Clock Strikes 12:00 on Cinderella Davidson
by Jay Pearlman
DETROIT – It was the best game of the weekend, forty riveting minutes of basketball, the only game in which the lower seed had a chance. And even with Stephen Curry showing his humanity in the second half (more from the accumulated mental strain than the physical pounding he was taking from Kansas), that confident bunch from Davidson -outweighed by 30 pounds at every position – had a shot to win right to the very last.
In the end, after being out-rebounded by 8, Curry needing 25 shots to score 25 (9-25, 4-16 in treys), its stalwart forward Andrew Lovedale fouling out, a wasted last timeout before the final possession, mostly guards came back on the floor for both teams for the final possession. Respecting Kansas’ denial defense on Curry on the wing, Coach Bob McKillop had his star on the ball from the start. And even when a defender lost his footing for an instant, the pressure – Kansas’ pressure, and the pressure of the moment – prevented Thomas Sander and Curry from getting Sander’s high ball screen just right, thwarting any pick and roll (more likely a pick and pop), resulting in a backward handoff from Curry to Jason Richards for a desperation heave at the buzzer.
No slipper this year for Cinderella.
Played before a huge crowd at Ford Field and likely the largest television audience of the weekend, this game proved worthy of expectation. It was our favorite kind of game, David vs. Goliath (with the twist that the biggest star this night was on “David-son”). Kansas used multiple players to hound Curry, mainly Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers, never helped off Davidson’s sharpshooter, and double- and even triple-teamed Curry on numerous occasions. Kansas led by two at the half; a Curry-led early second half run put Davidson up by four; then mostly through relentless defense and rebounding Kansas clawed ahead by the same margin.
When the whole world wondered who else on Davidson would score to maintain contact, unheralded forward Bryant Barr stepped up to hit three consecutive treys and then a two-point basket in the second half, getting the lead back for the never-say-die Wildcats. But then a rare errant pass by Richards led to an equally rare late run-out for Kansas, opening the door for the Jayhawks to regain the lead, and grow it to five in the last minute. A trey by Curry, a defensive stop, and then that last possession to tie or win the game. But it was not to be.
And instead of three No. 1’s and Cinderella at the San Antonio ball, it will be four No. 1’s for the first time ever in an exciting final weekend. But for many of us, not quite as exciting as the run to the Midwest Regional Final by Cinderella Davidson.
Tournament News and Notes
- No one should be surprised that Stephen Curry played all 40 minutes of last night’s Regional Final, even used by Coach Bob McKillop at the point during the two minutes he rested Jason Richards.
- The fallout likely to follow Davidson’s near-Final Four run will demonstrate how incredibly difficult it is for low- and mid-major teams to step up in class for more than the briefest of moments. With the spotlight having shined brightest on sophomore Curry these last two weeks, I can’t imagine that he’d now return to college for another year. And no matter how dedicated to and appreciative of Davidson Coach McKillop is, one major or another will almost surely throw enough money his way that he’ll now move up to a job in a power conference. Perhaps that’s why a school like Marshall continually jumps levels and conferences, from Division II to Division I, from the MAC to Conference USA, and perhaps beyond.
- Sports people like us come to rely on sameness and repetition, particularly in connection with the calendar. That’s why it felt particularly odd – even unsettling – to emerge from a Regional Final just in time for opening night baseball. For some years now opening night has been the Sunday between the semi-final and final games, with much of the rest of MLB beginning the Monday of the National Final. But with college basketball having quietly extended the end of its season by a week – in addition to now starting just days after Halloween – well, as darkness fell on Detroit I got to hear the Braves and Nationals usher in non-Tokyo baseball long distance on Washington Post Radio, and for innings 3 and 4 the silky smooth call of Dave Jageler. And oh: with the Final Four yet to convene, Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off home run gave Washington a 3-2 win over Atlanta in the inaugural game played in new Nationals Park. Go Nats!
- With no trip to San Antonio in the offing – and my personal schedule making an MSG appearance for the NIT doubtful – likely this writer has attended his final college basketball game for 2007-08, making this my last article of the season save for a CAA recap coming later. Thank you to you readers, lovers of college basketball and the CAA all, for reading and sometimes commenting on these articles. See you next November.
