Davidson curries favor yet again
Yes he can. And because of him, Davidson is marching on. Curry scored more than 30 points for the third straight game, and the 10th-seeded Wildcats pulled off another stunner last night, rolling over third-seeded Wisconsin, 73-56, to advance to the NCAA Midwest Regional final. Little Davidson has gotten so big, even LeBron James is on the bandwagon, snagging a seat a few rows behind the Wildcats bench. "It just shows what we're doing here at Davidson," Curry said. "We got guys that are in the spotlight and they're coming to our game and watching us play. It's pretty cool to give him something to be happy about and cheer about and just entertain him." Curry, the son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry, outscored the Badgers by himself in the second half, 22-20. He finished with 33 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including six 3-pointers. Add in his 30-point effort against Maryland in last year's NCAA Tournament, and Curry joins Clyde Lovellette of Kansas, Jerry Chambers of Utah, and Glenn Robinson of Purdue as one of four players to go over 30 in their first four career NCAA Tournament games. Davidson (29-6) extended the nation's longest winning streak to 25. The Wildcats will try to make it 26 tomorrow, when they play Kansas for a trip to the Final Four. This marked the second time in three tournaments that a double-digit seed got this far. In 2006, 11th-seeded George Mason reached the Final Four. It's the furthest Davidson has gotten since 1969, when Lefty Driesell's squad reached the East Regional final before losing to North Carolina. "Words can't describe it, but at the same time, we believe in ourselves and what we can do," Andrew Lovedale said. When the final buzzer sounded, the Davidson fans bounced up and down and a few chanted, "Rock, chalk, Jayhawk!" in reference to top-seeded Kansas. This is exactly what Davidson's happy band of travelers was hoping when it boarded all those buses. The Board of Trustees paid the way - bus fare, tickets, and hotel rooms - for students who wanted to make the 11-hour ride from North Carolina, and a few hundred took them up on the offer. The nation got an idea of what Curry can do last weekend, when he scored 30 against Gonzaga and erupted for 40 - 30 in the second half alone - against Georgetown. But big, brawny Wisconsin (31-5) was supposed to be different. Defensive specialist Michael Flowers has made many a perimeter player ineffective, and Wisconsin was holding opponents to 53.9 points, best in the nation. The Badgers' 3-point defense was even stingier; in the second round, Kansas State didn't manage a bucket from long range. Instead of being intimidated by the big stage - not to mention the monstrous Ford Field venue - Curry and Davidson played with such ease and attitude that they may as well have been in their cozy little gym back home. The Wildcats shot 49 percent from the floor and were 12 of 24 from 3-point range. Jason Richards had 11 points and 13 assists, and Lovedale added 12 points. 