That Time Steph Curry Humbled Wisconsin Badger Basketball
Wisconsin basketball clashed with Steph Curry and Davidson in 2008
Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors won its second NBA title in three years on Monday night. As the “dynasty” label grows from whisper to shout, lets pause and remember that time Steph Curry broke Wisconsin hearts.
Curry and the Davidson Wildcats crushed the Wisconsin Badgers in the Sweet 16 of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
Wisconsin Badger basketball had a tremendous 2007-08 season completing the Big Ten double claiming the regular season crown and storming to the Big Ten Tournament title.
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Bucky was 29-4 entering the NCAA Tournament earning the #3-seed in the Midwest regional. Wisconsin Basketball had won 12 straight and 25 of its previous 27 games. The only losses on the season were the season series against the Boilermakers and non-conference losses at Duke and home versus rival Marquette.
Wisconsin Basketball easily dispatched Cal State Fullerton in the 1st round 71-56. UW had little trouble with future #2 overall NBA draft pick Michael Beasley and Kansas State 72-55 in the 2nd round.
Meanwhile, Davidson entered the NCAA Tournament with a 26-6 record and a perfect 20-0 mark in Southern Conference play. The Wildcats won the Southern Conference Tournament and had not lost since December 21, 2007 riding a 22-game winning streak. The Wildcats were the #10-Seed in the Midwestern regional.
Curry’s heroics rescued Davidson in the first two rounds. He dropped 40 on Gonzaga and 30 on Georgetown leading second half rallies to move on to the Sweet 16 in Detroit. The plodding Georgetown Hoyas would definitely have been a better match up for Wisconsin Basketball given the shared style of play.
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I actually attended the Wisconsin-Davidson game hitching a ride to Detroit with my parent’s best friends who are big Wisconsin Basketball fans. Come to think of it, I probably owe them gas money plus nine years of interest.
The game was at Ford Field, opened in 2002 and host of Super Bowl XL in 2006. The NCAA was testing out football stadiums using an elevated court to be able to sell out the entire arena. The cavernous stadium was mostly empty although some Davidson students had been bused in (courtesy of the Board of Trustees). A few Kansas and Villanova fans also made the trip.
Lebron James showed up and was booed by the Detroit partisans given his history dismantling the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs. He stayed briefly, sitting behind the Davidson bench.
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The game was deceptively close at halftime, honors even at 36. But the scoreline and pace were clearly favoring Davidson. Wisconsin Basketball just wasn’t built for that kind of a shootout. By the under 12 timeout Davidson was just about home and dry as UW was unable to answer the Wildcat offensive onslaught.
Davidson won 73-55 shooting 49.1 percent from the floor including precisely 50 percent from behind the arc (12-24). The Wildcats had 18 assists on its 26 made field goals while committing only seven turnovers.
"Curry, the son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry, outscored the Badgers all by himself in the second half, 22-20. He finished with 33 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including six 3-pointers."
Wisconsin finished the game shooting 37 percent from the floor (17-46) and 34.8 percent from deep (8-23). UW committed 12 turnovers and was only +3 in rebounding since Davidson didn’t miss many shots.
Milling about after the game with other dismayed Wisconsin Basketball fans, Mike Tirico walked by in civilian attire and a Tigers hat. He smiled at me, shook his head, and just said “unbelievable” a couple of times. At halftime of the Kansas – Villanova game we unloaded our Regional Final tickets on some friendly Detroit basketball fans who were quite understandably fully on board the Steph Curry and Davidson bandwagon.