Huge ACC game with Davidson at Duke tonight(Let’s Go ‘Cats)

Davidson is not in the ACC, but they may as well be for this one night only, and if they go to Durham and beat Duke tonight we should let the Wildcats stay in for the rest of the season.(Choose a team to kick out and let the ‘Cats stay in the house.)

Wednesday January 7, 2009 seems like a good time to start pulling against the ACC and some of the so-called top tier teams and let’s start a “Let’s GO DAVIDSON Chant here at the site…..This seems like the perfect time to start pulling against Duke and to pull for the UNDERDOG ‘Cats.

I believe this one is on ESPN with the NBA announcers coming to Cameron and the radio source, my only true source, will be 98.3FM.

It’s time to turn on the Devils and “Go With the ‘Cats”.

The entire schedule:
Men’s Basketball
Davidson @ Duke
7:00 PM
Durham, N.C.
TV: ESPN/98.3FM(Let’s Go ‘Cats)

Harvard @ Boston College
7:00 PM
Chestnut Hill, Mass.
TV: ACC Select

Morgan State @ Maryland
8:00 PM
College Park, Md.
TV: CSN

College Of Charleston @ North Carolina
9:00 PM
Chapel Hill, N.C.
TV: FSNS/NESN

*****from the Davidson Wildcat web site*****
Layup Line on Davidson at Duke
• Davidson travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on Duke Wednesday.
• The Wildcats are in the midst of a stretch where they play six of eight games on the road.
• Tonight’s game begins a run in which Davidson plays five games in 10 days.
• Duke is the third ranked team Davidson has faced this season. The Wildcats suffered losses to Oklahoma (No. 12/14) and Purdue (No. 13/18).
• Davidson is 3-33 all-time against teams ranked in the Associated Press top-5.
• The Wildcats are coming off a 76-55 conference victory over Samford last Saturday.
• Davidson has won eight of its last nine contests and is off to its best start since the ‘Cats went 11-1 to open the 1969-70 campaign. That squad finished the season with a 22-5 record and a third-straight NCAA?Tournament appearance.
• The Wildcats are 1-1 in road games and 3-2 away from home.
• Davidson junior guard Stephen Curry needs 22 points to pass Fred Hetzel and move into second on the school’s all-time scoring list.
• The Blue Devils have won four straight and are coming off a 69-44 win over Virginia Tech in their ACC opener Sunday. Their average margin of victory during the win streak is 31.8 points.
• Duke is 8-0 at home this season and has won 195 of its last 198 non-conference games at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
• The Blue Devils are giving up an average of 57.9 points a game at home, and opponents are shooting 38.2 percent and committing an average of 21 turnovers.

Series History
• Duke leads the all-time series, which began in 1909, 86-17, and has won 21 consecutive games against the Wildcats.
• Davidson’s last victory against Duke game Dec. 29, 1981, when the Wildcats topped the Blue Devils 75-73 at the Iron Duke Classic in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
• That is Davidson’s only victory in Cameron, where the ‘Cats are 1-30.
• Duke posted a 79-73 victory over Davidson in last season’s game at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.
• Stephen Curry led Davidson with 20 points, and Jason Richards tallied 14 points and 11 assists. Boris Meno posted 13 points and 10 rebounds.
• Gerald Henderson led the Blue Devils with 21 points to go along with eight rebounds, and Jon Scheyer scored 15 points off the bench. Kyle Singler recorded 14 points and 12 boards.
• Davidson rallied from 16 down in the first half and 12 with five minutes to play, getting within 70-65 with 2:37 left.
• Greg Paulus (11 points) hit a 3-pointer, and after Curry hit a 3 at the other end, Paulus’ baseline fadeaway with 32 seconds left gave Duke a 75-68 lead.
• Paulus then stole the ball from Richards, and Duke held on with Henderson’s two free throws with 5.3 seconds left putting it away.

from the DukeBasketballReport:
NEXT UP DAVIDSON:
Next up for Duke is Davidson, a band of merry men led by Stephen Curry, who sometimes brings his own entourage, including, on occasion, LeBron James, who has become an extravagant admirer.

Curry is that electrifying: the rising star of the game, the one identified as The Future, comes to see him whenever he can.

There’s this school of thought now that Stephen Curry has become such a big star that he has actually made Davidson a fine team. Perish the thought. A big reason why Curry went to Davison, aside from bigger schools not understanding just how good he was, is because he understood that Davidson had a very fine program already.

In recent years, mostly but not entirely before Curry, coach Bob McKillop has either beaten or nearly beaten Duke, UNC, N.C. State, Kansas, UCLA, and anyone willing to play them. And most of those have been road games, too, although Duke did play them in Charlotte last year, winning by only six, and then largely because of Gerald Henderson’s heroics at the end of the game.

Davidson, in other words, is no Johnny-come-lately. They are a solid program and will be when Curry leaves. But this is a special moment, and Curry is a special player.

After playing at off-guard last season and almost leading his team to the Final Four, Curry has moved to the point, replacing graduated Jason Richards. He’s averaging 29.2 ppg and seven assists. After some concerns that he might burn out, McKillop has made an adjustment and now has teammates Max Paulhus Gosselin and Brendan McKillop bringing the ball up to spell him.

Curry is obviously the heart of the team, but he’s not the only player. Six-foot-eight forward Andrew Lovedale is having a solid season, averaging 12.8 ppg and 9.6 boards. Six-foot-four Bryant Barr starts, along with Curry and Gosselin, giving the Wildcats a three guard offense and another outside threat. And while 6-7 Steve Rossiter often starts, 6-6 Will Archambault often gets more minutes.

Davidson also brings 6-9 Frank Ben-Eze, who originally committed to Tommy Amaker’s Harvard, off the bench.

It’s not a big mystery what Davidson does. They’ll work hard to get Curry open, and he’ll work hard to get the ball to his teammates in scoring positions. While the offense is going through him, he moves beautifully without the ball too, and doesn’t have to have the ball in his hands to score.

For Duke, the priority is going to be to stick someone on him constantly, to pressure him when he has the ball and to chase him when he doesn’t. He’s a good enough player, though, that you can’t assume you’re going to succeed in controlling him. He averages roughly a third of Davidson’s points, and is responsible for almost half if you count the 14 points that come from his assists, and sometimes great players just can’t be stopped. Rodney Rogers and Len Bias, among others, have put on incredible shows against Duke.

In the case of Davidson, if Curry is out of control, Duke can still hurt Davidson by shutting down his teammates, a strategy Coach K has used before. Duke’s second-half defense against Virginia Tech was startling, and they have a reasonable shot at defending both Curry and his teammates, and slowing one or the other (or both) down would work.

Still, we expect that Davidson, a smart team before Curry showed up, will be tough, disciplined, and will goe toe-to-toe with Duke. It should be a great game and could possibly be one of the great performances by an opponent ever witnessed in Cameron.

By the way, in a bizarre twist, ESPN has assigned Dick Vitale to an NBA game and the NBA crew to Cameron. What could they have been thinking?