The Sports Granola

Davidson slayed another giant Friday night. Stephen Curry provided another Elite performance in the NCAA tournament, scoring 33 points in the No. 10 seed’s 73-56 upset of Wisconsin in the Midwest. Now, if Villanova can somehow beat Kansas. What a Final Four that would be. Villanavo-Davidson.  Lets hope, My Villanova can beat Kansas.

When Villanova coach Jay Wright recruited a lanky forward named Dante Cunningham from Potomac High School, just outside Washington, he liked several things about him.Wright liked the young man’s athletic, economical game, liked his steady personality, and, not as a small bonus, also liked the fact that Cunningham’s parents were both career members of the United States Air Force.

Looking several moves ahead at the chess game that is college recruiting, the coach saw a time when that sort of discipline and training would be useful in the 2007-08 basketball season. It was a season in which Wright knew he probably would have no seniors on his team, a time when the juniors would have to be the surrogate coaches on the floor and in the locker room.

“Both of his parents are military officers,” Wright said. “I thought when we got him, this was going to make him a great leader. What I found out was, it made him a great soldier. He listened. He did what he was told all the time, but he didn’t want to tell anybody else. It’s taken time. It’s taken three years for him to be a great leader, where he takes control and tells people what to do. He’s really doing that now.”

The Villanova Wildcats have grown into their roles this season. They have grown from a team that was more than a little scattered and unpredictable in the middle of the schedule into a settled group that has advanced improbably to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament.

The maturation process got the Wildcats through the first two games of the tournament and sent them to tomorrow’s Midwest Regional semifinal match in Detroit against the Kansas Jayhawks.

Cunningham, like the rest of the underappreciated frontcourt members of the team, won’t be the focus in the game. Point guard Scottie Reynolds, along with burgeoning freshman star Corey Stokes, will get most of the attention. That’s fine with Cunningham. But if the Wildcats win, and even if they don’t, just reaching this stage had a lot to do with Cunningham’s transition from soldier to officer.

“It was a gradual progression,” Wright said. “If you look at his entire career, he’s always been a complementary player, always willing to do the dirty work. I think it’s taken almost a year and a half to get that out of his system.

“One of our challenges this year was for Dante to become a go-to guy. This year, he plays as hard as anybody in the country, night in and night out. He does whatever it takes.”

Last weekend in Tampa, Fla., Cunningham was a defensive rock in the first-round win as the Wildcats fronted the big Clemson post players, frustrated them in the second half, and forced the Tigers’ perimeter players into quick, unsuccessful shots. He capped that with a huge drive down the lane in the closing minutes, resulting in a strong lefthanded layup that gave Villanova a three-point lead that grew from there.

In the next game, after being held scoreless in the opening half against Siena, partly because of foul trouble, Cunningham went on the offensive, scoring 14 points in the second half as the Wildcats took advantage of a rare favorable matchup on the inside. Whatever it takes, as the coach says.

“The coach told us [juniors] that it’s our team now and we have to take care of it,” Cunningham said. “We took that on our shoulders.”

The biggest shouldering came during the team’s five-game losing streak in late January and early February. Cunningham helped keep his teammates from splintering. He isn’t loud, which makes his words important. And he must have said the right things.

“You have to be able to talk to them, to get in their faces a little bit,” Cunningham said. “And sometimes, it’s not as verbal or as visible to most. But I grab them, tell them . . . just let them know they’re not getting it done or something’s not going right.”

It was a role Cunningham didn’t have to play when Mike Nardi, Curtis Sumpter and Will Sheridan were around. Certainly not when Randy Foye and Allan Ray were there. But now the role is his.

“A lot of times, Dante does things that people don’t see,” Wright said. “He’s not out there screaming at people, but he’ll pull them aside, and when he says something, it means a lot. I could take a lesson from him there. He’s our leader.”

“I love it,” Cunningham said. “Every basketball player strives for that, to know it’s your team and you run it. Win or lose, it’s on you. Regardless, it’s on you.”

That’s not a soldier talking anymore. That’s a leader, the kind that can get a young basketball team through a bad losing streak with encouraging words and his own consistent example.

Growing up, Cunningham said his was a normal home. The military was left at the office by his parents - for the most part.

“I definitely know what an order is,” he said, with a laugh.

And now, in the season when it was finally needed, even if it doesn’t always sound like an order, he knows how to give one, too.

No. 5 seed Drake and No. 12 seed Western Kentucky put on a show today in Tampa, with a Western Kentucky buzzer beater in overtime putting an exclamation mark on the best game of the NCAA Tournament so far.

Senior Ty Rogers hit the three-pointer as time expired to give Western Kentucky the 101-99 overtime victory.

It was amazing that Western Kentucky even needed overtime. After a hard-fought first 15 minutes, Western Kentucky went on a run just before halftime and led 47-38 at intermission. The Hilltoppers then shot lights out for much of the second half and appeared to have things just about wrapped up, leading 74-59 with 7:42 to go.

And then Drake went on a big run, with Jonathan Cox, Klayton Korver and Adam Emmenecker all hitting big shots down the stretch. A Cox three-pointer tied the game at 88-88 just before overtime, and Drake even had a chance to win in regulation when Emmenecker missed a jumper.

The story of the high-scoring overtime was Rogers’ three-pointer, but the story of the game was Western Kentucky’s Tyrone Brazelton, who had a phenomenal game, scoring 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including 6-of-10 from behind the three-point line.

And so the 2008 NCAA Tournament now has its 12-5 upset, and after a rather ho-hum first afternoon of the Tournament, the second day is off to a wild start.

 It took 39 years, but Davidson is back as a player in the NCAA tournament, thanks to a dynamic guard with a magic touch that none of the big schools wanted. Stephen Curry scored 30 of his 40 points in the second half and hit the tie-breaking 3-pointer with just over a minute left to lead Davidson to an 82-76 win over Gonzaga on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Displaying his lightning-quick release, Curry hit 8 of 10 3-pointers. His two free throws with 14.5 seconds left iced it for the 10th-seeded Wildcats (27-6), who won their first NCAA game since Lefty Driesell put this tiny liberal arts school on the map in the 1960s. Curry, the son of former NBA 3-point specialist Dell Curry, wanted to play for his father’s alma mater, Virginia Tech. But the big schools shied away from the baby-faced Curry, who has grown four inches to 6-foot-3 since signing with Davidson, and now has put the Wildcats into the second round of the Midwest Regional against the Georgetown-Maryland-Baltimore County winner. Jason Richards added 15 points and nine assists for Davidson, which extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 23 games. Andrew Lovedale had 12 points and one of his 13 rebounds came on the offensive glass, which led to Curry’s deciding 3-pointer. Freshman Steve Gray hit seven 3-pointers and scored 21 points for No. 7 seed Gonzaga (25-8), which blew 11-point leads in both halves to make a first-round exit for the second straight year. Curry’s off-balance 3-pointers and even a left-handed bank shot won over the crowd. With the sophomore hitting six of his first seven 3-point attempts, about the only fan not standing during Davidson’s comeback was his father. Dell Curry watched quietly from the front row, while his wife and most of the neutral fans cheered as Davidson took its first lead on Stephen Rossiter’s putback with 8:27 left. It set up a frantic finish, with Davidson taking a 73-72 lead on Max Paulhus Gosselin’s 3-pointer with 4:11 to go. But after Lovedale’s free throw, Gonzaga tied it on Jeremy Pargo’s driving layup 1:45 left. Lovedale, who had his first career double-double, then tracked down a Davidson miss on the right wing and quickly fed Curry for his eighth 3. Pargo added 18 points and Gonzaga shot 51 percent, but the Zags wilted down the stretch in their second straight loss. Austin Daye was 3-for-13 and missed a 3-pointer after Curry put Davidson ahead. As the final seconds ticked down, Davidson, playing only 160 miles from campus, celebrated its first NCAA tournament win since 1969 with flare. Curry and Richards did consecutive chest bumps before meeting their teammates at midcourt, while Charlotte Bobcats forward Adam Morrison, the symbol of Gonzaga’s recent NCAA tournament success, sat dejected behind the Zags’ bench. Davidson, making its third straight NCAA tournament appearance, had played Maryland and Ohio State close the last two seasons, but were determined to get over the hump this season. They did it behind Curry, who surpassed 30 points for the ninth time. He hit 14 of 22 shots and was one point shy of his career high. Gray, a freshman who missed the first 10 games with a broken wrist, upstaged his teammates and Curry to start the game. Gray made all five 3-point attempts in the first 12 minutes and Gonzaga built a 28-17 lead. He hit another 3 early in the second half as Gonzaga used its inside advantage to build a 56-45 lead with 15:06 left. But Gray was also guarding — or at least assigned to — Curry during Davidson’s run.

The tournament is about to begin, and I can’t wait. This is the best time of the year. Nothing is like the NCAA basketball tournament.

Not many upsets for me this year in my picks. In the East, I have #11 St. Joseph’s beating #6 Oklahoma. I haven’t seen OU play that much this year. So, I went with the A-10 St. Joes.

In the Mid-West, I have #12 Villanova over #5 Clemson, and then having Nova beat #4 Vanderbilt. Their cinderella run stops against Kansas.

In the South Region, #6 Marquette will upset #3 Stanford in the 2nd round before losing to #2 Texas.

My elite 8 teams are UNC - Louisville, Kansas-Georgetown, Memphis-Texas, UCLA-Duke.

UNC-Kansas, Memphis-UCLA are my final four teams with Memphis beating UNC in the final.

Yes, I picked 4 #1 seeds to make it to the final four. It has never happened before. This year, the #1 seeds are head and shoulders above the rest of the field, so I am banking my picks on that. Now, lets just see if I win any money this year.

What? Can anyone believe that a reserve player block the trade that would send Kidd to Dallas. Why did Dallas add a no-trade clause in Devean George’s contract? It’s Devean George. Anyway, Kidd will likely head to Dallas. George will have to do agree to the trade for his own well being. He shot 0-11 in last nights game and the crowd showered him with boos. George, don’t have an ego, just accept the trade and move on. You will probably start for the Nets.

The Hoyas beat the Wildcats 55-53. Jonathon Wallace made two free throws with .1 seconds to play. The foul was a bogus call by the refs. The worst call I have seen in a long time. Wallace grabbed a loose ball and a Wildcat barely, barely touched him and a foul was called. Absolutely absurd ending to a great Big East Basketball game.

The first half was back and forth. Each team led. In the 2nd half, the Hoyas built a 12 point lead until Nova tied it, but then lost on a ridiculous call.

Shaq suited up for his first practice with the Phoenix Suns. Guess what? He was winded at the end of practice. No s$%! Still, a very dumb trade for the Suns. When Shaq is in, he will be standing at the other end of the court waiting to play defense. The Suns are going to have to play 4 on 5 at the offensive end. Dumb, dumb, dumb trade on the Suns part.

Yes, the man is back. The man that annoys the hell out of me is back. And do you know what? I am very happy. Yes, I am very happy. Never thought I would wait for the night until I can hear Dickie V yelling and screaming during the big game. And it’s Carolina-Duke. Vitale loves the Dukies and the Heels. He should be especially loud tonight. Hopefully his vocals will allow it.

As far as the game. Should be a good one, even with Lawson out for the “Heels”. I say UNC should win, maybe easily though.