What an exciting run for Davidson Basketball in the NCAA Tournament! Their resilience and heart were amazing to watch as they played teams that were much bigger and better-known. Stephen Curry was named the most outstanding player of the region even though Davidson lost to Kansas in the regional final.
Even in their final game, they had a chance to win at the end. Davidson was down five with the ball, and I noticed Curry standing clutching his shorts as they inbounded the ball. He was clearly exhausted, but he still caught the inbounds pass and hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to two. After the Davidsdon defense held Kansas without a good shot at the other end, Curry brought the ball up himself with sixteen seconds left. Double-teamed by two bigger Kansas players he passed to Jason Richards, the senior point guard, for a desperation three as the game ended.
Curry did not have the kind of game he did against Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin. He missed seven threes in a row in the second half. Still, the game was called pretty tight, which kept Kansas from simply overpowering the Davidson players. I felt like the whole team ran out of gas at the end. They turned the ball over much more than they did in the other three games, and often Kansas players were able to outfight them for rebounds.
If you are a fan of basketball, the Box Score of the Georgetown games has to be one of the strangest things you have ever seen. The Hoyas shot 63% overall and 55% from three point range and lost!
It would have been very interesting if Davidson had won. I would have been faced with my favorite sports team since I knew what a basketball was (North Carolina) against my alma mater in the final four. It would have been a fun problem to decide who to support.
2 comments:
I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about this game later, but right now I'm too upset by the loss. They should have won. They outplayed Kansas for almost the whole game, and just couldn't find the basket for most of the last five minutes.
Anywho, though, I am chuckling at the ESPN ticker under the baseball game right now (yea for opening day!) which sets everyone's mind at ease. Stephen is coming back for his Junior season. I just think it's funny that this is news. Frankly, I'll be shocked if he doesn't graduate.
I have to admit, and Belton knows this--I don't keep up with sports at all, even the ones I should, like DC and UNC. I don't have TV at home, and I have trouble remembering to pay attention to it and keep up.
I knew we were going, because that isn't news. What's news is not getting eliminated by Kentucky in the first round, which is usually how it goes for DC. I didn't even see the Gonzaga and Georgetown games--but now wish I had seen Georgetown, since I hear it was great.
I did see Wisconsin and Kansas. It was obvious that DC was not playing as well against Kansas as Wisconsin, for whatever reason--the caliber of the opponent, fatigue, whatever. It occurred to me that the team looked relaxed against Wisconsin--maybe where they were and what they were doing sunk in and they got intimidated by their own success, and choked them up against Kansas? And sometimes you just get cold, which DC did the first 10 mins. of the 2nd half. That was the wrong time to go cold, but they did. They still hung in there and played Kansas to one bucket, and the relief of the Kansas players and fans at the end of the game made me proud of DC--they fought them to a standstill, and the game could easily have gone the other way or into overtime. It's nice to cause heart failure amongst #1 seeds.
I cannot be disappointed in how things went for DC--they had a great run. They played incredibly well. They conducted themselves in an exemplary fashion (wow! I sound like my grandmother now), gained an amazing amount of positive publicity for the school, which I'm sure will have an impact on applications, alumni giving, etc. W/reunion weekend coming up at the end of April, it will, I'm sure, loosen up checkbooks and other things that Development Offices care about.
It was a great season, and there's no reason to think they won't have another one next year--the good news is that, while Curry is obviously very gifted and a necessary member of the team, he is not a complete one-man show--while the DC offense may rely heavily on him and be designed around him, it is, in fact, a team. That's a good thing. It gives them flexibility and adaptability when he's hurt, which inevitably, he will be.
But I'm just tickled they had the season they did. Oh, and WHADDYA MEAN you'd have trouble figuring out who to pull for if DC had faced UNC in the Final Four? I mean, I like UNC too, but I didn't GRADUATE from there! Jeez, Belton. . . .
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