| Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley | | | | played. |
| For the first time in the history of the NCAA | | | | Curry, who became only the 4th player to hit the |
| National Basketball Tournament, all four No. 1 | | | | 30-point mark in his first 3 NCAA tourney games, |
| seeded teams made it safely through the Sweet | | | | finished with 25 on 9-of-25 shooting. He was |
| 16 and Elite 8 brackets to the Final 4?UCLA, | | | | picked as the Most Outstanding Player in the |
| Memphis, North Carolina and Kansas. Three #1 | | | | Midwest Regional. |
| seeds have advanced to the Final 4 only three | | | | As a sophomore, he nailed 160 3-pointers this |
| times in NCAA history, most recently in 1999. | | | | season to set an NCAA Division I record. He will |
| West Regional Champion UCLA (35-3) meets | | | | return to Davidson for his junior year, wisely not |
| South Regional Champion Memphis (37-1), and | | | | choosing to go pro without more seasoning, Curry |
| East Regional Champion North Carolina (36-2) | | | | was an 89% free throw shooter this year and |
| faces off against Midwest Regional Champion | | | | shot 44% from 3-point land. |
| Kansas (35-3) Saturday (4-5-08) with the winners | | | | Many fans had no idea there was a Davidson |
| playing Monday night in the national championship | | | | before the tournament. Davidson was not exactly |
| game. | | | | overwhelmed with national publicity and exposure |
| The entire Sweet 16 and Elite 8 action reminded | | | | before March Madness began. Davidson is so small |
| me a whole lot of the run-up to a traditional | | | | there are very few fans who could tell you it is |
| Thanksgiving dinner. There are always a lot of | | | | located in Davidson, North Carolina. The liberal arts |
| common meals before the magnificent | | | | school, which has only 1,770 students, could not |
| Thanksgiving feast. | | | | even fill a scant part of the student section at |
| I could have fallen asleep during 9 actual blowouts | | | | UCLA. |
| and a somewhat close Xavier-West Virginia game | | | | The loss snapped Davidson's 25-game winning |
| that only seemed close because it ended in | | | | streak, the longest in the nation. The Wildcats |
| overtime with Xavier taking down West Virginia, | | | | were nothing short of amazing during their run, |
| 79-75. | | | | upsetting the likes of Gonzaga, Georgetown and |
| The only two marquee games involved upstart | | | | Wisconsin before running into Kansas. |
| Davidson with "please shoot the lights out" | | | | Davidson won the South Division of the Southern |
| Stephen Curry, who scored 33 points as the | | | | Conference with a perfect 20-0 record and |
| unsung #10 seed embarrassed the hell out of #3 | | | | finished the season with a 29-7 mark. The |
| seed Wisconsin's famous lock-down defense. | | | | Wildcats are coached by Bob McKillop, who |
| Davidson then came within a inch or two of | | | | deserved to be in the spotlight after 19 seasons |
| sending Kansas back home as the #1 seed | | | | at Davidson. Until this season, Davidson has not |
| Jayhawks were just able to hang on for dear life, | | | | won an NCAA tournament game in 39 years! |
| barely advancing to the Final 4 with a 59-57 | | | | Davidson's mighty run to greatness will be talked |
| victory when stealth shooter Stephen Curry | | | | about for years in Davidson and every nook and |
| drained another 3-pointer with 54 seconds left. It | | | | cranny in North Carolina, a state obsessed with |
| would be the last basket of the game, which | | | | basketball after basking in the immense success |
| proved to be the most exciting game of dozen | | | | of Duke and North Carolina over the years. |