Playa
Stephen Curry. Owner of all he surveys.
His tournament so far? 40 points. 30 points. 33 points. The latter coming with Wisconsin doing everything it possibly could to deny him shots. Tacking on his 30 point effort in last year's tournament, he is only the fourth player ever to go for 30 or more in four straight NCAA tournament games.
That's one sweet offensive game he owns. I still don't understand how he was passed over by the ACC, but, damn. Gregg Doyle at sportsline captures the six minute stretch that was dominating a college basketball performance by one player as you will ever see:
"Davidson's Stephen Curry was putting on a show -- sorry; he was putting on another show -- and LeBron was watching from the first row, as mesmerized as any us in the building and any of you watching on television. Curry scored 22 of his 33 points in the second half of Davidson's 73-56 demolition of Wisconsin. It was his third straight NCAA tournament game with at least 30 points overall and 20 in the second half, and it put the Wildcats into the Elite Eight. All of it is ridiculous, even to someone as sublime as LeBron James, who had been watching stoically until Curry detonated with 16 points in 6½ minutes midway through the second half. The sequence started with a pair of free throws, but then Curry began mixing in some degree-of-difficulty buckets.
He curled into the lane, caught a pass and kissed a moving 14-footer high off the glass. Davidson led 48-43. LeBron's eyebrows went up. Curry next did one of his abracadabra 3-pointers, catching the ball and getting rid of it in the same motion. Davidson led 51-45. LeBron started clapping. After a Wisconsin turnover, Curry caught a pass in the corner, paused as defender Joe Krabbenhoft flew past, then drained another 3-pointer. Davidson led 54-45. LeBron looked around and mouthed the word, "Wow." Minutes later, with the shot clock winding down and two Badgers trying to prevent Curry from getting off a shot, he uncorked a vicious crossover dribble, stepped back and swished a 3-pointer. Davidson led 60-45. LeBron stood and raised both arms.
After a Wisconsin free throw, Curry attacked the rim, floated underneath, hung in the air as he was hit and spun a circus shot high off the glass. He added the free throw, giving him 16 of his team's last 18 points. Davidson led 63-46. LeBron screamed "Oh s---!" There's a good chance I screamed the same thing."
Yeah. Pretty much anyone paying attention was having the same reaction. The game went from 45-43 Davidson lead to 63-46 Davidson lead and pretty much game over on as pure a display of offensive greatness from one player as you could hope to ever see. And Wisconsin prides itself on its defense.
Davidson's victims now? Gonzaga (7 seed), Georgetown (2 seed), and Wisconsin (3 seed). Whatever happens against a remarkably good Kansas team on Sunday, Davidson has been the team of the tournament, and Stephen Curry this tournament's best player.
No question about it.