Raleigh

Nov. 22, 2008

On 16point8.blogspot.com:

So I drove up to Davidson for the Winthrop game and I was in the Union late Friday afternoon and I picked up a Davidsonian. Former editor in chief and whatnot.

Here, verbatim, from the Campus Police Blotter on page 3:

11/11/08

3:18 p.m.

Suspicious Basketball Fan

200 Baker Drive

On Tuesday November 11, 2008 at 1518 hrs officer Heinz received a call on the officer cell phone in reference to a suspicious person at Baker Sports, 200 Baker Dr. Cell phone call advised the male subject asked about having basketball memorabilia autographed. Cell phone caller advised the subject was driving a silver SUV. Reporting officer observed a silver 1998 Lincoln Navigator parked near the Knobloch Campus Center, 207 Faculty Dr. Reporting officer found the owner of the vehicle inside the Campus Bookstore. Reporting officer advised the man of Davidson College policy that he could not walk or drive the campus looking for basketball players to autograph items. The individual complied with the investigation and agreed he would not.

Comments?

Nov. 21, 2008

Lauren Biggers on DavidsonWildcats.com:

When it was all said and done, five ‘Cats were in double-figures, led by 30 points and 13 assists from America’s Sweetheart.

Converted forevermore, SteVe Rossiter put up 13 – including a perfect 3-of-3 from the line (sigh, free throws), and Bryant Barr, known forevermore as “the white lobster” finished with 11. I’m not sure where this nickname originated, but I know that (a) I like it, (b) it’s complete with a hand signal, and (c) that kid in the student section in the white lobster costume tonight = awesome.

“That’s probably the most awesome costume ever,” director of basketball operations “TI” said afterwards. Or something very similar, I’m sure.

“Did you see my mascot?” the actual white lobster asked. With a smile.

In her first night on press row, SID assistant Alex was enjoying her new view. “You can hear everything,” she tells me, amazed(ish), before observing the students. “What is that flag … and why is that guy dressed like a … shrimp?”

Comments?

Nov. 20, 2008

Base Rich on Lefty's Legacy:

More than potential, close losses reveal a lot about a team’s character. This team never gave up. They pushed and pushed and will continue to push until the final buzzer sounds. This is the great spirit that Coach McKillop funnels into his system, a system imbued with huge ideas. Let us raise our heads and take in the big picture.

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Right before tip against Wisconsin

Lots of good photos. Keep them coming.

Nov. 19, 2008

Will Bryan on Somewhere in the Middle:

As writers like Scoop Jackson try to come up with new angles and names for this whole Davidson/Curry thing, it seems like one adjective has been glaringly omitted.

Odd.

I mean we've danced around it with terms like unique and special and one-of-a-kind, but frankly Davidson basketball can be downright odd.

Case in point: As we were watching highlights Kansas' elaborate banner-raising ceremony last night, I was told of the story of Davidson's own Elite 8 banner-raising ceremony.

It consisted of a guy on a ladder and three sports information staffers standing in an empty gym clapping.

Upon hearing the clapping from the hallway, a skinny kid wearing a hoodie bounded onto the court and started yelling.

"Steph, stop yelling at the guy on the ladder. You'll make him fall off."

So the NCAA's current points leader, first team All-American and now-leading candidate for National Player of the Year runs into the sports information office and turns up Queen's "We are the Champions" and sings it a little off-key.

We are odd.

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Nov. 14, 2008

More from England:

I just need to take a moment to honor and remember a day -- a year ago today, in the heart of Charlotte, deep blue sunset skied, one of my days that will always make me happy. Being with friends and a community of people, a community that I belong to -- eating and laughing and singing, anticipating, as the night sparkled all the skyscrapers. And then we went inside to watch Davidson play UNC in basketball. In the screaming, sweaty, jump-up-and-down, horns-blasting whistles-blowing madness there was joy. And there was hope -- hope that our boys and what they stand for might... be recognized? Be known? We didn't know then what we would witness. But on that day and one year later, at the start of another season, one with more hype and expectations and frenzy than we had ever expected, I still feel the same: grateful. Proud. Cup-runneth-over-God-gave-me-this-place-reachin-out-touchin-me-touchin-you. And if I could make it there in an hour and a half, I would. Because it will be wonderful, and I will miss it. But I'll go back to it soon and tonight I will probably listen to John Kilgo (!) at 2 a.m.... just had to give thanks once again for that night.

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Nov. 13, 2008

From my journal while I was abroad in England:

I WATCHED Davidson play Lenoir-Rhyne College last night -- paid $5.95 cause Kilgo isn't starting till Friday. But Teamline has live video stream -- so no commentary, just THE GAME. And all the sights and sounds of Belk Arena. I was flipping out with surreal joy and longing, SEEING the starting line up (Steve! Bryant! Max! Steph!Andrew!), hearing THE NATIONAL ANTHEM... hearing the pep band play songs that make Davidson for me. So weird, so awesome... Becca came over for the second half and we squealed and talked and sighed wistfully and watched our home on a screen. And sang "Sweet Caroline."

Oh, and we won 87-54.

And Steph had a VERY quiet -- 41.

Ya know -- tie your career high in an exhibition -- no big deal.

We were a bit sloppy and D-Cats is already freaking out (although in the in-game M. Kruse wrote "It sure was worth the $5.95 to watch this EXHIBITION GAME on my MacBook." Thanks Kruse. Reality check.) but I have faith. If I learned ANYTHING last year, it is to keep the faith.

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Nov. 11, 2008

On 16point8.blogspot.com:

Stephen. He had more turnovers than he should have, and more than he will have, you can be sure of that, but I think watching him with the ball in his hands is just going to take some getting used to. Not just because he’s on the ball more now, or was against LRC, but because in that slot he brings such a different look than we’re used to. By we I mean those of us who’ve watched Davidson basketball for longer than like the last 15 minutes. Davidson basketball? On the ball is an Alpert, or an Ali, or even a Jason.

Not a guy who scores 41 points on 19 shots.

One thing I was reminded of tonight: Some of his jumpers, his threes in particular, tend to be what I’ll call “separaters” -- shots that make a 9-point lead a 12-point lead, or a 13-point lead a 16-point lead, etc. I don’t know if those numbers were the numbers from tonight, or any other night, but I’m just talking in generalities here. His shots seem to make leads bulge. It’s like: Stephen shot, Stephen shot, and -- boom -- the Davidson lead is all of a sudden some kind of comfy.

Comments?

Oct. 18, 2008

Will Bryan on Somewhere in the Middle:

In watching ESPNU’s coverage this morning, I noticed that they said that Gonzaga will be the Davidson of this season. Considering all of the ways in which Davidson has aimed to follow the Gonzaga basketball formula of having extended conference success, playing high-profile non-conference schedules, and trying to splash in March, it is so ironic that it was Gonzaga that Davidson beat to spark their run this year, and now Gonzaga is being compared to Davidson.

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Gratitude

Possibility

May 15, 2008

I started making a scrapbook for the '07-08 season on March 1, 2008.
In the next four weeks, I had to go out and buy two more volumes.
Pages and pages and pages.
Here's part of what I wrote and stuck on the last page:

But it's not really those accomplishments that I am unable to put into words. It's this entire place, every single one of these people that come together to form a community of love, hope, trust, and -- the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying -- (joy: a very apt dictionary definition) -- in everything we do here. And I honestly think that the hardest thing for me to express, what I am at a complete loss for words over, is that I have a place here. It's not that I think I'm undeserving... it's just... words don't exist for my thankfulness to God for bringing me here. Or to the many strangers who became friends, rooting my heart here once I arrived. That makes me speechless more than any unexpected, magnificent win. But every part of it is knitted together; every piece of this Davidson life, every day, every person, every game, gives me a reason to shout with happiness, to be silent with thanks.

In three days, I'm going to leave Davidson College for seven months, and though I'm so ready to be home, my heart is already aching -- I think it's been aching since March 30th. I have experienced a lot of subtle changes in the past year, and I'm excited to go explore another place for a semester, but -- I had an epiphany a couple of nights ago.

Worn out, uncertain, and confused, my mind immediately flew to one place that I knew could get rid of it all. Out of Belk, down past Cannon, Sentelle, Duke, bypassing the Union, tripping down the cobblestone path -- maybe it's a cold January/February night -- past the Wildcat, hitting the stone steps where I fall in with parents, kids, students, professors, the crowd from The Pines, all bustling across the street and into the warmth of Baker Sports Complex where the pep band is already playing, where my friends are already gathering, where I have a seat that I won't sit in for the next two hours. Right now, as a twenty-year-old unofficial college junior, this is the place that I want to be when I'm scared or sad or worried. And when Michael Kruse asked me "why?" a month ago -- why this team, why this game, why all of it, why any of it -- that's what I should have told him. That when I am standing here in the student section of Belk Arena, surrounded by warm, friendly people who love this place like I do, getting ready to cheer for a team that embodies the hope, determination, and community of this college, I am content. Everything is right.

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May 1, 2008

Claire for Davidson Creates:

When I think of hope I think of a bath-water warm November day down South where the burnt red trees of autumn overpower the Carolina blue sky and driving down 77 in Wednesday afternoon rush hour blasting a corny pop song about reaching out-touching me-touching you out the open windows and my jittery body squished between sweaty red-shirted friends who will always be family too many to a row above and below me surrounded by this redandblack joy loud and jumpy ready and waiting crammed into a cavernous arena that normally houses pro teams Grammy winners but tonight I see fourteen boys jog onto an NBA basketball court hear our voices roar and I become fused into one being with my peers who share this life with me chanting yelling clapping never stopping buoying our boys as they line the floor anticipating waiting just like us and I feel my grin ache happy and my eyes well up because I know that they come from us are part of us of this community just like me just like you just like we and now, please welcome the starters for your yes OUR Davidson Wildcats D-Block rocks and rolls humming energy people wave signs for ESPN my camera newspaper cameras television cameras flash feet bounce up and down to the bass pumping through speakers at guard a 6’3 sophomore from CHAR-lotte North Carolina arms waving here we go at guard a 6’6 junior from MONT-real Quebec my mouth is dry from shouts and the game hasn’t even started at forward a 6’8 senior from CIN-cinnati Ohio because who knows what could happen anything could happen really at forward a 6’8 senior from PAR-is France our proud yells lift up purpose lift up possibility we believe in and at guard a 6’2 senior from BARR-ington Illinois we wear the name we share the pounding heart on and off the court the Wildcats are coached in his nineteenth season by and I yell because I love it love Davidson and maybe tonight is the start of something of dreams emerging maybe soon we can show the world that as our boys raise their hands and we raise ours it’s not just about this game it’s about pumping our fists and chanting DAV ID SON at the top of our worn out lungs as we leave it’s about every day we spend together it’s about the compassion at the redbricked heart of this little school in this little town and so long before there are miraculous rebounds and magical three-pointers and interviews front page articles and spray-painted sheets hanging on porches there is hope and I am a part of it.

Comments?

On the shot, and trust

William: But in that moment, we had in our hearts and minds, proleptically I think the theologians would say, the joy of having it go in. Before it was not in, it was as good as in. For that fraction of a second, we had that experience, and it is enough. It is well worth the journey. At least for me it is, and I guess the ultimate point of this too-long post is that I hope it is also worth it for Jason. He took the shot. He gave us that moment. He trusted, and all we can do is be sure our reaction is worthy of that trust. Our responsibility, if that’s not putting it too boldly, is to be alert to the value of that moment, to cherish it and remember it.

Belk in April

And Stan again

Still on the board:

But Sir Steph’s apprenticeship will someday end and he will go off to fight his own dragons. New knights in training must be found. And the story of the old myth is that the process and securing of talented young apprentices requires plentiful resources, good facilities, and a multitude of adoring masses to join the loyal monks. This requires a plan. A plan much like the one originally proposed by Terry the Dutchman.

The magic beanstalk is a wonderful gift. We don’t ever want it to wither and die. More benefactors like Sir Dell and Lady Curry are not easily found when the beanstalk is gone. Better to develop and keep a pipeline of good young knights. And that requires adopting the plan and raising the resources which King Sam forbade.

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John Burns keeps it going

On the board:

And all this, dear reader, came to pass without lowering King Sam’s standards, for the young knight and his band of brothers were all, to a man, deserving of places in that special little school in that special little town, and never will you hear that gainsaid. Yea, verily I say unto thee, most of the young knights errant who tended the flame in the days of the Lefthander would not gain admittance to that place today. And so, my young ones, be it known throughout the land, that Davidson does things the right way.

And verily it came to pass that Sir Dell and his Lady of Curry came to the keeper of the bottle and asked that he take care of their young knight in training. When the keeper agreed, Sir Dell entrusted him with a magic bean which had been a gift of the basketball gods. The magic bean was planted in the bottle. The keeper watered the magic bean and cared for it until the beanstalk had grown all the way to the top of the NCAA sky. Then the keeper and young Steph climbed the beanstalk, defeated the Zag guarding the castle in the sky and then slew Goliath himself.

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Stan responds to Captain America

On DavidsonCats.com:

And the gods who had blessed the lefthander with one of the greatest recruiting classes in all over history left barren the land formerly brimming with milk and honey. Names and records that had gathered dust and disinterest over the many years after the lightning had long been gone from the bottle were forgotten by the many. Only a few monks, devoted to the old order, kept the faith.

But one day the gods sent a new keeper for the bottle. Against all the odds, he insisted that the bottle still contained a spark from the magical days of old. At first, no one else could see it. But the keeper nurtured the bottle and breathed his own spark of life into it.

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Beating Wisconsin

This from Captain America

Greg Dunn '71 on DavidsonCats.com:

Back at the dawn of time, before the creation of cable TV, when cagers roamed the earth clad in short shorts and kneepads, when keys were narrow and hook shots were common, The Gods of Basketball looked upon the NCAA and were displeased.

“We must do something: Bearcats, Hoosiers, Buckeyes and Tar Heels and the big schools are taking over our great game. We need to do something like we did in Indiana with Hickory, shake em up, give the little guy a chance.”

And so it came to pass that a little tiny school with two security guards, in a town with three traffic lights (that went blinker at nine o’clock) was given the blessing of the Basketball Gods. The Left-Hander appeared and before long the little school no one had ever heard about began to make noise, a lot of noise.

They cracked the Buckeyes, sodomized the Blue Devils, roasted the Gamecocks, condemned the Demon Deacons, humiliated the Cavaliers, cutting a wide swath through the United States. The Tar Heels were afraid to play them. Afraid!

And so after getting within a buzzer beater of making the Final Four, two years in a row, Davidson was a basketball power and the Gods enjoyed the jest. Mayberry ruled, the Powers ran for cover.

But … strange hubris began to take hold at Davidson. The rulers of Davidson began to believe that Davidson as a basketball power was in the natural order of things – it required no special effort, it would always be. So then the Left Hander came to King of Davidson and said: “There is a special player the Wildcats need, his name is Brian Taylor and though his board scores are low the Tigers, the school who we often compare ourselves to, have admitted him. Surely you Highness recognizes our needs and will allow him to be a Cat.”

But after deliberation with his Henchmen, the King said: Our standards are holy and cannot be bent – go forth and find someone else to beat the Tar Heels with.”

And the Gods were angry. Did not this little man understand the gift Davidson had been given? Did the King’s Henchmen not appreciate the attention, the fame, the interest from students all over the country? Why would they spit in the God’s faces?

And so the Gods took the Left Hander away. And when the King was given a second chance when Larry the Traveler became coach, he still did not change. So the Great Larry was taken away as further punishment.

But the Gods relented as they had always liked underdogs and enjoyed the jest so even after these two ungrateful and foolish decisions–they gave the Kingdom of the Cats the twenty-nine year old Terry the Dutchman. And though Terry could not get the Kingdom back to quite its former glory the Cats still sodomized Blue Devils, roasted Gamecocks, humiliated Cavaliers and offered the Tar Heels the chance to play–which they were still afraid to do for fear the Cats would rule all of Carolina.

But the Kingdom was in danger of losing its basketball power and the Dutchman knew it. So he rallied the merchants and Lords of the Kingdom, the Belks and the Littles, and met with King Sam. The Dutchman offered to raise sufficient funds on his own, to keep the Cats as powers. New facilities, more recruiting and travel money, all without asking King Sam for a farthing. King Sam pondered and declared: “If I let the basketball team raise money it will hurt our other fund-raising. I deny your request now make do and begone.”

The God were furious. Three times the King had spat on the gift, three times he had refused to do anything, three times he and his henchman, the accursed Faculty, imagined that the Cats would always be a basketball power.

The skies grew dark, the lightning struck and the earth split. The Dutchman left, recruits quit coming, the end came quick. Disaster begat disaster, by the time the King saw what had happened it was too late to fix. No fund-raising, no recruiting, no one player or coach could save it. The magic was gone, the lightning was out of the bottle and the Gods moved on to other small schools.

And so this is the terrible tale of how the basketball program of a little Kingdom in the middle of nowhere came this close to ruling the basketball world before the Gods destroyed it for the sin of hubris.

Your Loyal Scribe,

Captain America

Comments?

April 3, 2008

Stan Brown '78 on DavidsonCats.com:

Many years ago, the president of Oklahoma University said he wanted a university the football team could be proud of. I used that for the tongue-in-cheek title of this post, but I want to focus on the importance of athletics to Davidson and its mission because I believe that Davidson and major college athletics are inextricably intertwined.

John Gerdy once said that Davidson College does not need Division I athletics, but Division I athletics desperately needs Davidson College. While I certainly agree that the NCAA needs us, I have come to understand that major college athletic competition is a far more critical part of what makes Davidson unique than I once did. In part, that is because we all have a tendency to uncritically over-emphasize the importance of academics in assessing what makes our college great. More on that in a moment.

Someone estimated that George Mason’s Final Four run a couple of years ago had a publicity value that would have cost the school $677 million dollars to purchase as advertising. While the ridiculous precision of the number may raise doubt about its validity, we can all agree that the true value is substantial. Davidson has received public acclaim over the last two weeks which dwarfs comparisons to George Mason.

That $677 million estimate is an effort to quantify the advertising value of eyeballs and ears. What advertising can never do, however, is purchase the heart. A number of writers this week have noted that the Elite 8 run by the Davidson Wildcats is more than the story of the 2008 NCAA tournament. It is one of the most compelling stories in the history of the tournament. That would be true enough if it were merely the story of a small, 1,700 student school competing with the basketball behemoths. It really is a great Cinderella story. But that is not what riveted the attention of millions of hearts and minds around the nation.

What touched so many people was the quality of the character of the people who make up the Davidson community. Our coach, our players, our students and our trustees stunned people with their demonstration of generosity, humility, love, commitment and all the other virtues that make Davidson what it is (besides the free laundry).

I’ve spent far too much time reading columns written by writers all over the country in the last week or two. I’ve tried to post a number of them on this board. Normally cynical writers who are inundated by spin on a daily basis have written about Davidson people in terms that I’ve rarely if ever seen in my 40-plus years of avid reading about sports. People who regularly cover the NFL, NBA, MLB and NCAA football and basketball noted the special quality of our people.

One wrote that everyone should be able to go to school at a place like Davidson. One wrote, not in jest, that the world would be better off if Davidson were to win. They lauded our team’s unselfishness, their teamwork, their spirit, their humility, their toughness and their discipline. They were amazed and impressed by our coach. They were genuinely touched by the character of our athletes.

One writer wrote a special column about Steph Curry. He noted that he really, really hates all the references to God that some athletes make these days. But he ended his piece by noting how impressed he was with the Steph’s genuine humility. He wrote that any religion would be proud to have Curry represent its faith.

Our basketball team gave the entire Davidson community an opportunity to witness to the nation about the values that are important. That really is priceless. The team’s success this year also provided students, alumni and everyone connected to Davidson an experience that will last a lifetime. One that couldn’t be replicated without athletics at this level.

As I was walking through the stands in Ford Field, I was stopped by two college students and asked if I was a Davidson alum. They wanted confirmation that Davidson really was succeeding in major college sports with a student body of only 1,700 and academic standards as high as ours are. They asked how we managed it (they said their school, Hillsdale, struggled to play Division II with only 1400 students). I told them it was hard. I didn’t say it to them, but I think one of the best reasons for us to continue to make the effort to do it is precisely because it is so hard. Because making that kind of effort is a big part of what makes Davidson what it is. As I walked away they asked that we win one for all the little schools out there.

Davidson is unique among the nation’s top liberal arts schools because we are the only one competing in Division I sports. If it was easy, everyone would do it. But Davidson has always been about excellence and it has always recognized that college is about much more than academics and test scores. We live by an honor code because we recognize that spiritual growth is even more important than the mental stimulation we get from our academic studies. And we compete at the top level of athletics because we understand that a well-rounded person seeks physical growth and the pursuit of excellence requires the best in competition. Coach McKillop has been quoted often about his quest for our team to play the perfect game. His standards (and his life) fit Davidson so well.

It would be foolish to say that the Davidson experience was responsible for the character which our basketball student-athletes demonstrated this year. I don’t think it far-fetched, however, to say that Davidson’s standards attracted players with character. Or that Coach McKillop and the Davidson experience brought forth the excellence that was within them.

Davidson could abandon the honor code and still be a highly ranked academic institution. But it would no longer be Davidson. We could abandon Division I athletics, too. But we would no longer be Davidson. And we would no longer be unique.

I think it critically important that we always remember that Davidson is much, much more than rigorous academics. Davidson is about well-rounded personal development and the quest for excellence in all areas.

Can I get a witness?

Comments?

Standing O

March 28, 2008.

More.

Wells Black on DavidsonCats.com:

Here's a comment that was left anonymously on my blog by a person that had no knowledge of or connection to Davidson before the NCAA tournament. I think it's great that this team is able to touch people so far away in such a big way. I felt this was cool enough to pass along to all of you that may not see it on the blog.

"So, I didn't know a school named Davidson even existed before this years NCAA tournament. I don't know what it was about them, but from the first time I saw this team playing, I forgot about rooting for all my Texas teams and started rooting for them. I didn't think it was possible, but they made me love basketball so much more. I don't know much about the school or students, but their determination, courage, skills, and HEART was so evident when I watched them play. I'm sure it is an honor and joy to be associated with the school and team, thanks for allowing some of us from far yonder experience a glimpse of heaven!"

Comments?

... and still more ...

Eddie Nicholson on DavidsonCats:

I loved all of it. The entire ride. The ups, the downs, the games, talking about the games, interacting with fans, coaches, players' families, etc., and the 100th year reunion, which would have been what we were all talking about but for the drama on the court.

All of it.

The final face plant was a bit sudden and numbing, but complaining about that is like saying something was lacking in your life because eventually you died.

Maybe the most amazing part of it, and a part that outlives the season, is that we have a reason-based hope that Davidson will be in the mix again next year.

Nowadays, "It's a great day to be a Wildcat" is both a corny cliche and the literal truth.

Comments?

On I-85 that spring

... and even more ...

Cheshirecat on DavidsonCats.com:

What I loved:

Feeling closer to my Davidson brethren than ever before as we chanted “We Believe!” in the latter stages of the Kansas game.

Seeing the Georgetown game with my dad next to me in the student section (you’d have to know us, but that was one of the best days of my life).

Realizing that my cries of jubilation were silent after my voice disappeared in the wake of the Gonzaga win.

Watching perhaps the most well-grounded student athlete in the country constantly deflect praise onto his oft-overlooked teammates.

That the actions of a few classy young men were able to engender goodwill and joy across a community.

That the toll takers on the West Virginia Turnpike congratulated us on our run.

That the team exuded confidence, but never cockiness.

That we went for the win.

That I cared enough to sob uncontrollably after J-Rich missed.

And finally, that I really believe that these feelings could never be reproduced anywhere else.

Who is Cheshirecat?

... and more ...

Matt Nicholson on DavidsonCats.com:

What I love: The Davidson T’s were all sold out at the souvenir stands, kids would see my Curry jersey and whisper to their parent, “That’s the jersey that I want,” and a Ford Field worker as I walked out Sunday was whistling “Sweet Caroline.”

Comments?

And more from March 31, 2008

Claire in her journal:

YOU WERE GREAT IN 08 -- YOU’LL SHINE IN 09!

I know it’s small-town sweet, but seeing this sign on the town green as we finally get back just makes me want to punch something (Hey, Jayhawks, c’mere).

It doesn’t help that I have to go to class in ten minutes.

Yeah.

Around three-disgusting-something in the morning, after finally settling down and putting on a movie (Hitch has never been less funny), we stopped at a bus weigh station in Kentucky? Ohio? Tennessee? I don’t know, with a mini store and two bathrooms for over two hundred people. Good idea, bus drivers. Good plan there. Jamie had rubbed her eyes groggily as we all wandered aimless squinting through the fake lights, said, “I’m twenty minutes from home. I could just call my mom, tell her to come get me.”

And now Dr. Boyd looks around wistfully, her eyes shining too brightly. This redheaded woman, standing in a building where she once was a student, mother of two boys, looks at us -- tired in spirit just as we are, just as our bodies are fake-straight against the chairs, trying to get the bus smell out of our nostrils and the hole out of our stomachs, put away thoughts of sleep -- but could I really sleep when I keep reliving it over and over in my head? I feel thick mellowed filmy 24-hour sweat on the back of my neck even though I changed clothes. I’ve left my ears in the bowels of Ford Field.

Work just doesn’t work today. It’s not about work today.

Comments?

Down in Charlotte

More March 31, 2008

Will Bryan:

The NCAA tournament accomplishments of Davidson reflected the lump sum of a rational set of terms more than some sort of discovery of a magic glass slipper. When you add exceptional talent to unceasing hard work to faith in one’s teammates to trust in outstanding coaching to the uplifting support of a passionate army of followers, you get the type of performance that Davidson demonstrated in the NCAA tournament. I guess I just underestimated the absolute value of each term.

Comments?

March 31, 2008

Lauren Biggers on DavidsonWildcats.com:

As we sit on the bus and wait for a plane to take us home, assistant director of ticketing and roommate on this crazy ride, April Albritton has a song stuck in her head. You know the one.

Good times never seemed so good.

It is the song that has come to define a season. A season so good that we will always remember this crazy ride.

And yet, without the good times, there is no reference point for this moment. These feelings.

They make the good times feel so good.

This loss will hurt for a while, to be sure. But when it’s all said and done, it’s the good times that we will remember. The winning, the records, the championships, the banners.

Beyond that every story is personalized. Remember where you were when the Wildcats knocked off Gonzaga? Georgetown? Wisconsin? Remember how you felt? Remember that.

Comments?

John Burns on DavidsonCats.com

With this:

My lasting impression from this season, thanks to these gutsy kids, is the feeling I had when that shot left Jason’s hand. Joy. Anticipation. Hope. What happened next is irrelevant.

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William on DavidsonCats.com

Here:

If we are mark’d to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

So, it turns out that the Henry V speech was prescient, if not exactly for the reason we thought. It seems clear that Kansas won because they outnumbered us, and our guys finally got run down enough to make for a one-basket difference. This is no knock on our bench -- as that Jason Whitlock guy said, when the other team brings a potential NBA starter off the bench, well, that’s something. Curry outran everybody who tried to keep him from getting the ball and an inch of daylight until four guys finally slowed him down just enough to reduce him, momentarily, from transcendent to merely brilliant.

Sixty five teams enter this contest, and the players and partisans of all but one will go home disappointed, so one must be prepared to expose one’s character at a time of loss. Our guys did that well. I can’t think of a more honorable way to fall short than to just run out of gas. No one needs to look back on a bad shot, a missed free throw, a bad call by a ref. All those variables were within the normal range.

Whitlock’s article, posted elsewhere, makes some good points, and it is a warm feeling to know that just about the whole world wanted “us” to win. But I respectfully disagree with him on one point. The players and fans of Kansas need feel no regret about stopping Davidson one step short of the goal. Because Coach McKillop and his team aren’t pesky, and they don’t need anything other than a fair chance to run any team in the country off the court. They played the 1, the 2, and the 3, and fell short by that much. They don’t need a pat on the head. They belong, and I’m sure they are prepared to deal with what happened.

By winning the Southern Conference tournament, the team earned the privilege of playing one game on what is arguably the largest stage in amateur sports. They fought their way -- like Wildcats -- to the opportunity of playing four such games, each more important than the previous. There were so many highlights that it will take all summer to sort them out. Just the second half comeback against Georgetown was a big enough highlight for a whole season.

When Jason’s shot was in the air, everything was possible. That moment is why we take the ride, and I thank the players and the coach for that moment, and all the others.

Comments?

Claire in Detroit

Here:

They are standing and the clock the clock NO don’t start clock NO oh my god oh my god oh my god

There is no hunger there is no thirst there is no future past before or after there is just now now now and I see Stephen with the ball moving desperate back forth fake up side side and the clock hurts it wrenches my stomach and pummels my heart and their arms are too much too big too everywhere why can't he slip past why can't it just move and slip through and go and swish down so easy and right and suddenly Stephen doesn't have the ball he doesn't have it shit shit shit he doesn't have it it's in the air it's in Jason's hands breathe in breathe out Jason Jason Jason Jason can make threes he hit like five on Friday Jason Jason Jason fivefourthreetwo and he launches it I can't look I can't look I can't look because it means something will happen but I look because it means something will happen because we could win this game

No. No NO nononono NO no NO I don’t understand fucking shit I don’t understand I don’t it didn’t happen shit it fucking didn’t it’s not true it’s a joke it was practice we get to do it again and again and again until we get it right again it isn’t real it he’s not falling to the ground (JRich will not let this team lose very many games. His chest might not be big enough for his heart.) no no no no he’s not I can’t look I can't there’s not he’s not it’s not NO.

I’m angry I’m so so angry I’m so no I’m not I can’t feel anger I can’t feel anything I am frozen burning falling standing we have to I have to get out I can’t move I don’t want to move please can we do it over again all over again please I have to get the fuck OUT of here I want to go to sleep no I want to start over I want NO I want Final Four I want it to be four minutes ago thirty seconds ago whatever the hell just not right now just NOT RIGHT NOW AFTER no no no

“THANK YOU, TRUSTEES! THANK YOU, TRUSTEES!”

But NO it hurts this time to scream it literally hurts my heart my throat my eyes it hurts but I scream it because it’s true and I clap my tired buzzing numb palms because but it’s too fast it happened too fast it is it is it was it isn’t it wasn’t

“THANK YOU, WILDCATS! THANK YOU, WILDCATS!”

And we chant and they’re walking off the court because it’s over it’s over it’s over but I can’t I want to thank them but I want them to be happy and they’re not and I’m not I can’t I mean I just it’s not who can

“HAAAAAAND TOUCHING HAAAAAAAAAAAND—”

Oh my dearest lord god this is going to DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT but I sing in my hoarse hoarse exhausted voice sing it again play it again

“REACHIN OOOOOOUT, TOUCHIN MEEEEEE, TOUCHING YOOOOOU!”

It’s loud always loud it’s the same but it’s not the same how can they play it down there how can they hold their instruments the same why the hell why am I singing it when I’m SO FUCKING SAD?

Can’t look at the court can’t look hear buzzing and listen to my own voice barely there I am so Jesus Christ tired and my phone is buzzing in my pocket and I’m so mad so so mad at my phone at my parents I know it’s them I don’t even look and I want to jump and punch and scream WHY WOULD YOU EVER CALL ME RIGHT NOW WHAT IS THERE TO SAY THERE IS NOTHING TO SAY I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED I WILL NOT EVEN IF I AM

“SWEET CAROLINE, OH OH OH! GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO—”

My eyes are stinging popping with tears but they don’t spill they don’t they can’t I’m surrounded I want to burst into tears I want to so bad it hurts not to and we just stand and sing and the signs are down but hands are up and fists are raised but I just can’t I just want I want it all back I want it all forward but different not this forward not this and I don’t want to stop singing the song I don’t want to have a reason to stop singing the song ever because when we sing the song we’re all together and the boys are there and we all have life a place a goal a family and Jason and Thomas and Boris are there and when I stop singing the song they won’t be there the next time they won’t they won’t and

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March 30, 2008

Will:

An early morning saw Davidson students dragging out of bed to come down to the hotel lobby to film a short segment for ABC’s Good Morning America. The network grabbed the current and former student body presidents, the senior cheerleading captain, threw in some stereotypes and got out of dodge.

… Tiny Davidson where the quirky little students act so cute with their textbooks and their Neil Diamond …

The students might not have the voice to express it, but they are tired of being patronized 15-year olds in an adult world. They are tired of reading about how cute and feel-good their team is in a college basketball world of pre-professional men with full-grown facial hair. They are tired of the stereotypes that say that these kids don’t belong in downtown Detroit, so they should just go home to their suburbia where everyone loves everyone else in some surreal bubble.

Today, Davidson gets to grow up in everyone’s mind. And when they do, the world will realize that the hearts, passion and wherewithal of our students and players are even more mature than X-big school with their hundreds of thousands of fans and proverbial facial hair.

Dropped off in downtown Detroit at high noon, I was with a group that took over a local burger joint and filled it with Wildcat red. Natives with Red Wings gear came in and gawked at the tables of Davidson students singing to the ‘60s music blaring from the jukebox. One Kansas couple came in and walked back out immediately.

Davidson is formidable in this town today. The school is not just formidable because every non-Jayhawk fan is pulling for the Wildcats, but because there has been a transformation in this student body. Over half of Davidson’s students will be here tonight and all of them know the score. This isn’t the same student body that left games early to go do homework. This is no longer the group of kids that largely had no idea what was going on down there on the court. This year has been Big Time Basketball 101 and these students are ready for their final exam.

I sit here in the media room right now and watch as Memphis creeps closer to being the third #1 seed to reach the Final Four. I read Gregg Doyel’s column about how Kansas is bigger, faster, stronger and they should be able to drive Davidson into the ground. On paper, this is supposed be one of the biggest blowouts in regional final history. Davidson doesn’t have a chance, right?

But here’s the coolest part: No one cares. Davidson students aren’t fretting about what they can do about slowing down all those McDonald’s All-Americans. They know exactly what is going to happen tonight … Davidson will play to win, they will get better, and they will have a whole lot of fun. And when the eight-minute mark of the second half rolls around, Davidson could be on the verge of doing something historic, or they could just be fighting to make it respectable … but either way, these Davidson fans clad in red will lead a rousing chorus for the world to join in on.

Oh Sweet Caroline … these good times have never felt so good … I’m completely inclined … to believe they never would.

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More from the lobby

From my journal on March 29, 2008:

4:40 PM hotel lobby AKA Davidson transplanted

I can’t even begin to say how awesome the last 24 hours have been. I just start giggling when I think about how I am sitting on the floor of the lobby in the Doubletree Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan, with a couple hundred of my Davidson family doing homework and talking and soaking on our 25th straight win that has made OUR BOYS one of the 8 best teams in the country. WOW.

We were tied at 36 at the half—seriously the shortest hour/20 minutes of basketball ever. And then in the 2nd …

It was like a SoCon game.

I am not kidding.

This is the Big 10 Champion we are talking about here.

We beat them DOWN.

I know it wasn’t easy. But oh my lord it looked like it.

We were just — perfect. I can’t even help saying it. Just — wow.

Steph scored 33. That’s 103 points in a week (has it only been a week?).

We beat Wisconsin by 17 POINTS.

At a couple of points I just thought — this cannot be happening. After all of this hype, it cannot be this easy. We shrieked and screamed and jumped up and down and cheered and I was just surrounded by immense Davidson joy, it’s indescribable. Our Sweet Caroline was fantastic. And when it actually happened—when we actually BEAT WISCONSIN TO BECOME ONE OF THE BEST 8 TEAMS IN THE COUNTRY (with Dan, MIKE! And CI-VI! coming in during the final minutes) — we screamed and hugged and cell phones were buzzing and we sang and our guys turned around to face us and jumped up and down and we all roared “THANK YOU TRUSTEES!” and just kept hugging and talking and soaking in the amazing surrealness of it all. It was seriously like Belk Arena inside a huge football stadium. And then we stayed for half of the Villanova/Kansas game and got food and kept grinning and repeating how happy we are to BE HERE FOR FREE TO SEE US GET TO TE ELITE 8. WOW. WOW. AHHHH! And we get to watch us play again tomorrow!

1. No matter what happens, this season’s perfection cannot be put into words.

2. I think we can do it.

Then we went cheerily and exhaustedly back to the buses and drove 15-20 minutes to the hotel. The hotel is SO nice but it took us an hour and a half to find rooms/get settled because it was a logistical nightmare fitting 300 + people into one hotel. It felt amazing to go to sleep, finally—we slept from 2 AM to 12 PM! Ahhh.

So we woke up and showered etc. and walked to the Chili’s next door. It was Davidson Central and the servers were so nice and complimentary and the food was AMAZING. We were there for about 3 hours! The entire place was filled with Davidson students since we all woke up so late. We read Davidson basketball articles aloud while we waited (and there were a lot of them). I love these people.

Then we brought down work to the lobby—EVERYONE had taken it over with homework! Hilarious and so Davidson. I've been reading basketball articles with a couple of guys. This trip has just brought Davidson people together—that I don’t even know by name but have spoken to like good friends. We learned that:

1. They are bringing more buses of students up starting at 3 a.m.!

2. Good Morning America is coming here for a pep rally at 7 a.m.! Ahhh!

And at one point our boys were on TV and we all crowded around! Yay. And then I spent a long time on the public computer looking at Facebook and blogs and DavidsonCats.

WE ARE SO BIG Y’ALL. SO BIG. THIS IS INSANE.

Then we had a pizza party, then more work, and now bed for an early peppy rising.

I can’t believe we are here. On the first page of this journal, no matter how well we played UNC…. Elite 8? What??

These boys are incredible. I love them so much and I am unspeakably proud of them. These past 4 ½ months will always be some of the best of my life. Getting to watch them play together and enjoy each other and enjoy us and just get better and more trustworthy and confident… and to project our community love and spirit as they play, on the court and off, has just been remarkable. To be able to support them in person at every game with a group of people I love so much means the world, and watching the world start to watch us is utterly surreal.

But the best part is this:

In an article today, the author said (paraphrasing):

“But it’s not about these 12 players who go out and play basketball. It’s the community and ideals that these 12 players represent.”

My heart will overflow (is overflowing!) if the world understands what we are about. I am immeasurably grateful to be a part of it.

SO GOOD
SO GOOD
SO FREAKING GOOD.

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From the Doubletree lobby

Will:

We all thought that the spotlight was blinding last week as CBS, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated descended on our campus, at this point we are just closing our eyes and holding on to each other for dear life.

Upon getting to the hotel last night, Davidson students weren’t just exclaiming about how they can’t wait to read about this team in tomorrow’s papers, they were also pumped about getting to read about themselves. Swarms of reporters and camera people have mobbed this now-famous student body because of their free trip to Detroit and their undying devotion to America’s basketball team.

“They put my picture in the Detroit paper … I was quoted in the Cleveland paper … I was in the Charlotte Observer … “

Clad in our red “Witness” T-shirts, the hundreds of Davidson students in this Dearborn hotel have a pretty imposing appearance. This morning, students back on campus learned that they would be able to come up for Sunday’s Elite 8 game as the Trustees found another five buses for another 250 students to support the Cats.

And while the Davidson Wildcats’ men’s basketball team continues to transcend the stereotypes of low-seeded, mid-major teams, Davidson’s student body has done nothing but uphold many of the stereotypes cultivated about them.

“So I guess you guys will have to study all day tomorrow,” joked a reporter after the game.

“Well, yeah, we will.”

The hotel lobby is currently filled with Davidson students and their laptops, typing away at papers and reading up for next week’s tests. The Wildcats are forty minutes away from the Final Four, and yet the foremost thing on everyone’s mind today is next week’s academic assignments.

You work hard and have fun in the basketball arena, but academics remain all-important. Davidson students and players will be getting back to campus on Monday morning with very little sleep, but they will be expected back in class. That’s just how we do things here.

Comments?

March 29, 2008

I wrote this from the the Dearborn Doubletree at 2 in the morning. And then I crashed into bed and slept for 10 hours.

Um.
We’re in the Elite Eight.
AHHH!
And I was there.
And it was incredible.

Comments?

Stan after Wisconsin

On DavidsonCats.com:

And those of us who lived in the days of the flat earth are finding the globe to be a vast and giddy place.

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Adam after Wisconsin

On DavidsonCats.com:

1. We won.

2. I was there.

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Eddie after Wisconsin

On DavidsonCats.com:

My son says that when his friends are playing basketball and someone cans a particularly long shot, they call it “a Stephen Curry.”

The narrow world addressed by this board has changed dramatically over the last 10 days.

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More from Will

After the win over Wisconsin:

After the biggest win of Davidson’s program in the last forty years, there was no mobbing at center court. The locker room was not being torn apart and there were only two media members talking to players other than Stephen Curry and Jason Richards.

Davidson’s 73-56 win over third-seeded Wisconsin in the Midwest region semifinals was not a miracle of epic proportions. Davidson didn’t need a last second three-pointer from Stephen Curry to cap off a big comeback. Instead, Davidson handed the champions of the Big Ten a good, ol-fashioned whupping.

After being tied at the half, Davidson went on a tear in the second stanza as Curry scored 22 second-half points to finish with 33 for the game. His high-flying show of dagger three-pointers and insane reverse layups was accentuated by Jason Richards’ superb 11-point, 13-assist, 0-turnover performance. Andrew Lovedale continued to put up big numbers in the NCAA Tournament as he scored 12 points on 5-5 shooting.

By the end of the contest, not only had Davidson advanced to the Elite 8 for the first time since 1969 and won three straight NCAA tournament games for the first time ever, but they also continued to put their mark in the Davidson record book for years to come. Richards’ 13 assists put him in first place all-time as Davidson's assist leader, while Curry’s six three-pointers helped him tie the NCAA record for three-pointers in a season. Davidson’s 29 wins ties last year’s mark as the most all-time in Davidson’s history.

After a first half where the Wildcats and Badgers exchanged punches from the three-point line and on the glass, Davidson was able to run away through the strength of their defense. The Wildcats forced seven second-half turnovers and held Wisconsin to 23% from the field. More importantly, Davidson was able to get in the open court and create open looks against one of the best defenses in the country.

“Michael Flowers is a great defender, but I was able to find a lot of open spots in transition,” Curry said afterwards. “Our defense helped create those opportunities and that’s one of our biggest strengths as a team.”

Although many writers thought that Wisconsin’s size and game plan would slow down the Wildcats and force a grind-out affair, it was actually Davidson’s defense and their team speed that took center stage.

“We love playing in the open court,” Jason Richards said. “We are a team that plays fast. That’s just what we do at Davidson.”

And so as Davidson becomes the ever rare double digit seed to make the Elite 8, objective observers can’t help but notice that this team does not fit the mold of your typical “Cinderella.” In the post-game, a New York Post reporter asked Jason Richards how “teeny Davidson” seemed to out-physical the mighty Badgers.

“We won’t back down from everyone.”

The Wildcats actually outscored the taller Wisconsin squad 22-18 in the paint and won the rebounding battle in the second half.

Not only are these Wildcats strong and physical, they have a star player that belongs on the biggest stage. They have a player that Cinderella mid-majors aren’t supposed to get their hands on. And on this biggest stage, Curry put on a show for the world and for one of the best players of that even bigger stage of the NBA, LeBron James.

“It is really cool for a guy like Lebron to come out and support us,” Curry said. James was on his feet at several points in the second half, awe-struck with the moves of Curry.

But after you add up Davidson’s strength and star power, you are left with a very glaring reality on this Friday night. These Wildcats played to win from the opening tip, and after rolling through the Big Ten champions, they acted like they had been here before.

“At the beginning of this season, I told John Kilgo that I wanted to win the National Championship,” Andrew Lovedale said. “I wasn’t joking.”

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Watching in North Charleston

More March 28, 2008

Me:

“OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Our victory bellows take over, melding us into one hot sweaty bonetired (up for seventeen hours straight/come from down South/twenty-four hours ago I didn’t even think I’d be here/wasn’t I in a Wendy’s in Ohio eight hours ago/is it really the same freaking day of the week?) euphoric disbelieving jumble of jubilant kids, screaming into the depths of these thousands for our hometown boys, our friends, our classmates. Bob McKillop’s face appears on the big screen, stoneset like we’re not going to win by seventeen points, not going to go to the Elite Eight, not going to be the story of the year – just a normal game. And yet the clock slides easily down, no pressurecooker countdown no heartstopping miracle – bliss pressing from all sides all people all mouths.

Our starters, who don’t need to save it, can savor it, standing at the deep cut bench almost underneath the court, waiting for the buzzer, already beginning to bounce on their heels, eagerly watching, what are they thinking about, what the hell are they saying to each other? Can they hear us behind them, energy so deep and full and raw bursting? I spin around and around with my camera, immersed in the angles of joy, my eyes blurred with grins ears roaring with shrieks this place is … I don’t know what this place is. This place is mad with dreams on top of dreams on top of things Inever dreamed about because it would be too much. It is too much. It’s too much and yet it seems like it’s been waiting for us, watching us under dim lights that have suddenly come out and blinded us. It’s too much and yet it’s easy and it’s a joyful fucking mess and I think it might be the MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE.

“BOB MC-KILL-OP!”

We chant, throaty and proud, the name we chant before every game ever starts, before a result ever even begins to unfold, the name I knew nothing about the first time I clapped along – and I look at his face on the screen that hangs above where he’s standing double triple hundreds of rows away from me, about to do something he knew we could do, but I still wonder – did he really expect? Did he really think – ?

My phone buzzes and my little brother howls happily in my ear. “OH MY GOD!” I shriek into our living room, “This is incredible, Mason, oh my god!”

Our chant dissolves as the seconds drop red neon, screams take over and I can’t help it “WE’RE GOING TO THE ELITE EIGHT!” again and again and again and like the first time, like the second (this is the third? The third? Fucking really?) the buzzer barely reaches my ears because it didn’t count on three hundred kids making so much damn noise and then I see way down, I watch MY BASKETBALL TEAM OUR BASKETBALL TEAM OUR BOYS clamber up from the bench and turn their faces towards us, and for them for me for us I know hard and fast and certain that there is nothing else no one else except for us except for –

They shoot off the ground, long arms rocketing above their heads, beaming blurred little boys, and their energy, their delight slam into me so hard that my breath catches because they don’t care about cameras they don’t care about interviews they need to share this with US because we were there we are there we’ve seen all the pieces and now it’s the whole they are us and we are them and this force is bigger than me bigger than basketball this understanding this life …

“OH MY GOD!” I repeatandrepeatandrepeat and everyone holds cameras and phones aloft wanting to capture, needing to capture some little bit of this mouths open wide still not quite something and yet everything and suddenly Ruthy pushes up onto a seat, raising his arms, punching the air, yelling something I cannot hear through the muddle of yells but now I feel it and it goes grows transforms into one until the rhythm takes over and we leap with it go go go with it pound it into the air so EVERYONE IN THE WORLD can hear us because …

“AHHHH HOO HA DAVIDSON, SAY HOO HA DAVIDSON!
AHHHHHHH HOO HA, DAVIDSON, SAY HOO HA DAVIDSON!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HOO HA DAVIDSON, SAY HOO HA DAVIDSON!”

Up and up and up and up and nope … I ain’t never comin’ down from this one.

Comments?

March 28, 2008

Will Bryan on Will's World:

This trip started at 4 a.m. this morning when I, along with at least 400 other students, rolled out of bed, threw some clothes in a bag and made a zombie-like exodus from Sentelle, Cannon, Watts, Little Belk and Senior Apartments over to the Baker Parking Lot to board the famous "free buses."

Local news was there to chart the famous boarding. They were here when we de-boarded and the AP already wants some quotes on how it went.

Well, it was a bus trip. We slept most of the morning. Watched Remember the Titans in the afternoon. Lunched at a McDonalds in Strasburg, OH and then rolled into Detroit two hours before game time.

But then it got interesting. As we got off the bus a couple blocks from Ford Field, we were met by a staff member who had some t-shirts for us. Turns out, the athletic department splurged for hundreds of red shirts that say WITNESS with the Nike swoosh on the front. It wasn't lost on these Davidson students that the orginator of Nike's Witness campaign, Lebron James, will be in the building tonight. Just a day or two ago he was quoted in a ESPN article saying that Stephen Curry was definitely the most exciting player in the NCAA tournament.

As we students walked towards the stadium, complete strangers on the street started chanting Davidson. A local radio staffer handed out placards with Davidson's logo on it. I've never seen so much Wildcat stuff in my life. The coolets part was seeing my comrades' reaction. We had an idea about how famous we are as a student body, but until you get off campus and see it in practice, it does not seem real. If the Wildcats win tonight, I couldn't even imagine what comes next.

Comments?

March 26, 2008

Tom Ross:

To all Davidson Students: Given the extraordinary nature of the success of the men’s basketball team, Davidson’s Trustees have graciously offered to pay the expenses of those students who are able to attend the game in Detroit on Friday night. We realize that for some students, academic and other obligations will preclude taking advantage of this offer. Please note that classes are NOT cancelled on Friday.

We all know that, at Davidson, academics come first. This offer is not intended to encourage students to miss classes. Students, please consider going to the game ONLY if this is, academically, the right decision for you. For those of you who cannot go to Detroit, the game will be shown on the large screen in the Alvarez College Union and there will be plenty of Davidson Wildcat spirit here on campus.

For those of you who are able to attend without detriment to your academics, please follow the instructions below: If you want to attend the games in Detroit and do not yet have a ticket, you must e-mail Traci Russ-Wilson at trruss@davidson.edu by 4:00 pm today. The bus will leave at approximately 6 a.m. on Friday morning. It is approximately an 11-hour ride to Detroit. We will make hotel reservations for you (2 students per room). Tickets are for Sessions 1 and 2. If Davidson wins on Friday night, they will play again on Sunday afternoon (exact time not yet known). Win or lose, the bus will leave on Sunday afternoon after the Session 2 game ends. You will most likely arrive back in Davidson on Monday morning between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.

If you have already booked a package with the bus that leaves campus on Friday morning (bus, tickets, hotel), then your credit card will not be charged. If you have purchased a ticket and are handling transportation and lodging on your own, then you will be reimbursed for the face value of the ticket only. All of this will be handled next week.

We are so grateful that our Trustees, on their own initiative, have so generously offered this gift to Davidson students. For many reasons this week, including our Trustees’ support and commitment to our students, it is a great day to be a Wildcat.

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What It Means

On CharlotteMagazine.com:

On Monday, I was in the sports information office, and Steph shuffled in, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and his sock feet, just up from a nap in the team lounge and ready for a radio interview in Toronto. He looked like a sleepy just-turned-20-year-old kid because that's what he was. He rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat and talked to Toronto.

"Everything I've ever dreamed of happening here at Davidson," he said, "it's coming true.

"We have a game coming up against Wisconsin on Friday," he said, "and we believe we can win."

The interview ended, and he got off the phone, and we sat and we talked.

I asked him what he would say about Davidson to all the people out there who are thinking about the school and the team now who were not at this time last week. He thought about that.

"It's a very small place," Steph said, "a unique place, where, I guess -- the way we enjoy things all together, with everyone knowing each other, I think the joy is more real. More deep."

He speaks for so many of us.

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How we watch

March 25, 2008

Lauren Biggers on DavidsonWildcats.com:

“Did you write a Sweet 16 blog?” Stephen (the man behind the mask) Curry asks around 2:30 p.m. on … what day is it? Tuesday?

When I tell him I didn’t, he seems disappointed. I begin to explain how busy I’ve been, but realize if anyone gets it, it is he.

And Joey Beeler, men’s basketball SID, who handles player requests.

“Right now in my inbox, I have 90 emails,” Beeler said. “In my deleted items, I have 178.”

And Marc Gignac, in his first season as Davidson’s sports information director, who handles Coach McKillop’s media requests.

“Oh geez,” he says when I ask how many emails he’s fielded over the last 48 hours. “Hang on … from Sunday through 3:43 p.m. this afternoon, it’s 332.”

And you don’t even want to know about the phone calls.

Earlier in the day, Marc steps out of his office, likely wandering up to the men’s basketball office, where he has been told, several times over, to get out and don’t come back. In jest, of course … this is fun.

When he comes back, no more than three minutes later, he checks his voicemail.

“You have eight new messages,” that female voice, the bane of his existence, says.

“Super,” he deadpans. If you didn’t know, Marc is pure deadpan.

Waiting for his turn in front of the camera on Monday afternoon, Stephen’s dad says, “It’s been crazy. I’ve heard from people I haven’t talked to in years. I feel like I’m playing again.”

And there is no containing this madness.

“I have 600 emails in my inbox right now,” associate head coach Matt Matheny says. “But I probably had 200 or so before. So I’ve gotten around 300 this weekend.”

“Is your phone ringing off the hook?” he asks SteF-in outside my office door. “Mine’s off the hook.”

“Yes,” SteF-in sighs. There’s a new Facebook group called “Stephen Curry is the man” with 1,002 members and counting. After the Georgetown game, he got over 890 new friend requests. He currently has 1,331 friends on the networking site and has been tagged in 407 pictures.

“He got how many?” roommate Bryant Barr asks, after being put on hold in the middle of an interview. (We all think this is funny, including Bryant.) “It will take him forever just to get through them. That’s insane.”

Never has there been so much energy in Davidson. And like the majority around the program, I have never been a part of something quite like it.

The madness started as soon as the horn sounded on the ‘Cats 74-70 win over Georgetown on Sunday. I left Beeler a voicemail, screaming into the phone (I was very excited... you understand) after the game. This morning, he just got to it. “Why are you screaming in my phone?” he hisses, more than says.

Monday morning when I arrive, SteF-in is sitting in the corner on Beeler’s phone, getting ready to go on ESPN’s Mike & Mike. We stand and watch the TV as Steph sits behind us answering questions. There is about a 30-second difference, which makes following difficult, but this is fun.

For the rest of the day, the phones don’t stop. At one point, we have MAX, Jason and SteF-en doing interviews around the horn throughout the office.

My mom, an insta-fan, calls me later to tell me that Jason was on WFNZ, my dad’s favorite radio station. “I know mom. He was sitting beside me, on my phone.” “He was sitting beside her!”she screams to my dad, as to myself I think, do they know what I do?

Around 1 p.m. we all realize we haven’t eaten, and I get nominated to pick up lunch for the marketing, ticketing and sports info offices, since Easter has shut down our trusty Wildcat Den, and I am also acting office secretary. At McAllister’s, the guy behind the counter spots SID assistant Will Bryan’s Davidson basketball shirt and asks if we are with the team. We are not technically of course, but rather than explain we say yes. After breaking down the match up with us, he wishes us luck and sends us on our way, with everyone’s food but Marc’s (my fault, not theirs).

Back at Baker, there is major excitement for SteF-in’s appearance on PTI, and director of basketball operations Jeremy Henney has come up with the idea of getting him involved in the role play. After much discussion, we decide on Jason, and Will Bryan is given the arts and crafts project of a lifetime.

My parents call to tell me Steph as Jason is a hit (thanks mom). I’m not sure where he got his lines, but writer to writer, “Steph Curry is nothing without me” is a winner.

As the week begins winding down (yes, I know it’s Tuesday... here’s hoping), the excitement keeps building. Unable to witness the Georgetown game in person, I will not let that be the case on Friday.

“Biggers is going to sell her soul if we make it to the Sweet 16,” Beeler says, prophetically, last week. On his way home from the office today, he calls to tell me that the lady at the movie store recognized him as “the guy hugging Stephen Curry on TV" and gave him his movies for free as a consequence. We think this is funny.

“But it’s my first Sweet 16,” I tell … beg … Marc.

“Mine too,” he says. I gave him half of my sandwich, and he gave me the credit card. Seems fair.

I leave Thursday.

Way back in November, we got the first shipments of men’s basketball media guides. As the rest started to pour in, Beeler began counting, adding and subtracting and all in his head.

“If we make it to the Sweet 16, we will run out,” he concludes.

But did we think it would really happen? (He and athletic trainer Ray Beltz put their hair on the line, after all.) Those around the program and in the “sleepy little town” of Davidson knew it could happen, but did we really think it would?

We have 75 media guides left. It happened.

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And still more March 24, 2008

A busy posting day. Steve Neff on DavidsonCats:

I am an athlete. Okay; don’t fall over in shock. I’m 41 now and outside of my kids’ “coaches’ basketball game” three weeks ago, I haven’t played any sports competitively in quite some time. While I am still at my college football playing weight of 185 lbs (give or take a steak or two), it is distributed somewhat differently – my 4.2-percent body fat of age 20 has given way to what seems like 40.2% body fat at age 41. But being an athlete is part of my identity, just as being a Davidson College alum is part of my identity as well.

What is my point? Well, back when I was a college and high school athlete, I had a pet peeve. I used to hate it when people who were not on my teams referred to my team as “we.” After all, THEY weren’t spending hours in the weight room, on the practice fields, in meeting rooms, and watching game film after game film. THEY weren’t making the sacrifices I was making. THEY didn’t leave drops of blood, buckets of sweat, and several tears on the field like I was. I resented the easy way THEY referred to themselves as WE. In high school, I played for a football team that went to the Ohio state championship game (a HUGE deal in Ohio, I assure you) and a basketball team that went to the state Final Four. In college, I played for Davidson teams and got to cover future NFL wide receivers and tackle future NFL running backs. In my immaturity, I hated it when people referred to those teams I played for as “we,” because I didn’t believe they had earned that right.

This is why I almost recoiled in horror as I realized that over the past week, in conversations with congratulators and well wishers over the Davidson basketball team, I heard myself refer to this team as “we.” I LOVE the sports teams I root for –Browns, Cavs, Indians, Buckeyes, and of course Wildcats the most – but I have NEVER referred to any of those teams as “we.”

Then I began to think about it and have reached a conclusion that was heretofore alien to me. This Davidson basketball team is “we.” If Davidson were Ohio State or Tennessee or Illinois (where my wife went) then it wouldn’t be a “we” situation. But Davidson is definitely NOT those schools. Davidson is a “we” school. And all Davidson student-athletes (and just students) have the same kinds of experiences. There is a bond that exists between all of us that transcends mere affiliation and commonalities which might exist at other schools.

We are bound by the Honor Code and dinners at professors’ houses and 8 am classes and 3 p.m. labs and community service and Patterson Court and exacting standards and self-motivation. We are bound by this gorgeous place, our classmates, and our alumni. Oh, other places could make similar claims, I suppose, but at Davidson it is different somehow. The guys on this basketball team (and other Davidson teams) know what it is like to have to study on long plane rides and bus trips. They know what it is like to stagger into an 8 a.m. class because they arrived back home late and had to stay up all night working on a paper or studying for an exam. They know they will be held accountable for what they do off the court in the classroom and on campus. They do what we all do/did. Even non-athletes – whether they are musicians or actors or artists or employees or researchers, what have you – go through the similar rigors and similar experiences by virtue of the fact that Davidson students are self-motivated and do not merely show up in class and go to parties as the sum total of their college experience.

A friend of mine in Ohio recently told me he interviewed a woman who was Davidson grad for a position. I have no idea who she was or what year she graduated. I said two words –“hire her.” I am as confident of her quality as I am of anyone I know personally. She HAS to be quality, because she graduated from this place.

So I/we have made those sacrifices already and continue to make them. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the benefit of team success rewards in college, as we struggled to beat vastly superior Southern Conference football foes such as Marshall, Furman, and Appalachian State. But I loved it. I cared. I sacrificed for it. I learned from it. I’m better for it.

Now, WE have the opportunity to share in nationally cognizable success. So – Jason, Thomas, Boris, Andrew, Max, Can, Stephen, Will, Stephen, Bryant, Dan, Ben, Mike, Aaron, Brendan (hope I’m not forgetting anyone) – please please accept my apologies as I continue to refer to you as “WE!” I have never met any of you, and I haven’t put the time into the gym and the films and the weight room and classes, and homework, and papers, and road trips, etc this year like you have, but I HAVE done it – 20 some odd years ago. And the nice thing about this – and about y’all – is that I don’t think I even need to ask for your permission/forgiveness to continue to refer to you as “we.” I think you already get it. And thank you for teaching me– now a 41-year-old alum – yet another Davidson College lesson.

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Tonight

Text from Michael on his way to Charleston:

Looking forward to these games at this moment for this team.

More from March 24, 2008

Stan Brown on DavidsonCats.com:

Our players are great kids. I know that isn’t news, but I thought I’d share this story.

When I decided to try to get tickets for Raleigh on line, I asked my kids if they wanted to go. About a 400-mile drive, watch game, drive back. We’d done Duke (270) and Chattanooga (100 and midnight when we got home) and the Furman game at Davidson (255) as day trips this year.

Older son, Madison (14), had just gotten back from a school bus trip to NYC. He had no interest in any more miles for a while. No. 2 son was in. Wife insisted that we get a hotel room and drive over Thursday evening rather than leave in the middle of the night.

As we were saying our goodbyes on Thursday, No. 1 son says “Hey, Dad, tell Thomas Sander I said hi.” I asked him if he thought Thomas would know who he was. “Sure, I’m the kid in the Davidson shirt who always wore the Tennessee Vol hat. He’ll know me.”

Hmmmmmmmmm.

We had waited in the lobby after the Duke game, so my boys could see the players and No. 2 son could get some autographs. Thomas was one of the first players to come out. After he had spoken to his folks, we approached him. He was so nice to my sons. They really liked him. They couldn’t believe how tall he is. He thanked us for coming to support the team. Class kid. We chatted briefly about his AAU teammate from Cincy, UT player Ryan Childress, who was William's camp counselor last summer (who’d said to say hi to Sander when we went to see Davidson play).

After the game at Chattanooga, we waited down on the floor for the players to come out after showering and changing. A couple players came back to the bench area on the floor, but not many. I realized that most of the guys didn’t have any family to check with and had likely headed straight for the bus from the locker room.

We hustled out through the tunnel and found the bus almost full. Coach McKillop was still standing outside it. We approached him and I asked if he would autograph William’s shirt. He did and asked if William had Steph’s. No? He asked one of the managers to check and see if Steph was already on the bus. He was. Why don’t you go in the bus and get Steph’s? William was a little nervous, but big brother encouraged him and said he’d go with him. The boys spent a few minutes in the back of the bus talking with the players and getting some autographs on William's shirt (I was bending poor Matt Matheny’s ear up front).

When we got in the car, it was a series of “Andrew Lovedale is really nice.” “Is Ben Allison a good player? I talked with him, where is he from? He’s nice. He sounds different.” “Steph Curry is nice.” And on and on.

As we were driving home, Madison asked why we haven’t taken a road trip to a game at Davidson. So we did the Furman game. Afterward, we saw Aaron Bond near the cafeteria and had a nice chat. We stopped by the Brick House. Some of the players were there, including Sander. We spoke to him briefly. I bent poor Matt’s ear some more and we left for home.

And based on that limited experience, my elder son was sure that Thomas would remember him (and that he was my son).

I tried to explain to him that an NCAA tourney game might be a little different from a SoCon game. With press interviews and another game following, we wouldn't be hanging out around the court waiting for the players to come out from the locker room. And even if we were able to see him and as nice as Thomas was to him, we really shouldn't expect him to remember all the kids who ask him for autographs or shake his hand.

Madison just shrugged. Thomas was a great person and very nice. He’d remember the tall 14-year-old with the UT hat. He was sure of it.

William and I didn’t see any of the players on our Raleigh excursion Friday. But I was struck by the fact that our players in general, and Thomas specifically, had made such an impression on my boys that they felt like the Davidson players were their friends.

The guys in red and black are special people.

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In Raleigh after Georgetown

From Jip Richards.

March 24, 2008: "The big kids all knew"

John Burns '92 on DavidsonCats:

Last Monday, I convinced my six-year-old son to wear his Stephen Curry No. 30 jersey to school at his elementary school here in Raleigh.

When he came home, I asked him what people thought of his cool jersey (he’s in first grade - the process of molding a fan must be begun early …).

His response, as it often is when he is asked about his day, was, “I don’t know.” Nobody, it seemed, knew who Davidson was or why No. 30 was worth wearing.

What a difference a week makes.

You can bet that I asked him to wear it again this morning, and after going to the game with me on Friday, and getting caught up in the excitement, he readily agreed. So off he went: white long sleeve T-shirt, Stephen Curry No. 30 jersey down to his knees, black sweats and “the shoes that make me go fast.”

Tonight, I called to tell him good night (I’m working late to make up for the hours I spent on Davidson basketball this week). And from the first second he picked up the phone, the conversation went a little something like this:

“Dad, the bus driver liked my shirt.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And Kobe did too.”

“Who’s Kobe?”

“A big kid on my bus. He said it was a cool shirt. He told me Davidson won.”

“But you knew that.”

“Yeah. I told him. I told him I went to the game and the gray and blue guy missed his foul shot and Davidson won.”

“Awesome.”

“Yeah, he said it was really awesome. The big kids all knew it was Stephen Curry’s jersey.”

My fellow ‘Cats, we have broken into the big time. Elementary school kids in Raleigh, normally decked out in Duke and Tar Heel blue, were telling my little boy that his Stephen Curry jersey was “really awesome.”

This is every bit as cool as I thought it would be. Don’t wake me up. It’s too much fun.

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March 24, 2008

My journal:

I just cannot believe that one week ago we were all sitting in the Union, listening to McKillop, waiting for the show to start. None of us—not even those tall boys who sat in the front row wearing polo shirts and clutching pizza boxes as their jerseys hung from the rafters—had any clue what the next seven days would bring. We all had dreams.

They’re not dreams anymore.

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First of many

My first Davidson basketball game -- December 1, 2006 vs. Elon.

Deadline

January 1, 2010.

31 days.

We want to hear from you.

March 24, 2008

Landry Kosmalski on DavidsonCats:

As the Davidson band played "Sweet Caroline" during Sunday's game against Georgetown, I looked around the RBC Center. Davidson fans, students, parents, alumni -- and even former basketball great, Hobby Cobb -- were on their feet singing enthusiastically. One journalist later labeled this display "corny." But as I scanned the stadium to measure the reaction of the thousands of North Carolina fans in attendance, it seemed to me that they thought it was anything but corny. In fact, I think they were somewhat envious and thought it was pretty cool.

That is what makes Davidson special and unique. Sure, we don't have the same facilities and resources that many of the bigger schools have: we don't have 17 practice courts, or charter planes, or obscene amounts of shoes and apparel. But that is not for everyone. What we do have is players that know our fans and students by name and are proud that we have an anthem to sing (however irrelevant it may be).

Despite being a former player and coach, I was not prepared for how proud I would feel after this weekend. After the Gonzaga game on Friday I raced to the hotel to meet the team. I hugged some of the guys and told them that they had no idea how much the win meant to former players. The older guys -- Boris, Thomas, and Jason -- might have understood a little bit. The freshmen said, "Great, Larry," and went looking for their girlfriends.

As cliche as it sounds, why did this team's success mean so much to me, someone who graduated eight years ago? Why was I tearing up when the final buzzer sounded against Georgetown? I will do my best to articulate it: in January, with many players gathered for Davidson basketball's 100 year anniversary, Coach McKillop talked about dreaming big. He spoke about how he believes Davidson can get back to the heights it reached in the 1960s. While many may think that is impossible, the people at Davidson do not. Therefore, we work very hard: we lift, we run, we play, we fight, and we compete every day of the year -- all while simultaneously working hard in the classroom. While struggling through the rigors of the Davidson academic workload, and playing for Coach McKillop, one is not inclined to make excuses. Home from Georgia Southern at 4 a.m.? So what -- get to class at at 8:30. Up all night studying for a test? Too bad -- practice hard for two and a half hours. Nasty dead-leg to the thigh? Get tougher. We welcome these experiences because we see that goal in the distance: getting back on the national stage. We know that all the hard work -- all the early morning workouts, all the frustrations, all the long, tough practices -- will one day be worth it. But when? We made a small step in 1998 by making the NCAA tourney. Almost had Ohio State in 2002. Gave the Buckeyes another run for their money in 2006. Gave Maryland all they could handle in 2007. Great progress, but still not where we wanted to be. Everyone associated with Davidson basketball --players, coaches, fans, students -- still wanted to take the next step and make some real noise.

So would all the hard work over the years ever be worth it? Would tiny Davidson ever really be able to touch the national scene? Well, I can now tell you that the answer is yes to both questions. This year's team may never fully understand it, but what they have accomplished this year (so far) is a gift to anyone who has ever been involved with Davidson basketball: fans, students, coaches, and players. We all know that Davidson is a special school in a special town and, despite its size and seeming limitations, we have always felt that it can have a very special basketball team.

This is where the feeling of pride came from on Sunday. That is why, when I felt myself tearing up, I did not know if I could articulate my thoughts to anyone. Luckily, I was sitting next to my former teammate and roommate (and soon to be former Davidson career assist leader), Ali Ton, and when I saw the emotion on his face, I knew that he did not need an explanation. When I left my seat and went out into the hallways of the RBC Center and saw the students and fans cheering, high-fiving, chest-bumping, and singing the fight song, I again realized that no explanation was necessary. The Davidson people understood it: against long odds our team accomplished a near miracle.

So as Davidson heads to the Sweet Sixteen and maybe (gasp!) the Final Four, my pride will not dissipate. And if I find myself being envious of other schools' resources, facilities, or the size of their fan base, I will think back to this weekend and remember that I would rather be singing "Sweet Caroline" with Hobby Cobb any day of the week.

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