Davidson made the NCAA tournament. What to know about the school Steph Curry made famous
Davidson College has been showing up in a lot of recent lists of “teams you don’t want to face in the first round of the NCAA tournament.”
The Wildcats, a No. 10 seed, will play Michigan State in the first round on Friday in Greenville, S.C.
Foster Loyer, a senior point guard for Davidson, is a transfer from Michigan State.
Davidson, regular-season champions of the Atlantic-10 Conference, is enjoying one of its best seasons in the school’s 114-year basketball history. And that history includes a magical run to the NCAA Elite Eight, 14 years ago, with tournament victories over (in order) Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin.
With Davidson heading to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, here is everything you might want to know about the Wildcats and the school they represent.
Where is Davidson?
Davidson College is in (of course!) the town of Davidson.
It’s 19 miles up Interstate 77 from uptown Charlotte, at the northern edge of Mecklenburg County.
Davidson is a picturesque little town in what has been a fast-growing part of the county. The college has 775 acres, and 110 of those are along Lake Norman, the largest man-made reservoir in North Carolina. Lake Norman is a huge draw for boating, fishing and any other water-related activity.
Bob McKillop is Davidson’s basketball coach
Davidson hired Bob McKillop, a highly successful high school coach on Long Island, for the 1989-90 season. His first team finished 4-24. By 1993-94, Davidson had a 22-8 record and played in the NIT.
McKillop is in his 33rd season at Davidson and has coached more than 1,000 games with the Wildcats. He lives within walking distance of the school and sometimes walks to home games. His son Matt is the associated head coach.
Davidson has famous alumni
More than a dozen Governors in North and South Carolina graduated from Davidson. The school’s alumni also include the nation’s 28th President, Woodrow Wilson, who actually attended just one year before moving to Princeton.
Other alumni: Dean Rusk, Secretary of State in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations; Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush; novelist Patricia Cornwell; and basketball player Stephen Curry.
Yes, Steph Curry played at Davidson
In 2006, Coach Bob McKillop took a chance and signed a Charlotte Christian School senior who many Division 1 schools thought was too light. That player was Steph Curry, and it worked out pretty well for the Wildcats.
Curry emerged as a national star and led the 2007-08 team to a 29-7 record and the NCAA Elite Eight. Behind Curry, the Wildcats knocked off Gonzaga and Georgetown in the first two rounds at Raleigh, then trounced Big Ten champion Wisconsin 73-56 before 57,000 fans at Ford Field in Detroit. The run ended with a 59-57 loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight. A last-second 3-point shot for victory bounced off the rim.
Curry went on to become a household name in the NBA.
Davidson College is small
Enrollment is about 1,975 students, with an average class size of 18 students.
It’s an old school
Davidson is among the oldest colleges in North Carolina and the South. It was founded by Presbyterians in 1837.
The college is academically demanding and has produced 23 Rhodes scholars. Davidson operates under an academic honor code that each student must follow.
Thanks to generous donors, Davidson reportedly was the wealthiest school south of Princeton in the mid-1800s.
It was a men’s-only school until 1972. Oh, and it has its own farm — a stand-alone operation that helps feed students.
The Midnight Scream
Traditionally, Davidson students mark the beginning of Exams Week with a midnight scream on the first day of testing. The idea is to relieve stress.
Davidson has a long basketball history
Davidson fielded its first men’s basketball team in the 1907-08 season. J.W. Rhea was the coach, but no record exists for the team. In 1908-09, the Wildcats went 1-2.
The Lefty Diresell Era
Davidson had some mildly successful years through the early and mid 20th Century until Charles “Lefty” Driesell arrived as head coach in 1960. In his third season, the Wildcats went 20-7. The next year, they finished 22-4, then 24-2 in 1964-65. The 1965-66 team was 21-7 and played in the NCAA tournament for the first time.
In 1968-69, Davidson finished 27-3 and lost 87-85 to North Carolina in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament. Driesell left for Maryland after that season.
This year’s Davidson basketball team
Davidson started 1-2, beating NCAA qualifier Delaware and then losing to two more NCAA teams, San Francisco and New Mexico State. The Wildcats then went on a 15-game winning streak that included a road win over Alabama, then ranked in the top 10.
McKillop was named Coach of the Year in the Atlantic 10, and senior Luka Brajkovic was voted Player of the Year. He averages 14.3 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. The leading scorers, though, are guards Foster Loyer (16.7) and Hyunyung Lee (16.3).
The Wildcats are among Division 1’s leaders in field goal shooting percentage, 3-point field goal shooting, and free-throw shooting.
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 6:15 PM.