Although he had early foul trouble and missed his patented turnaround jumpers, Lovedale's pure adrenaline on the glass kept Elon from getting even more second chance points than they did (Elon had 18 to Davidson's 3).

By nine 0' clock last night, Davidson had pulled out conference win number fourteen, 74-64. But these Wildcats' efforts were far more deserving than just another tick mark on the big board for conference perfection. Their hustle was worthy of more than just blanket criticism for letting a SoCon cellar-dweller take them to the final minute at home. And ultimately the willpower of all of the coaches and players was far more worthy than just a yawn and a golf clap. We fans have become spoiled with success. If we don't wake up and start recognizing the greatness of these Wildcats, then our hubris might just catch up with us around the ninth or tenth of March.

Mid-conference season interview with Coach McKillop

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Coach McKillop after practice. Here is a script from that interview:

Will's World: We are now at the midpoint of the conference season in the beginning of February. How would you assess Davidson's first half of conference games?

Coach McKillop: We continue to work very hard in practice and our performance in games is reflective of that effort that we're making in practice. We are getting better. The steps we are taking are not giant steps but they are all steps forward. So I'm very pleased with how we continue to progress.

WW: This team has played seven out of the last nine games on the road. Briefly speak to the mental and physical toughness that requires.

CM: Conference play on the road is incredibly challenging. There's a recognition of the opponent by the fans. There's a more inspired and motivated fan base that comes out to conference games. And there's also the recognition of sets and styles and schemes and this allows a preparation factor to really be much more engaged. So you have to be ready every time you step on the court, and you particularly have to be even more ready when you step on the court in an away setting, because of the crowd, because of the travel, because of the familiarity they have and the lack of familiarity that you have.

WW: Could you speak to the increased scoring production of Andrew Lovedale after moving into the starting lineup?

CM: We've been very pleased with the development of our frontcourt and a lot of that is the fact of the inside-outside game clicking because our guards are willing to get it inside. And our bigs have not let the guards down because they are producing. And when shots are not there, they are willing to give it up and willing to throw it out. So that factor of the inside-outside game is much like a football team that has a passing and running game. And I think that the development of Andrew Lovedale is a great sign that the inside-outside game is working.

WW: Against Chattanooga, Jason Richards set a new career high for field goal attempts with 19. Talk about the fine line between his role as a distributor and his role as a shooter.

CM: Jason Richards is incredibly unselfish. Very rarely, if at all, will you see Jason Richards force a shot. Because of the constant chasing of Stephen Curry, because of the defensive style of Chattanooga, who floods the paint and collapses on penetration so well, it opens up some perimeter shooting opportunities. And Jason did get those perimeter shooting opportunities.

WW: You have made a lot of references to football throughout this season. Do you have any thoughts on Sunday's Giant upset in the Super Bowl?

CM: That championship was a perfect affirmation of what we aspire to do here at Davidson, defensively and offensively. The Giants made it difficult for the guy with the ball to look around and do what he wanted. The Giants offensively had a great blend of the running game and the short passing game. By not trying to hit home runs and guarding the ball, I think they had a great game plan.

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.

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.

The Davidson Show, Episode 3

Thoughts and quotes from Belk Arena (vs. Wofford)

-Too many turnovers tonight for Davidson. Richards and Curry both had four and the Wildcats coughed up the ball four more times than did Wofford.

-"We had the right people shooting the right shots. Barr had some big rebounds. We are really coming together right now." Max Paulhus Gosselin

-Davidson's free throw shooting is a virus that they can't seem to get over. Davidson was 10-17 from the line and didn't seem comfortable there all night. At one point late in the game, Wofford fouled Max Paulhus Gosselin to stop the clock and MPG visibly cursed at the prospect of needing to go to the line. He missed the front end of the one-and-one.

-Davidson needs to continue to have confidence attacking the paint with entry passes. Their frontcourt can do anything against anyone in the Conference. They proved that tonight when they opened the game up with big layups inside.

"I am delighted with our second half performance. We have to learn how to come back from a deficit. We set the tone at the beginning of the half and that was delighting." -Coach Bob McKillop

-Everyone was up in arms about Kevin Cary missing tonight's game. The Charlotte Observer sent a replacement writer that almost looked as young as me (he was certainly wearing my wardrobe). No one knew who he was and I felt a little awkward as everyone talked about the Charlotte Observer as if they didn't have a representative there.

-Tonight was only second time that Curry has scored more than 30 points at home. He now has over 200 three-pointers for his career.

"This was a good situation for us. It was different to have to play a close game, but we have to learn different ways to win. Our inside-out game was excellent in the second half." Stephen Curry

"It was great to see Steph [Curry] elevate us at times when I put him at the point. He made some pinpoint passes, that were also singles. That was great to see." -Coach Bob McKillop

Davidson 78 Wofford 65

The Wildcats host the Wofford Terriers in the second of their two-game conference season series. The Wildcats won the first meeting 80-55. Wofford might not have the services of Shane Nichols tonight. He was listed as doubtful this morning and has not been put into the projected starting lineup.

More updates as tip-off approaches.
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It looks like Nichols won't be seeing any time tonight as he in street clothes on the Wofford bench. However, that might not bode well for Davidson as most might think. Nichols tends to overplay in tough situations and often takes his teams out of games by shooting too much. The Terriers did make their run on College of Charleston with Nichols hurt on the bench. The Terriers have a perfect record when a player other than Nichols or Gibson lead them in scoring.

Davidson, on the other hand, has not lost since Andrew Lovedale entered the starting lineup oh so long ago against Georgia Southern. Here's to going January-0 tonight.
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The Wildcats have been blitzing their SoCon opponents out of the gate, the latest romp being an 18-4 run to start last Saturday's road win at College of Charleston. The Wildcats did that to Wofford in their last meeting in Spartanburg. There's no reason they can't repeat the feat tonight.

However, there are vestages of a trap game lingering in the air right before tipoff. Even without Nichols, Wofford is a very hot team. Davidson have too much in terms of a crowd tonight and they might be a little flat after being on the road for so long.
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15:45 D 4 W 6
Like he has done so many times before, Thomas Sander opens Davidson's scoring with a layup inside. Lovedale looking good on the defensive post. He has three rebounds already. Sander launches a three from the wing which was not what Coach wanted from him. The Wildcats are a little cold to start and Salters gives Wofford a quick lead.
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14:00 D 8 W 13
There are a bunch of blue-clad kids in the upper reaches of Belk Arena tonight. They just started making noise when the Wildcat went up there. I don't think many of them are actually watching the game. Wait...now they are chanting defense.

Lovedale continues to dominate inside. He pulled down an offensive rebound in traffic and put it back.

But here we go, Wofford is putting in easy shots and Davidson is missing outside ones...they are good looks, but are rimming out. Wofford didn't come here to lose tonight.
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11:54 D 15 W 15
Sander with another three from the wing and he hits this one. I happen to think that he shouldn't have had his license revoked along with Boris. He has always been able to shoot with touch if he's open.

Meno with some great production in his first minutes as he gets four points and will have a free throw after the timeout. Davidson doesn't look bad right now...but Curry is on the bench and Wofford is hitting shots (7-12 FG).
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10:40 D 20 W 18
Kevin Cary is still not in the building. Word is that there was some traffic congestion and we all know that Mr. Cary is a pretty busy guy. Maybe I can write for the Observer tonight. Radio last night. Regional newspaper tonight.

Curry back in the game and gets a steal away from the basket. But the Terrier threes keep falling.
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9:04 D 24 W 21
Curry has had about enough of that. He hits two nice mid-range step-backs in front of the student crowd to get his first four points of the game.

But in the first 11 minutes, Lovedale already has eight points and five rebounds. He is just dominating the Southern Conference.
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3:49 D 29 W 31
Blogger goes down for a bit. Not sure how long it will be out. The Terriers are outplaying Davidson on both ends of the court right now. Which is what you have to do to lead Davidson by 2 on their home court. But Davidson isn’t using the paint the same way they did at Spartanburg, and Wofford is hitting their outside shots. Curry has warmed up a little and now has 12 points.
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Halftime D 34 W 35
Not a very good half for the Wildcats. Curry (14 pts) and Lovedale (8 pts, 5 reb) played reasonably well on the offensive end but the defensive effort was not there during several bad stretches. Wofford got way too many easy shots…and with Nichols out, they don’t have one guy ending possessions prematurely. Davidson will get quite a talking to...they have 10 turnovers to Wofford's 7. Davidson is not shooting particularly bad (51%), but they aren't defending the basket (Wofford FG=52%) nor getting any points in transition.

So it seems that Bill Polian, President of the Indianapolis Colts, is sitting right down from me talking to John Kilgo on the radio. I hope everyone in the digital world is enjoying their fill of Tony Dungy during halftime.

Back here in Belk Arena...things are weird. There's no sense of urgency as the Davidson elementary school kids did a routine on the court. The students, although reasonably large in number, have not been too loud and might not have looked at the scoreboard lately. Like they did against The Citadel back in November, Davidson will have to generate their own intensity and it has to come from their defense. Wofford cannot be allowed to shoot 52% again.
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19:00 D 35 W 37
Curry seems really frustrated right now. He misses his first two shots and he's running up the court after each one. On the last one, Max Paulhus Gosselin got the offensive rebound and Curry didn't know we had the ball until he was already over halfcourt. He needs to get it together.
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18:07 D 42 W 37
The defensive intensity comes at the top with the leader. Richards jumps a pass for a transition two and then Curry hits a transition three 20 seconds later. Wofford calls time and the Davidson crowd appreciates the effort. That was a mirror image of the first two minutes against The Citadel in the December game that I referenced.
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14:57 D 46 W 43
Another steal...this time Sander picks a pocket, makes a nifty head fake and finds MPG for a big dunk. But Wofford is better than The Citadel and they respond with a high-percentage shot on the other end.
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14:00 D 48 W 43
I'm a little disappointed that Davidson hasn't given the ball to Lovedale on the block. Richards is way off his shot tonight, going 2-6 from the field. But Lovedale is fighting for position and Davidson is not giving him entry passes. He is not the same Lovedale fellas. He can score! "Feed the elephant!"
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12:43 D 52 W 43
Meno causes a very audible gasp from the crowd as he almost launches a three from the top of the key. He wisely held up. And Wofford is quickly picking up some fouls. That's five now in the half, four in the last 2 minutes.
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9:00 D 62 W 50
The Wildcats are heating up from outside and Meno is taking advantage of size finally. He has nine points while Richards has 7. But Wofford continues to pick up baskets here and there and haven't given up like they did in Spartanburg. This next few minutes might do the trick though.
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7:54 D 64 W 53
Sander now in double figures after a great feed from Curry. Once again, great distribution of points...Lovedale 9 Meno 9 Sander 11 Richards 7 Curry 24. I'll take that, especially after a mediocre first half.

For the first time ever, Davidson was at the line coming out of the "Sweet Caroline" media...and the students had to shush themselves on the reprise of the chorus. Good teamwork.
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4:21 D 70 W 58
Richards starting to unravel a little bit again. He just lost a routine outlet pass out of bounds after missing a couple of shots on the offensive end. McKillop calls a timeout to talk to him and settle him down. This game is probably over...but the way that the Wildcats end it will be very important.

Not much from Will Archambault tonight. Max and Bryant have done a great job on the rebounds and 50/50 balls, but not much Archer. Andrew hasn't seen the ball on offense since the first five minutes of the game.
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3:00 D 73 W 60
I hope that Stephen Curry doesn't have anything against John Kilgo. He just threw a bullet pass that barely got deflected and went flying at Kilgo's head. Thankfully no one got hurt...except maybe some pride on Kilgo's part for not catching it. The first-row season ticket holders on this side certainly enjoyed it.

Curry now with 29 point and five threes. He has 204 trifectas on his career and is quickly approaching Matt McKillop for second place all-time.
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Final D 78 W 65
You don't often see Jason Richards and Stephen Curry in the lineup in the final minute when Davidson plays in the Southern Conference, but Wofford applied just enough pressure to make that happen. It gave Curry the opportunity to put in 34 points. Jason Richards finished with nine points and eight assists, while Meno and Sander finished with 11 points apiece.

This game did not fulfill McKillop's challenge to put forth a full effort for 40 minutes. But once again, it was another win in the Southern Conference as Davidson marches closer to that elusive 20-0.

Blogs killed the radio star

I experienced yet another perspective on Davidson Athletics on Tuesday night, when Wildcat radio man Derek Smith asked me to fill in for Tia Washington and do color for the radio broadcast of the Women’s basketball team’s game against Furman. The most color commentary that I have ever done came in my own living room bantering with my Dad as we watched a game with the sound turned down. Derek said that was all I needed to do on the radio, as long as I didn’t say anything too far out there. Not a bad deal.

As it turned out, I had a lot of fun. While I was expecting to be very nervous by those pregnant pauses that meant that I was supposed to have something witty and insightful to say, I found that there was so much going on in the game that Derek didn’t pause enough for me to get everything in. I do admit that there were a few moments where Derek’s up-tempo play-by-play lulled me into silence that I had to wake myself up and remember to say something. (You can hear the entire broadcast here).

So what actually happened in the game? Well Davidson overcame a 16-8 deficit to open up a 22-16 lead midway through the first half. During that stretch, they dominated the Paladins on the boards and mixed a potent three-point shooting attack with great entry passes that ended in open layups. The Wildcats were used to Furman’s 2-3 zone as they had faced something similar just a few games earlier at Elon.

Although Davidson had way too many ball-handling turnovers and went through an offensive slump to start the second half, they held on for the double-digit victory thanks to some strong play from Mercedes Robinson and Ashley Lax. Robinson put together another double-double by scoring 16 and rebounding 10, while Lax came off the bench to score a career high of 11 points.

I learned throughout the game of the constant torment of the color-man: you often don’t get the chance to say what you want and you never have much to say when you are put on the spot. I probably sounded like a broken record as I talked about the “great passes and good looks” that resulted in made baskets. I hope I wasn’t too ridiculously obvious with my commentary. Some of the best moments of the night included joking with Derek about the ease of some Wildcat baskets while he chided me for making it sound easier than it really was for a man like himself.

Overall, I really enjoyed breaking down Davidson’s play on the fly and organizing some thoughts for the world to hear. It definitely beats having to organize thoughts with these stupid commas and periods and reasonably short sentences. Maybe I should start on an audio blog where I want be judged for prattling on. Hmm, there’s a thought.

Business as Usual

CHARLESTON, S.C. –- So I was walking down George Street in this pretty little city, about an hour and a half before tip, headed toward Kresse Arena, right behind two campus cops.

"I don't even know who we're playing," the first cop said.

"Davidson," the second cop said.

"Oh shit," the first cop said.

What can you say? The man had a point.

The Wildcats here on Saturday were in their road reds for the sixth time in seven games, AND were playing their fourth game in a week, AND were going up against a Charleston team coming off two straight bad losses that

should've been desperate, AND got only three assists from Jason Richards, AND got "only" 16 points from Steph Curry, AND had very few fans in a small, sold-out gym, AND played a pretty awful second half.

And they won by 12.

And it wasn't even close.

At no point in any of the 40 minutes of play were the Wildcats going to lose the game, not once, not ever. Y'all saw it on TV. Never ever.

This was supposed to be loud and crazy and sweaty and tight. The signs on the doors to the gym a good hour before the start said Sold Out.

And if you were from Davidson, you had to have some juice to the nth to get into this one – your name had to be Hobby, or Dell, or McKillop, or Matheny, it seemed, all hunched behind the Wildcat bench. Everybody else in the place was dressed in maroon.

But it was 12-4, then 15-4, then 18-4, then 23-9, then 32-16. That was pretty much how it was going to be. Nice comfy working margin, thanks very much.

Ho-hum. Don't mind us. We're just passing through.

At least in the first half, balls that were up for grabs kind of weren't, not really, because the Davidson boys were getting just about all of them. Fierce. There was a 4-5 league team out there, and there was a 10-0 league team out there, and it was the 10-0 team that was playing like it NEEDED to win.

One-man team?

People say that, right?

Well, here: Sander with a top of the key three, channeling a little Landry, Sander on the block, Sander at the rim for a tip off the offensive glass.

Here: Lovedale with a baseline J, Lovedale with a 17-footer, Lovedale with that little tiptoe dribble under the basket and into a nifty reverse.

Here: a two from Max.

Here: a three from Barr.

And … okay, Steph being Steph, too, here and there, including one deep three that came at about two minutes before half, one of those where he gets just the teeniest, tiniest, slimmest bit of light … and up and in it goes. A disgusted, disbelieving Charleston fan dressed in a black suit sitting in the front row looked like he might chuck his 20-ounce Sprite.

The second half, meanwhile, is probably better left alone for the most part. It was unsightly.

The Wildcats outrebounded Charleston 26-15 in the first half … and basically flip-flopped the figure in the second. The Wildcats shot 6-for-12 from three in the first … and 0-for-6 in the second. There were missed free throws. There were missed three throws from Steph (!). There were WOUNDED free throws from Boris. Those loose balls that belonged to Davidson in the first … not in the second. They looked tired.

At about 8 minutes to go, their facial expressions said, basically:

Are we done yet?

Haven't we done what we needed to do to show that we're the better team?

Can we go home now? Finally?

But the lead, almost always, was 15, 18, 12.

Steph was bothered at times by the lanky stick of a kid named Wiggins. Wiggins had help too. Charleston threw two guys at Steph about every time he touched the ball. Seems like a smart thing to do with Davidson. Limit Curry. Or try. Make somebody else beat you.

Hokey-doke.

Lovedale for 10 and 7.

Red-cheeked Sander for 21 and 5.

"That guy's ALWAYS open," one fan moaned in the middle of the second half.

That's called math. Two white jerseys on one red jersey = one red jersey wide open. It's like the campus cop said.

The sellout crowd was … were they there? In the cramped, sweaty gym with a low ceiling and wooden bleachers, those folks cheered, like, twice – once at the beginning of the second half when the Cougar crowd-surfed, and then with two and change to go when Charleston hit a jumper and was down by 11 and there seemed, for a brief, fleeting moment, and only that, that there MIGHT have been a CHANCE.

But no.

Kevin Cary, the Observer's conscientious tracker of the 'Cats, pointed out on press row that Davidson has trailed in the second half of just one conference game so far this year – that, of course, being the scrape up at Elon.

To which Steph said after this latest win: "We haven't really done anything yet."

McKillop said he was happy with the post play. He said he wasn't so happy with the so-so second half. Still, though, the boys got back on the bus and went home, a job well done down here.

A win is a win is a win, and in the league now that's 11 and 0, 21 in a row, 35 of 36, etc., etc., etc.

Michael Kruse, class of 2000, is a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times.

Davidson 70 College of Charleston 58

The Wildcats finish up their stay in Charleston by playing an early evening game with the College of Charleston tonight at 5. Davidson (12-6, 10-0) is coming off a ho-hum 86-70 win over The Citadel while Charleston (9-10, 4-5) is trying to recover from a 88-71 home loss to UNC-Greensboro.

Davidson's Stephen Curry was given mention this morning on ESPN's College Gameday. The sophomore ranks fifth in the nation with 24.3 points per game. Davidson has not lost a game in the city of Charleston in the last four years and own a 44-9 all-time record against the Cougars.

Keep it here for live commentary throughout tonight's game and a post-game article from Michael Kruse.
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Well so much for that. I just arrived on site to find that CofC does not have wireless in the arena. Neither Kevin Cary nor I will be able to post anything during the game. Sorry.

Check that. The SID department hooked me up with their wireless card and we are good to go.
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20 minutes to tip

The CofC student section chants Sonya Curry and she stands up to give a bow.
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Brendan McKillop has a wrap on his right wrist that he wasn't wearing during Thursday's Citadel game. Don't know how serious this is, but he is favoring it a little bit in shootaround.

For being such a hot ticket, Kresse Arena is pretty slow to fill up in the season ticket sections. It is three minutes to tip and there are still plenty of seats in the upper section and endzone section.

The first few minutes of this game will be key for Davidson. I feel like the Cougars' confidence is getting down to its last leg. Davidson can break that leg with the type of offensive blitz that they have put on teams like GSU and Chatt. CofC might not be able to recover.
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17:40 D 6 CofC 2
Jason bails Davidson out on its first possession by hitting a three at the buzzer. Sander attempts his first three in ages and hits. Curry needs to stop falling down on his three point attempts. He is taking himself out of position just to be dramatic. MPG with two big steals early.
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16:00 D 6 CofC 2
Cremins has 6-7 Antwaine Wiggins guarding Curry. Wiggins has long arms and is making life tough for Steph so far. CofC's offense has not looked sharp with early misses, but Davidson is shooting very late in the shot clock, and has turned the ball over twice.
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14:02 D 12 CofC 4
Goudelock has scored all of CofC's points so far. He's no Draper, but he isn't bad either. Davidson is winning the frontcourt battle as Sander has scored two easy layups and CofC has not been rebounding well. Curry's first points came off a patented step-back jumper. Wiggins doesn't have the speed to stay with him in an iso situation.
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11:53 D 15 CofC 4
Davidson is killing on the offensive boards. Boris seems to have lost a little touch with his close jumper as he missed two gimmes in a row. But CofC doesn't have any offensive rhythm and they aren't getting trash balls. This isn't pretty for Davidson by any stretch, but they are outhustling the Cougars.
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9:29 D 18 CofC 9
Lovedale showing a new move as he took his defender down the lane and made a reverse layup. In his first touch of the game he immediately traveled. But then Lovedale misses a layup and fouls Johnson for an and1. He sits down on the bench. Davidson getting sloppy now.
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7:18 D 23 CofC 9
Both Will and Boris, while not hitting shots, have done well to keep the ball alive on the offensive end. Jason Richards finished off a 5 o-rebound possession with a three. Curry got a minute break before the media timeout and he'll be back soon. The Cougars haven't let him beat them, but they aren't getting easy baskets and their jump-shooting cannot keep up with Davidson's.
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5:32 D 26 CofC 14
Rossiter gets called with a charge after he hits a nice turnaround. That's a bad call. Then on the other end, Lovedale was whistled for a foul and the Cougars converted another three-point play. Curry is back in. And he takes it hard to the hole and gets hacked. A chant of Sonya makes Curry miss the second FT.
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2:43 D 32 CofC 16
Lovedale with several big jumpers but his two fouls will make Coach put Boris in for the rest of the half. Jermaine Johnson has been a non-entity for the Cougars. As the only player recognizable from last year's squad outside of Tony White, Johnson seems to have no drive or intensity about him. He's not getting the ball and he's not rebounding either. I think that I'm probably not the only one who thinks that he and his bad attitude should have left along with Josh Jackson.
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Halftime D 40 CofC 25
Boris has messed up some on the defensive end and the Cougars have converted at the rim. Barr and Curry hit big threes but CofC hit a big three before the half. Back with some stats in a little bit.

Sander leads all Davidson scorers with 12 points. He has gotten some nice looks inside and actually converted on a three-point attempt from the top of the key. His first ever three pointer came during his sophomore year down here in Kresse Arena and helped seal a 10-point Davidson win.

Davidson has outrebounded Charleston 26-15, with an 11-5 edge on offensive boards. Curry only has nine points on 3-7 shooting, with only 3 three-point attempts (he hit two).

Jermaine Johnson made a big shot near the end of the half to bring his point total up to 5, but Goudelock leads all Cougar scorers with 7. Tony White Jr. is 0-4 from the field while Dustin Scott is 1-3 from the field.

Davidson just about had the Cougars on the ropes after two consecutive three-pointers, but Charleston had big points before the half to keep their crowd and players in the game. This 15-point advantage doesn't look like much when you remember that Charleston recovered from a 50-25 halftime deficit to Temple to beat them on a neutral court.
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17:15 D 40 CofC 27
This second half has started slowly. CofC has shot a lot. Missed even more. Curry with a bone-head play as he fouls Tony White on a three-point attempt. White hits 2 of 3. Mad Max misses a gimme layup and things are getting frustrating. And then Thomas drops the ball. Davidson needs this media timeout coming up.
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15:30 D 44 CofC 30
Sander clears his throat and gets the scoring started again. He now has sixteen off of nice dishes from Curry and Lovedale. Andrew is getting better and better on offense with shot selection, dribbling and passing vision. The Cougars are missing some gimmes themselves, but the Wildcats aren't out of this heat by any stretch. Curry is still pretty unproductive by his standards. I expect that to change coming out of this timeout.
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11:56 D 46 CofC 31
The threes are not going down for Davidson tonight. Both Will and Stephen missed from the corner right in front of me. This is one of the slowest games in terms of scoring that we've seen since Elon. Curry just picked up his second foul away from the basket. While I mention some of Davidson's uninspiring offensive production, I might as well bring up Richards. He is really off his game tonight with a turnover and an air ball in front of the CofC student section. His assist totals are lower than normal which might not always be his fault, but he isn't playing his best ball tonight. 8 minutes into the second half...Davidson 6 CofC 6.
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9:30 D 51 CofC 34
Sander and Lovedale are reading the interior perfectly. First, Lovedale reads the double and dishes to a wide open Thomas (19 points) and then Sander returns the favor and Lovedale finger rolls it in. Davidson knows where to attack right now and they are doing it efficiently. That's good to see.
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7:32 D 53 CofC 39
Curry finally hits a jumper. He had the ball for most of that possession and was just waiting for his own dribble to find him space on the wing. Swish. He's only got 11. Don't think he won't search for those nine in the last seven minutes here.
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5:19 D 57 CofC 42
Two possessions. Two Curry shots and no dice. Curry needs to look for his teammates if the shot isn't there. Especially now. Davidson needs to put this game away. McKillop calls a full timeout while Curry was bringing the ball up the court at full speed. Nonetheless, Davidson's 15 point lead is enough to make some College students check out and start the party night early.
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1:57 D 63 CofC 52
Huge night for Thomas Sander. He now has 21 points including some nice looking FT strokes. This was a career night for him. The Cougars apply the pressure but it might be too little too late. Goudelock pulls it to within eleven and this place makes one last attempt at momentum.
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Final D 70 CofC 58
Outside of some strong play from Lovedale and especially Sander, this game didn't prove too much for either team. College of Charleston is not completely out of the SoCon race in the South, and yet Davidson didn't prove that they are unbeatable tonight either. They only proved that they were better than a Cougar team that missed tons of free throws and missed some layups. Davidson had their own trouble on the offensive end and did not put the Cougars away when they had the chances.

But another conference win on the road is nothing to be ashamed of. Davidson won't be content heading home...and that's a good thing. They still have a long road ahead of them before coming back to the fair city in a little over a month.

Home away from home

And so the Wildcats are back. 9-0 in the conference and staying in their home away from home at Davidson. Last night on the team bus, all of the guys were cracking up, laughing to the one-liners of a comedy on the bus screens. When several players began to see me packing my bag, their eyes perked up. There, coming around the bend of I-26 was the best bad hotel that any of these players had ever stayed in: the red Sheraton. The laughter descrescendo-ed into a serious, calm silence.

For seniors Jason Richards, Boris Meno and Thomas Sander (and even myself to a point), this city has been nothing but a haven of goodly southern hospitality, balmy Palmetto trees and winning basketball. In the last three years, Davidson has won 12 straight games while staying at that Sheraton with the slightly undersized rooms and pathetic attempt at a real bar in the premises. Richards, Meno and Sander remember Jason Morton's last-second heave to beat the College of Charleston and preserve that undefeated conference record in 2005. The juniors and seniors plus Brendan all remember Davidson's late-night come-from-behind victory to beat The Citadel in the quarterfinals of the 2006 SoCon tournament. They remember the celebrations after going back-to-back in the North Chuck Coliseum to win consecutive league titles and NCAA berths.

They remember how much pride and ownership the city of Charleston takes in the Southern Conference. Unlike Chattanooga, the host of the basketball tournament in 2009, Charleston has embraced SoCon sports across the map for many years, hosting baseball, basketball, tennis and soccer tournaments year in and year out.

The city's small newspaper, The Post and Courier, has taken on the responsibility of being the "official" news source of the Southern Conference, outworking David Uchiyama and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for that distinction by virtue of the presence of two SoCon schools within miles of each other. Even today as the basketball Wildcats walk through that Sheraton lobby on the way to shootaround, they will see not Clemson or Charleston or South Carolina or even The Citadel on the front page of the sports section...but themselves. Jeff Hartsell's 3/4 page article on Davidson entitled "A League of its Own," comes across as so complimentary to the Wildcats that even this former Davidsonian editor blushed a little. In fact, the article was so good to the rival of Charleston's home teams, that the Post and Courier have not even put it on their website yet. (EDIT: it is now up. You can see it here

So here we are. Back home again. The air is a little warmer. The streets a little less crowded. This ground isn't filled with all that Davidson-red clay...it's just nice smooth sand.

Will In Turn: Substance over Style

Danielle Hemerka is not a flashy player. In fact, if you look in your library’s thesaurus, Hemerka’s name comes up as item one as the antonym of flashy.

So while Stephen “cocked hand/sliding across midcourt/making everyone buy his jersey” Curry was continuing to assault the record books with a 29 point performance at Western Carolina, Hemerka did some assaulting of her own down I-40 in Elon.
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Read the rest of my post on Danielle Hemerka and her 1,000 points over on the Wildcats' Roar blog page.