Friday, September 21, 2007

Construction of the Davidson "Empire" continues...




Wildcats' warm-up to be on national TV
`Night with the Cats' to air on ESPNU on tape delay Oct. 12
KEVIN CARY

Davidson's quest for a third straight Southern Conference championship will open in front of a national audience.

Athletics director Jim Murphy told the Observer the school expects ESPNU to televise the Wildcats' "Night with the Cats" Oct. 12.

Murphy said the school likely would host the opening basketball event Oct. 11, after the Davidson volleyball team hosts Appalachian State. The event, likely to include a scrimmage, 3-point contests or dunk contests, would be broadcast on tape delay on ESPNU the following day.

Murphy said the event likely would start around 9 p.m., because the volleyball game is scheduled for 7. But Murphy said the basketball event could move up if the volleyball match is played earlier in the day.

ESPNU officials could not be reached for comment.

Davidson is considered an attractive option because it returns every scholarship player from a 29-5 team that reached the NCAA Tournament. Jason Richards is a nominee for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the top point guard in the country, and shooting guard Stephen Curry has been mentioned on preseason All-America lists.

Official practices can't start until Oct. 12, but Davidson coaches said teams can have two hours of individual workouts -- or essentially one two-hour team practice -- each week starting Sept. 15.

Davidson coach Bob McKillop said the Wildcats would not have those workouts the week of the event, allowing Davidson to have scrimmages, 3-point contests or dunk contests that night.

"When you have opportunities like this presented to you, you have to grab it," McKillop said. "This is very consistent with what we are trying to do to get us on the national stage."

Davidson has scheduled three nationally televised games and four others on regional sports networks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

do you know when the schedule will be release? i know some games have been announced but do you know when the rest will be?