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2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Saturday, March 29, 2008

‘So Good!’ Davidson keeps dream alive, 73-56

By Ryan Wood

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Davidson vs. Wisconsin

Davidson-Wisconsin

KU Basketball

Detroit — During a timeout midway through the second half, Davidson College's band broke into Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" as its adoring fan base sang along.

"So good! So good! So good!" they screamed.

Sure is.

Itty-bitty Davidson is floating today, after the 10th-seeded Wildcats knocked off third-seeded Wisconsin, 73-56, in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal on Friday at Ford Field.

With the victory, Davidson (29-6) has won 25 in a row, and will play Kansas on Sunday.

The winner will go to San Antonio for the Final Four.

"I am completely at ease," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said afterward. "I've never felt confidence with a group like I've felt confidence with this team."

Here was the fun part about Friday's stomping: By the end of the game, Davidson had 20 times as many fans at Ford Field as it has students at the tiny, 1,750-person campus in Davidson, N.C.

What's not to like? Davidson is playing great basketball at the perfect time. Skin-and-bones guard Stephen Curry had 33 points Friday, many in a fashion that dazzled the humming crowd. He now has 103 points in three NCAA Tournament games, quickly becoming the most talked-about player in the postseason.

"Steph," teammate Jason Richards said, "can do it all."

Once again, Curry's late-game surge proved breath-taking. He scored 22 in the second half Friday, and 77 of his 103 points in the tournament have come after halftime.

"I try not to force anything," Curry said. "It's hard for a defense to sustain itself for a full 40 minutes. Eventually you find yourself open."

He was open for six three-pointers Friday. Many came off feeds in transition by Richards, Davidson's talented point guard who had 11 points, 13 assists and no turnovers.

"Unparalleled," McKillop said of Richards' line.

Still, it was Curry who stole the show. The play of the night came with 9:07 remaining, when Richards dished to Curry in the midst of a backdoor cut. Curry went up and under the rim, made the beautiful lay-up and was fouled to put icing on the cake.

The 57,028 fans in attendance were amazed. Curry got a standing ovation when he left the game for good with Davidson up big.

"I stopped being awed with Steph Curry in December of last year," McKillop said of the 6-foot-3 guard who averaged 25.7 points per game entering Friday. "What he did tonight is what I expect out of him."

Ready or not, Davidson has crashed the Elite Eight party, beating Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin when seed indicated it should've been going home after the first round.

Afterward, Davidson's players jumped up onto the court, which is set up 27 inches above the bench. The pro-Wildcats crowd went wild behind them, but there was no uncontrollable celebration after yet another titan fell.

A businesslike victory by Cinderella? Well : no, not really.

"Yeah, there's a lot of emotions running through our body right now," Richards said, "but I think we were just plain ol' exhausted after the game."

Tired, but triumphant. Itty-bitty Davidson will take it every time.

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Comments

kc_wildfire (anonymous) says...

Has any team ever beaten a #1, #2 & #3 seed in the tournament...just to get to the Final Four?

If that happens it would have to go down as the biggest story in tournament history in my opinion.

March 29, 2008 at 8:27 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

leikness (anonymous) says...

Steph: It's not hard for a defense to maintain itself for 40 minutes. Wisconsin just blows a fat one. You'll see what I'm talking about tomorrow.

Curry gets 18 tomorrow.

March 29, 2008 at 8:35 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kushaw (anonymous) says...

I wouldn't doubt Curry at this point. I live 6 miles from Davidson and have attended a number of their games and the kid is flat unreal. Every fan blog I've seen up to this point keeps saying their team is going to hold Curry under 20 points. I don't know if KU can do that or needs to do that. I think KU only needs to do the Durant, and Augistine type of defense we've done the last two years.

It's also funny that I was at the games last night in Detroit and all the fans were shocked and couldn't understand what was going on with playing Case so much in the game. It only made since at the time that Self was saving his players legs for the game of their careers on Sunday. How was the game on TV? It seemed like in person that KU didn't play that well and won pretty ugly. Is this a good assessment?

March 29, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

cafranci (anonymous) says...

Case was in the game because of foul trouble in the backcourt, plus Stewart and Collins are sick.

March 29, 2008 at 9:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kc_wildfire (anonymous) says...

kushaw...

At times KU did play poorly...

~Some bad turnovers when Villanova was trapping near the sidelines

~Chalmers threw a terrible cross court pass that got stolen but luckliy Robinson hustled back and the ball eventually bounced off a 'Nova player and rolled out of bounds

~Chalmers, Rush and Collins all took at least one three point shot way early in the possession that also weren't in the flow of the play

~At one point Villanova had 10 offensive rebounds to KU's one. I realize when one team shoots over 60% and the other team is in the low 30% range that that stat will lean in favor of the poor shooting team but it does show rebounding as a whole and early on KU wasn't up to snuff

But beating a Big East team, even a middle of the pack one, by 15 points on a neutral court is a good sign. 'Nova kept trying to come back and every time KU would put erase any doubt that the ultimate outcome would be in jeopardy...only the margin of victory.

Three down...one more to go!

March 29, 2008 at 9:36 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kc_wildfire (anonymous) says...

Sorry about the jumbled sentence near the end. I typed one thought, changed it around a bit and left part of the original thought in.

March 29, 2008 at 9:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

mcrozb (anonymous) says...

KUShaw, my impression was the same thing that worried me all year, we get a big lead, them get complacent, and let up. We need to play 40 minutes. Roy and Bill have said, and I agree... When we get a team down, we need to go for the juggler and finish them off, not try to coast to the end.

Rock Chalk !!

March 29, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

I was reasonably impressed with KU's play, tho it got a bt hohum late in the game - not sure if that was the game or a screaming 3 mo daughter.

There were several plays, as KC mentions, where bad passes and/or good reads by V on decent passes, led to some breakaways. What ultimately imressed me tho was KU's hussle to get back and defended most into non-issues. I thought our off-defender ballhawked realy well also.

We also lacked the reserve spurt that Sherron provides so well.

V seemed to collapse on the bigs early, so it was great to see RR make them pay for it. I'd still hope that if they collapse to take away the bigs early - when KU likes to emphasize them, that we'd go back to them with a vengance when the 3 starts to open things back up.

Shady's spin move late in the 2nd half was beautiful, and what will get him drafted highly, even if he does need another year to learn the game from Danny. He probably falls into a category similar to Julian, but the extra teaching time with a coach like Danny could do so much for his game. Unfortunately, the NBA drafts based on potential and not developed skills.

March 29, 2008 at 10:07 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawkdan42 (anonymous) says...

I don't think Curry getting 30-35 points will beat us if we contain everyone else, don't turn the ball over, and stay out of foul trouble. Man, I can't wait until tomorrow,could this finally be our year?

March 29, 2008 at 11:28 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

truefan (anonymous) says...

I don't think the rest of Curry's team is as good as the rest of Beasley's team. We don't have to stop curry, we just have to stop the rest of his team. We are the best prepared team in the nation for taking on premier players on sub-par teams. O.J. Mayo, Beasley, Reynolds, Maric...the list goes on. I am not saying in any way that the game will or should be easy, but at least we will not be surprised when he makes Abrams and Augustine type plays. To me it will be like playing texas, but with only one of the two guards...not easy, but more managable. (I am pretty sure I mispelled a lot of players names, sorry I didn't have time to look them up) haha.

March 29, 2008 at 12:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

freak2304 (anonymous) says...

I believe that the key is the 2nd half of the game vs Davidson. In their 3 tourney wins they've won the 2nd half by 11, 15 & 17, respectively. Curry is going to get his 20+, most likely. I think the key for us is to keep scoring, take care of the ball, and limit them to one shot on their possessions. If we dominate the glass (like we should) and hold them to below average shooting % (like we should), it should be a 10+ point victory for the Jayhawks come tomorrow night!

March 29, 2008 at 1:29 p.m. ( | suggest removal )