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Mike Miller

Mike Miller has been NBCSports.com's college basketball editor since 2003. It's a position he relishes; no wonder considering he transferred to Kansas to watch Paul Pierce play. Most of his favorite sports memories involve college hoops, usually during March, when every waking moment is spent thinking about March Madness.



Another lament: No Curry in NCAAs?

Posted: Sunday, March 08, 2009 9:13 PM
Filed Under: , ,

My Sunday lament continues…

Davidson, last season’s NCAA tournament Cinderella story, lost Sunday to College of Charleston in the Southern Conference tournament, putting a huge crimp in the Wildcats’ Big Dance hopes.

At 26-7, the ‘Cats could earn an at-large bid, but several factors are conspiring against them.

  • Their RPI stinks. Say what you will about the RPI, but the seeding committee uses it as a way to measure teams. Entering Sunday’s game, Davidson was 67th according to Realtimerpi.com. That’s behind other bubble teams like Penn State, Auburn, Maryland and Rhode Island.
  • Davidson’ most impressive win this season was Dec. 9 against West Virginia. After that, it’s N.C. State. Yes, Curry’s club played Oklahoma, Purdue, Duke and Butler, but didn’t win any of those games. And in this case, losses mean more than who you played.
  • Losing to the Citadel also hurts. Davidson played without Curry during the Feb. 18 loss, but it’s unclear how the committee will take that into consideration.

Part of me wonders if the committee will find a spot for Davidson simply to get the nation’s leading scorer – and one of its most well-known players – into the March spotlight. I know CBS would appreciate it.

Curry’s scoring and Davidson’s run to the Elite Eight impressed CBS so much last year that it gave the Wildcats the primo TV slot during the Elite Eight, using their matchup against Kansas for its lead-in for “60 Minutes” despite risk of an audience killing blowout. In all, 17.2 million people tuned in for that game, up significantly from the earlier rounds of games.

Watching Curry gun for the big upset again this year would no doubt attract viewers, both online and on TV. Elite shooters like Curry are a rare breed. I’d love to see him on the big stage again.

Why does any of this matter? Why fret over Curry’s fate when a guy like Tennessee-Martin’s Lester Hudson – the nation’s second-leading scorer and perhaps its best all-around player – also won’t be in the Big Dance?

OK, fine. Put Hudson in too. Put ‘em both in. What can it hurt?

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Booker Woodfox.  Creighton has a sharpshooter that almost nobody knows about.  He is the leading three point shooter in the nation this year, at right around 50 percent, is the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, hit a huge buzzer beater to get Creighton into the MVC semifinals, and has ascended to all of this after being a sixth man last year.

Great name.  Unbelievable stroke.  And CU has 26 wins, is currently 3-2 against the RPI top 50, 9-5 against the RPI top 100, has a dozen wins away from home, and an RPI in the top 40.

You want somebody to pull for who deserves to be in the dance?  Why not Booker and the Jays?  Seriously -- much better resume than Davidson or Tennessee-Martin, and Booker is every bit as exciting of a scorer as either of those guys.  He does it without jacking up 40 shots a game like Curry.  Heck, if I could go out and jack up 40 shots a game like that I'd probably be a double digit scorer, too -- and I'm in my 50's.

gtmoblue -- Virginia (Sent Monday, March 09, 2009 2:27 PM)

I don't see why it has to be one or the other - put Creighton and Davidson in the dance. Makes for a more interesting tournament, getting to know some of the lesser publicized schools and players.  If a team from a BCS league wants to dance, they should at least have to finish in the top half of their conference standings.  Otherwise, let lower tier schools have a chance.  And by the way Curry may very well break the all-time NCAA scoring record that Maravich currently holds, averaging less than 20 shots a game for his career (not 40 like Pete averaged per game).  Look it up.

SAB, Charlotte, NC (Sent Monday, March 09, 2009 6:13 PM)

I'm a Curry fan who went to VT the same time as his Dad, Dell.  We Hokies wish Stephen was there now, but that's beside the point.  Pete Maravich averaged 44.2 ppg over the 3 years he played college ball, a total of 3,667 points (and about 27 games per year).  Even if Curry scores more points in four years and with the benefit of the three-point line, it will be hard to call him the all-time leading scorer!  The Pistol probably would have had 5,000 under today's rules.

LH, Floyd, VA (Sent Tuesday, March 10, 2009 2:04 PM)



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