'Cats fell short, but answered important questions

Published in The Davidsonian on Dec. 5, 2007. Photos by Evan Mintz.

Now it is December, and the Wildcats are 3-3. Davidson has seemingly been on a rollercoaster of momentum beginning with the start of the second half against North Carolina, dipping into despair after losing at Western Michigan, rising up to new heights with a convincing road conference victory at Appalachian State and then coming to rest somewhere in the middle with a frustratingly close loss to Duke. The Wildcats have been ranked in the nation’s top 25, dropped out of the vote-getting all-together and then climbed back into the “also receiving votes” category this past week.

Going into the season, Davidson fans had high expectations for success. The media has projected such things as a Wildcat appearance in the Sweet Sixteen, and Stephen Curry ’10 has been mentioned in most experts’ list as one of the best shooting guards in the country.

Heading into the second half of the team’s out-of-conference slate, this team still faces several unanswered questions. I, however, want to pause and point out exactly what we have learned so far in this topsy-turvy start to the season.

We all knew that Curry was a great talent, but after seeing him against both Duke and North Carolina, I was convinced that he was the best player on the court both times. Curry was the game’s leading scorer against North Carolina (24), even though he shot a horrendous 2-12 from three-point land. Against Duke, Curry was hampered by foul trouble on several dubious charging penalties, yet the sophomore still managed to score 20 points and keep Davidson within striking distance. Curry even showed his potential for the torrential destruction that could be unleashed on the Southern Conference when he scored 38 points against Appalachian State. The only thing stopping him in that game was fatigue. Averaging 25 points a game, Curry ranks sixth nationally.

Although Curry has been unstoppable against opposing defenses, he has not been able to lead Davidson above .500 through these first six games. We have seen that most of the burden of leadership actually falls on the shoulders of stud point guard Jason Richards ’08. While no one player or play can ever be totally blamed for any one team loss, one could easily look to Richards’ poor first half (0-5 FT shooting) against Duke or his uncharacteristic six turnovers against North Carolina to see that his play could have been the tipping point in the ’Cats’ favor. Heck, Curry scored 38 points against Appalachian State, and the Wildcats still only won by 11 (Richards went 1-9 from the field).

Although Richards has displayed a few lapses in consistency so far, his hand in leading the Wildcats can be seen from every angle. Richards’ 12-point, five-assist effort in the second half against Duke kept the Wildcats close while Curry rode the bench with foul trouble. Richards’ assist numbers (9.0 per game) are tops in the country by a large margin and his average of 33.5 minutes per game shows how indispensable he is.

The Wildcat frontcourt is vastly underrated. While Curry and Richards get all the press in the national media, the Wildcat frontcourt of Boris Meno ’08, Thomas Sander ’08, Andrew Lovedale ’09 and Steve Rossiter ’10 have played extremely well thus far. Although fans like to remember a missed dunk here or there, they often forget the innumerable displays of athleticism that this group has displayed against some of the nation’s top talents.

Last year against Maryland, this group was outscored 36-15 and outrebounded 30-19. The Wildcats had no answer for the Terps’ interior attack and the final result showed the discrepancy. However, against North Carolina this season, this group held Preseason Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough without a field goal for the entire second half. They outscored Duke’s frontcourt 38-19 and they helped give Davidson the edge on the offensive glass. In Southern Conference play, they held Appalachian State’s Jeremy Clayton and Donte Minter to a combined 11 points and made them turn the ball over seven times. Although they are mostly undersized in comparison to many BCS teams, this group has shown that they can battle with the best and come out on top.


Finally, we have learned how far the seriousness of this program has come. There once was a day when Davidson reveled in the opportunity to play on television and the TV game was always circled on the calendar. This year, the Wildcats play 15 of their 29 regular season games on TV, with a chance that regional networks might pick up a few more games during the season. There was also a time when Davidson fans came home and celebrated losses to Duke and North Carolina when Davidson was within a possession or two in the final minute. Now fans expect Davidson to beat ACC teams and are unwilling to accept anything less than a victory…as a victory. However, the expectations of fans extend beyond message boards and water-cooler talk. Over 3,000 fans showed up at Belk Arena on holiday break to see the Wildcats wallop N.C. Central. Bobcats Arena was filled to its capacity as North Carolina and Duke fans witnessed a proverbial sea of red nearly overcome the venue with Wildcat cheering.

We have learned a lot about this team and this program in these first few weeks of basketball. The Wildcat players and fans have a remarkable seriousness of purpose this season, and that has shown through against the traditional powers on a national stage. The Wildcats still have many questions to answer in this next stretch of schedule, but they have fulfilled many expectations so far.

Support needed for more than just the Basketball Team

This is the unabridged version of an article that I wrote for the 11/14/07 issue of The Davidsonian. The article was published as the staff editorial.


“It’s a great day to be a Wildcat!”

That semi-corny exclamation has been pronounced by many of the school’s leaders over the course of this fall semester. With a new president in place, a new financial aid plan that has eliminated loans and a stellar men’s basketball program that has broken onto the basketball scene, Davidson College is taking great pride in its brand right now.

The Wildcat Red and Black gives Davidson students, faculty, staff and alumni something to be proud of as the USA Today proclaimed to the country and the world that Davidson College was a very special place where top-notch academics and top-notch athletics go hand in hand. Men’s basketball has given the college a prime opportunity to convince the whole nation that academics, honor, integrity, teamwork and exceptional athletic accomplishment can all coexist in harmony.

However, not everything is so warm and fuzzy down in the Davidson athletic department. While the student-athletes and the coaches are all smiles about Davidson’s national attention and recognition, the employees that make everything click are being pushed to the max.

As Davidson basketball has attracted more and more fans, the demand for better game operations, brand marketing, media releases, broadcasting technology and overall efficiency has pushed an already underfunded athletic department to its limits.

In the past 10 years, Davidson’s administration has recognized the need to make the college nationally appealing by upgrading campus facilities, investing more in the faculty and making student loans a thing of the past. It is once again time to turn our eyes to athletics.

While every constituent group on campus, from the club sports teams to the Union café workers to the sophomores down the hill, can make compelling cases for why the administration should give them more money, it is our opinion that the athletic department’s support staff should be a high priority.

With the descent of the national media on the men’s basketball program, Davidson’s sports information department has had to give less time to the 20 other varsity sports on campus to make sure that all media demands are met. With advertisers and television media outlets calling for Wildcat marketing materials, the athletics department marketing office (which doubles as the head of game operations, merchandise and broadcast technology) has had to enlist the help of an already overworked staff to meet Davidson’s marketing and advertising needs. The athletic ticket office, the physical plant support staff and even the coaching staffs of the athletic teams have all been called upon to go above and beyond their salaries and job descriptions to keep up with the rising tide of men’s basketball hoopla.

At this point, even students have been negatively affected as Fountain Walker has called on the student population to move their cars literally off campus to make room for burgeoning attendance for men’s basketball games.

The college needs to develop a strategic plan to deal with parking issues, understaffed departments and all of the other demands that major college basketball puts on an institution.

This funding should go towards branding Davidson in the sports world and reaping the economic benefits of a basketball team that everyone wants a piece of. The profit margin of this investment would more than recoup the initially diverted funds.

When Appalachian State beat Michigan to start the college football season, the University’s athletic department was swamped with people who wanted a piece of the action. The same thing happened with George Mason a few years ago. Davidson has the opportunity to do that this year and we can’t be caught napping with our pants down.

McKillop, Wildcats embrace the bull's-eye

by Patrick McArdle, Co-Sports Editor of The Davidsonian (this article appears in the 11/7/07 issue of The Davidsonian as part of its 2007-2008 basketball preview)

Soon students and fans will walk down the red brick, across the road towards Belk Arena for the beginning of the much anticipated 2007-2008 Men's Basketball season. Last year's unparalleled success of 29 wins and a Southern Conference Championship took the campus and nation by surprise.

This year, however, no one underestimates Davidson, especially the national press. The most recent national article to laud the team appeared in "USA Today," emphasizing that top tier basketball and first-rate academics coexist at Davidson.

"I'm absolutely thrilled with the article and how it represented what we truly are, not just as a program but as a school as well," Coach Bob McKillop said. "Not many times can we have that story told."

Positive press, however, is sometimes a double-edged sword. McKillop and his staff have been negotiating the delicate dance of public relations throughout the offseason.

"You can't run from the media, but you can't stick your chest out because of it," McKillop said. "You have to understand why it's here. It's here not because of anything we've accomplished at this point, but instead it's about what has been in the past. And it's not just about what this team and what this coach has accomplished in the past, but it's what this program has done in the past."

While the team needs to prove itself again, the potential exists for another historic season. Unlike last year, one of the team's greatest strengths is experience, with all five starters from last year's team returning to the floor for the Wildcats.

Anchoring the frontcourt in his final campaign will be Thomas Sander '08. A versatile forward, Sander is versed in hard-nosed defense, rebounding, transition scoring and three-point shooting. Boris Meno '08 joins in the frontcourt, adding defensive versatility, rebounding excellence and senior leadership to the mix.

Joining them is a backcourt that ranks among the country's best. All-SoCon point guard Jason Richards '08 will again start for the 'Cats, utilizing leadership and the exquisite court vision that allowed him to tally the second-most assists in the nation last year. Richards has a great target in Stephen Curry '10, the phenomenal shooting guard who last year won SoCon Freshman of the Year and SoCon Tournament MVP. Curry led the SoCon in scoring with 21.5 points per game, ranking ninth in the nation last year. The final piece of the starting backcourt is Max Paulhus Gosselin '09, a defensive specialist who led last year's club with a .500 field goal percentage.

But five players are not enough to win against the grueling schedule. Luckily, the bench is also full of experience and talent. The backcourt bench runs deep, consisting of Will Archambault '10, Bryant Barr '10, Can Civi '09, Brendan McKillop '11 and Aaron Bond '11. The frontcourt is fortified by Steve Rossiter '09, Andrew Lovedale '09, Dan Nelms '10 and Ben Allison '11.

"When you go to the bench, when you go to your full rotation, there cannot be a dramatic dropoff in terms of the implementation and execution of the system," McKillop said. "Maybe we've had that happen in the past, but we feel extremely confident in the current rotation because of their experience in meeting that challenge."

Being consistent in implementing the game plan will be the team's constant challenge during the upcoming season.

"It's going to take 40 minutes," McKillop said. "We sometimes get amnesia during the course of a game against opponents who outmatch us in every way. We stick to a game plan and we stay within a system and we have success. But the consistency of sticking to the game plan and staying within the system has to have the duration of 40 minutes. The elusive quality of greatness is consistency."

On the offensive side of the ball, the plan is simple: attack. "All five players need to be in the attack mode. You can expect us to run on makes and misses. You can expect us to take full advantage of every out of bounds opportunity that presents itself," McKillop said.

One word also effectively summarizes the defensive philosophy: disrupt. "We love to break rhythm. Breaking rhythm causes a disruption of their flow, creates dry spells for your opponent and maybe allows you to go on a run that's not just a result of your attacking offence but is a result of your rhythm breaking defense."

The team looks to start strong early against Emory before its showdown with top ranked UNC. As McKillop emphasized at Night with the Cats, embracing the bull's-eye starts with the fans.

"Games can be decided by a few points. The crowd gives you that needed boost of adrenaline. The crowd perhaps puts the opponent maybe at a disadvantage confidence wise. The crowd perhaps influences the way our guys use their energy. And because of the crowd, we may be able to steal a basket or two or three and in many games that's the difference in the outcome."

Davidson media sources

Several days ago I promised an AP story to be coming on the heels of Reid Cherner's USA Today article. That story, Curry-led Davidson has the ingredients to be the next mid-major surprise, is now out in circulation despite its painfully long title.

Just to give an update for those new to this blog and Davidson Wildcat basketball, there will be many ways to follow the team this year.

Will's World will be publishing post-game stories with quotes and analysis as well other features and interviews that might come up throughout the season. However, the staple feature of this blog will be the live blogs. Although I only did it for a few games last year, it seemed that many Davidson fans liked to follow along online with running commentary. I hope to extend this to several road and home games during the course of the regular season as well as the Southern Conference tournament.

Davidson Basketball Blog, despite several conspiracy theories, is not actually run by me. A 1994 grad named Wells Black runs that blog out of Greenville, SC...it just so happens that we share the same initials and love Davidson basketball. He will be posting various Davidson content throughout the season including nationally syndicated articles, features from this blog, his own personal highlight videos and much more.

Make sure to check out the Wildcat fan message board where Davidson fans gather to banter about the games and share some of their collective memories of dribbles and passes from ancient glory days of the 1960's and 1970's.

Finally, keep up to date with the Davidson sports home page and the Davidson student newspaper, The Davidsonian. The athletics site will have game stories, statistics and pictures as well as a new multimedia service where fans can watch live and archived broadcasts of all Wildcat basketball games for a small fee. The new broadcasting system will have multiple cameras and will be a step above the SoCon.tv service from last season.