The Grand Slam is a Washington restaurant and bar at the Grand Hyatt hotel with many television sets and big screens, each of them greedily watched early Friday afternoon. The local team, American, was playing Tennessee on several of the screens. That also was the game I got on my hotel TV.
It was not the game I wanted. I wanted Davidson and Gonzaga. I needed Davidson-Gonzaga. So I hit the Grand Slam and was thrilled to see the game on the featured screen.
The place was packed with fans in town for the West Regional, groups of Georgetown fans and guys in suits skipping work and drinking imported draft beer.
But whoever they were, they cheered for the Wildcats. And the more Stephen Curry scored, the more the fans latched onto Davidson. Every three he hit attracted at least three new fans. As the game wound down, fans were screaming for Davidson.
I heard only one woman cheer for Gonzaga and she might have done it to irritate the guy she was with. The guy wore North Carolina Tar Heels gear and loudly yelled after every Davidson free-throw, basket, near basket, steal, rebound and timeout.
Late in the game, with the Wildcats up by one, the proprietor, in an act of madness, switched the featured screen to American-Tennessee. You should have heard the response. Fans booed, yelled, "Come on!" and generated such an angry ruckus that within 10 seconds Stephen and the fellows returned to the big screen.
In the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, America’s underdog is America’s team. Although Davidson was favored Friday, the Wildcats are America’s team.
Now what the Wildcats need to do is practice situations in which they have gained a previously unexpected advantage--say for example, a turnover from the other team at mid-court; a steal by a Davidson player who then needs to find somebody to pass the ball to unless he can dribble up the court himself; or a late-developing fast-break opportunity which offers little opportunity to scope out a down-the-court passing pattern.
These are often "short-notice" advantages--breaks in a game that you couldn't have foreseen five or ten seconds previously. Davidson should practice these situations before taking the court against Georgetown because it seemed that one category in which the Wildcats did not excel in their otherwise outstanding game Friday was in converting on "short-notice" or "unexpected" game advantages. The Cats were either throwing the ball away, making hasty shots or failing to make a pass at all in trying to go in all alone to the basket when their was heavy defensive pressure present.
Of course, Davidson may not get the number of turnovers and other game-flow breaks against Georgetown Sunday that the Cats were able to generate against Gonzaga on Friday, but nonetheless, whatever advantages come Davidson's way during its second-round game, the team must definitely do better in taking advantage of these additional scoring opportunities even if it means occasionally holding up the ball rather than trying to convert immediately by driving to the basket.
The fact that Davidson was able to overcome Gonzaga's awesome long-range field goal accuracy is a good testament to the Wildcats' on-court determination and great preparation by Coach Bob McKillop. Driving the lane and getting good shot selection around the perimeter will be essential to a successful outing as the Wildcats try to move on to the Sweet Sixteen.
Oh, and if Carolina, Duke and N.C. State fans here in the Triangle all want to cheer on the Wildcats against Georgetown, Davidson alumni and friends should not take sides but rather invite all the fans of other teams in the region to hoot and holler for the Cats.
Posted by: David McKnight | March 21, 2008 at 10:34 PM
DAVIDSON GIVES HOPE TO ALL THE
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Posted by: SCORBOARD1 | March 26, 2008 at 12:16 PM