Huffman: ACC Schools Missed On Curry

When Dell Curry played guard for the Charlotte Hornets, his father told a story about how devoted the son was to basketball.

They lived in the foothills of Virginia and one year, after a heavy snow, the father heard a constant thumping in the back yard. He looked out and saw Dell had put burlap sacks over the snow on the basketball court so he could shoot baskets.

No wonder Curry played so many years in the NBA. The ball left his hand with a quick, sure snap, and few could match his accuracy.

Curry was in the stands Saturday, watching a different version of No. 30. The light skin and quick release were similar, but the styles different. Asked if he’d seen many tapes of his father play, Stephen Curry laughed and said, “Most of the tape I watched was to make fun of his short shorts.”

The father was a 6-foot-5 wing who loved to come off picks and fire. Curry, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning were the mainstays of the early Hornets teams a decade and a half ago.

“He was more of a shooter,” the 6-foot Stephen Curry said. “I have more of a point guard background. But he could stroke the ball better than anyone I know.”

The son can stroke it as well, as he showed again on Sunday in a mesmerizing performance against Georgetown. Curry poured in 30 points as Davidson won, 74-70.

Curry was marvelous in the second half, scoring 25 in that period alone as Davidson knocked out the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional.

That performance at the RBC Center raised the obvious question – why isn’t he playing in this arena in the ACC?

He couldn’t start for N.C. State?

Or Virginia Tech, where his father’s jersey is retired?

The Hokies refused to give him a scholarship, instead offering him a chance to walk on. But it’s not like Tech was signing Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, either – that class includes forward Lewis Witcher and guard Paul Debnam.

Oh.

So Curry committed to Davidson as a senior at Charlotte Christian.

“He didn’t have the body the ACC, SEC programs are looking for,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “He looked a little frail.”

He didn’t look frail Sunday against burly Georgetown. And he never lost confidence in his shot even after going 2 for 8 in the first half.

“I try to have that feeling [of confidence] that every time I shoot the ball,” he said. “You don’t want to shoot not to miss.”

He even drove through Georgetown one time and scooped in a layup under the arms of the Hoya players.

“I guess I was always short growing up and I had to figure out a way to get the ball in the basket,” he said. “That sort of came back today.”

Davidson will come back, too. The college north of Charlotte is in the round of 16 for the first time since 1969.

N.C. State, meanwhile, had a losing season with a team that couldn’t shoot, Virginia Tech failed to make the NCAA field and North Carolina is the only ACC team in the tournament.

Stephen Curry didn’t shoot on burlap sacks, but he did learn the art of this game.

ACC schools who missed signing him can only wonder why they did.