I didn’t read the entire thread so this might have been covered already but in case it hasn’t; Dell Curry was on Rex Chapman’s podcast and confirmed that Duke wouldn’t take Steph even as a walk-on. A favor was called in to Johnny Dawkins to consider Steph as a walk-on and he turned him down.
https://www.basketballnews.com/stori...state-warriors
To be fair, Va Tech didn’t take him either.
did either do much in HS/AAU to warrant serious consderation? I mean, the sports world isn't built for late bloomers, but it's not like duke was the only school to give him a pass....I'm sure not having curry in the family is one of the bigger regrets of K's later tenure, both due to his ability as a player and a person (not like a woe is me regret, just a "if I could do it over" kind of thing)
April 1
This I know: if Steph HAD been a Duke, the consensus on this board would be that he was a surefire Top 10 all-timer!
Oh I wasn’t saying it as any slight against Coach K. Just clarifying that the previous poster’s comment wasn’t accurate. Coach K definitely hesitated. And with total reason: Seth was an undersized and underathletic SG who none of the major conferences went after. It was only after he proved himself at Liberty that Coach K was interested. Again, totally reasonable strategy, but it isn’t like he said “hey, we missed on Steph, let’s not miss on his brother.” That door was most definitely left open for other schools to grab him.
Interesting sidenote, Seth Greenberg was on Keyshawn JWill and Max this morning.
They were discussing Curry's legacy and other big picture questions and Greenberg felt compelled to explain that at VaTech, he did in fact recruit Steph. But he was encouraging him to redshirt. He had two studs at guard and Steph was so undersized. Clearly, it worked out okay for Curry.
Anyway, sidebar, that morning show is literally one of the worst things on radio. I wish Jay could drag himself out of that crap. Not doing him any favors.
For reference, that 2006-07 Virginia Tech team was pretty good, going 22-12 (10-6, 3rd in ACC) and grabbing a #5 seed in the tournament. They certainly had a stud at guard in senior Zabain Dowdell, who averaged 17 a game. They also had a second starting senior guard, Jamon Gordon.
But it looks like the real person who would have been in Steph's way was freshmen Nigel Munson, a 6-0 guard out of DeMatha in DC who was ranked #70 in the RSCI. At the time, going with Munson was certainly the conventional choice, rather than the unranked, lightly recruited Curry. But as the team's 6th-man, Munson averaged just 3.0 points per game, while Steph was an immediate sensation at Davidson, scoring 21 per game. And while Curry didn't exactly fit the hard-nosed, pound the basketball (334th nationally in 3pt attempts) team at Virginia Tech, I'm sure they would have adapted to a talent like him. When Curry is on your team, that is your team's identity.
Not saying this to bash Greenberg for picking Munson over Steph at the time, but one has to think he could have tried harder to have both on the roster.
Interestingly, that would be Munson's only season at Virginia Tech, as family issues and the April 2007 massacre of 32 on Virginia Tech's campus prompted him to transfer to D-II University of DC.
If we're going to compile a list of college programs that whiffed BIG TIME with Steph, it's going to be too long to list. Doubt ANY power conference team made a real serious bid, and while maybe we can throw a little more shade at the programs in spitting distance of Charlotte (especially those like VT or UVA at the time that weren't consistently stocking 5-star and high 4-star guys), I don't think you can exactly label anyone as "dumb" given it was pretty much total consensus that Curry looked like a fringe D1 player, certainly mid-major at best.
We might as well say every NFL was a GM for passing on Brady for 5+ rounds. I abhor using hindsight to judge the decisions of these guys. When a guy makes a move that's called out by the masses as "bonehead" before the player sees the field/floor, and it doesn't pan out.... sure, fire him. Give him a hard time. But when his decision is the consensus thought in the moment, just feel like we can't/shouldn't hate on him. (for the record, not saying you ARE hating on him in anyway. Just making that point b/c it's a small pet peeve of mine when fans make allusions to things like, "We could have had Steph, but the staff screwed the pooch!").
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013