Goodbye Stephen Curry

[FireOgilvie]

Curry's Davidson team lost to Charleston in the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament. I don't see them getting an at-large bid with their RPI at 67. I'm also guessing Curry will go pro after this year (he should... the draft is wayyyy down this year).

It was fun to watch Stephen last year in the tourney; it's too bad that won't be happening again this year (barring some kind of fluke selection committee pick).

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290672166

[ForeverBlowingBubbles]

It's terrible we won't be able to see him play.

However, its players like Curry and our fellow Dukie's that have made the NBA more watchable to me over the years as we follow their progress. He's created quite a few fans on this board among others, and hopefully people will keep up with how he's doing.

[dukemsu]

I too will miss seeing Curry play in the tourney, but he and his crew do not deserve a bid this year. I am sure the media will whine about it based upon what he and Davidson did last year, but they do not deserve an at-large bid. They lost their conference tourney and got hammered by most of the high RPI schools they faced, and most of that happened when Curry was healthy.

Best of luck to Curry, but they do not deserve a pity bid for TV ratings in my opinion.

dukemsu

[weezie]

During last week's "Basketball and Beyond," Coach K said that the selection process was becoming too politically correct and that even a 2 pt loss was still a loss. Close losses, hard fought contests are all part of the fabric of the game and that the NCAAs should not be expanded by any stretch.

It's a shame that Curry had such a rough year but he's a nice guy and I hope he has future success.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

It's terrible we won't be able to see him play.
Certainly Davidson will be in the NIT, so you'll still be able to see him in the post season.

[allenmurray]

I too will miss seeing Curry play in the tourney, but he and his crew do not deserve a bid this year. I am sure the media will whine about it based upon what he and Davidson did last year, but they do not deserve an at-large bid. They lost their conference tourney and got hammered by most of the high RPI schools they faced, and most of that happened when Curry was healthy.


Damned if you do, damned if you don't . . . The seeding committee looks for those high profile road and/or out-of-dconference games. Many programs play just enough of them to say, "hey, look what we did". Davidson has never avoided playing high level competition. This year it is hurting them. If instead of Duke or UNC they had played two teams with RPI ratings of between 30 and 40, and won, they'd probably be tournament bound.

[geraldsneighbor]

Steph just wasn't the same once he came back from his ankle injury. At least the NIT will be watchable, and now even Stephen can go to the Comcast Center to beat Maryland!

[CallUsPaulus]

Man, that's a huge disappointment. Curry was the best part of the tournament last year. I know the team doesn't necessarily deserve to be in, but this is one of those cases where I wouldn't begrudge an exception bid. Not only would he draw ratings, but he brings an excitement to the tournament that few other players can match.

Of course, his team doesn't have ANY supporting cast, and there's realistically no chance for them to repeat last year's performance. I guess, in the end, it's better that they don't get in, but man...you hate to see a tourney without Curry.

[jv001]

Do you think Mr. Curry will now think twice about the injuries that occur during the season and make an exit to the NBA? I think this will play heavly in his decision. Good luck in whatever you do (except against Duke). Go Duke!

[Matches]

Do you think Mr. Curry will now think twice about the injuries that occur during the season and make an exit to the NBA?

Yes and yes. Realistically his stock isn't going any higher than it is right now, and could go down if he's injured and/or forgotten on a mediocre team next year.

[Davidson09]

We had an unexpected loss last night at the hands of College of Charleston. By and large, Davidson fans acknowledge that CofC out-played us, and deserved to win that game last night. We also acknowledge that Davidson is no longer the outright best team in the Southern Conference. We have 7 losses this year. 4 of them came to top-25 teams (Oklahoma, Purdue, Duke and Butler). The other three were in conference - once to The Citadel, and twice to CofC, teams that both won 20+ games this season. We're not making excuses for losing, but we believe we have ground in saying that we played some tough games. As you all know, every conference opponent (no matter how good or bad) knows you well enough to make it a tough game every time.

We're most likely headed to the NIT. That's OK. As someone one Davidson's board said, if we were to make it into the tournament, the chances of us being eliminated in the first round are pretty high. In the NIT, we have a chance to play more games, for the underclassmen to get better, and above all, a chance to see more games at home at Belk Arena (provided a certain seeding, of course).

Yes, we were all pretty down in the dumps (most of us still are). But our players have made us proud throughout the season, and we all thank them for the good times they have given us. They never quit working hard for us, and we won't quit cheering them on, no matter where we go or who we play.

Now that Davidson is all but eliminated from the NCAA tourney, I can put aside my conflict of interests and whole-heartedly root for Duke to win the whole thing.

And, btw, if I were you, I'd put your money down on Steph staying for his senior year.

[Tom B.]

And, btw, if I were you, I'd put your money down on Steph staying for his senior year.


Now that would bring up some interesting possibilities.

Currently, Stephen Curry has 2,577 career points. Let's assume Davidson plays two games in the NIT (they may get to play more, but I'm going with a conservative assumption here). And let's assume that Curry's production in those games is consistent with his season average of 28.6 ppg. That would give him 2,634 at the end of this season.

Now let's look at how many games he'd play if he came back for another year. He played 34 and 36 games in his first two years, and has played 32 this year, with at least one more to come. So let's again use a conservative assumption and say that he plays 32 games next year.

If all of these assumptions hold, and if he could average 32.3 ppg next year, he'd break one of the sports world's "unbreakable" records -- Pete Maravich's NCAA career scoring record of 3,667 points.

Of course we'd still have the usual disclaimers -- Maravich did it in three years, never played in the NCAA Tournament, etc. etc. And maintaining that kind of scoring pace for an entire season would be a very tall order, even for Curry. He'd have to score over 1,000 points on the season, and while I'm unsure if anyone in the SoCon has ever done that, I know that it has never happened in the 55-year history of the ACC (the single-season scoring record of 970 points belongs to Dennis Scott).

Everything would have to go perfectly. He almost certainly wouldn't be able to miss any games due to injury, nor could he afford to have a game like Davidson's game against Loyola earlier this year, in which Loyola double-teamed Curry the entire game and held him scoreless (while Curry's teammates won by 40 playing 4-on-3).

Unlikely? Sure -- but still, not so far out of the realm of possibility that it can be dismissed out of hand. Just something to think about.