Everybody’s favorite underdog
The major schools didn’t recruit him.
He was too small, too skinny, and looked too much like a twelve year old.
Mid-major Davidson University took a chance, and the rest, as they say is history.
In just over two short years with the Wildcats, Stephen Curry has become the school’s poster boy, and the leader of everyone’s favourite underdog squad.
Now he’s made the shift to point guard, where his slender 6’3″, 185-pound frame is more suited, and through the transition he hasn’t skipped a beat. Not only has his scoring average increased to 29.2 points per game (it was good enough for fourth in nation last year at 25.9), but his numbers across the board are literally jaw dropping.
Curry has silenced the critics who said he couldn’t play the point behind his seven assists per game average to start the season, and done so with an impressive 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio (not bad for a first-time point guard). He’s also averaging three steals per contest and contributing on the glass with nearly four boards per night.
He’s reached the 40-point plateau three times already this season, the 30-point another three, and Davidson’s only played twelve games (ten of which were wins).
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In one of those two losses, Davidson fell 82-78 to a powerhouse Oklahoma squad led by future No. 2 overall pick Blake Griffin. In that game Curry scored 44 points, going 6 for 15 from downtown and hitting all fourteen of his free throw attempts, looking like the best player on the court.
Still, NBA scouts doubt his ability to play at the next level. They cite the likes of J.J. Redick, Trajan Langdon and Dajuan Wagner as similar players. Comparing him to great college shot makers who failed to adapt to the pro game, rather than to someone like Dell Curry, who enjoyed sixteen productive seasons in the league, and just happens to be Stephen’s father.
Curry just continues to play. He seems like as long as the critics have something to say then he’ll just continue to prove them wrong. Ain’t no thing.
Even if he takes home National Player of the Year honours, which he very well could, Curry will always be an underdog, and that’s just fine. Look for another Cinderella performance this March from Davidson, who Curry carried all the way to the Elite Eight last year behind his 32 points per night tournament average.
This year expect even more. His game continues to blossom, and while the rest of the world now acknowledges his rare shooting touch, they may be surprised to discover that he is in fact a legitimate baller.
Meaning that wherever he plays, no matter the competition, or what the critics have to say about his physical deficiencies, he will always find a way to contribute and make his team better.
He’s the rarest breed of athlete. The one who desires to win so much that he’ll do anything and everything he can to see his goals come to fruition.
Like I said, Stephen Curry is a baller, and he alone makes Davidson a national contender.
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