The Wisconsin poster

The others: Gonzaga, Georgetown, Kansas.

Back at the hotel after Wisconsin

Right before tip against Wisconsin

Lots of good photos. Keep them coming.

Beating Wisconsin

Standing O

March 28, 2008.

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.

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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.

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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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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.

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