Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Heartbreak

Davidson drops a tight one to UNCC by 7. More to come.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, yes i'm a Davidson grad, class of 2005. I listened to the game last night on the radio. Inexplicable.

Anonymous said...

also, forgot to mention, i'm the author of zatch.typepad.com.

Anonymous said...

While I will still root for them to win the Southern Conference, I am afraid their fate in the NCAA tournament is already writ in stone - 16th seed and out in the first round. They would do better to find their way into the NIT. I respect Bob McKillop and hope people will understand the balance between athletic and academic excellence that Davidson represents. No, I don't think he will ever beat a ranked team, but that is part of the balance.

DrFrankLives said...

atrocious performance by every0one not wearing #30 last night.

Can we PLEASE stop standing back and watching him play????!?!?!?!?


Wake up, Coach. The Canucks aren't getting it done.

Anonymous said...

never beat a ranked team, please. this is the lack of confidence that is getting these guys to the edge but afraid to jump off. we haven't played well yet and we have been in every game...big men need to step it up and take some pressure off the perimeter guys. steph and jason can do it alone.

Anonymous said...

DB '67--
Do better by going to the NIT? Where is the "balance" when the NIT is the mark of distant second? When is consolation analogous to excellence? You've been a bitter supporter of the team (and I do recognize your support) since this season's competitive schedule was announced. But I again fail to see how you could deduce the school is somehow deliberately ignoring academics when 11 guys are sent out on to the hardcourt to go for it all. Under your balance rationale, we should have all academic advisors enourage their students not to send off applications for Rhodes Scholarships and Ivy League grad schools because the acceptance rate is lower. And while Davidson graduates will have a higher acceptance to the mediocre programs, atleast there will be that halcyonic balance!

DrFrankLives said...

Since our superstar shooting guard aced the SATs and is, by all reports, a very good student, I fail to see how competing at the level at which he allows us to compete is somehow sacrificing academics.

I was there when we were NOT competing at this level, and, well, basketball drew maybe 500 people to a game.

Now, we routinely draw thousands, and our applications are up, from kids who desperately want to go to school here. Consequently, our acceptance rate is lower from a larger pool of qualified applicants. Win-win.
-John Burns '92

Anonymous said...

I appreciate all of your sentiments. Excellence is something everyone should strive for. I simply think that the expectations for this team were sky high and unrealistic. Take a look at what a school has to spend to support a consistently-ranked team, not just in scholarships, but in coaching salaries, travel expense and everything that makes a UCLA, Duke, or North Carolina basketball program. To ask that of a college the size and reputation of Davidson is overreaching and was part of the college's consideration which led to the departure of Lefty Driesell. As far as my support of the team, I wish the NCAA were not so short-sighted, but a team from the Southern Conference with five or more defeats has, historically, not garnered tremendous respect from the folks who set the brackets.

DrFrankLives said...

I understand your position, but I don't agree. As our AD said on TV the other day, the spread in USA Today would have cost us 800,000 dollars. More kids know who and where we are now than did before this run began.

I was in New York the other day meeting a client for dinner. I mentioned I went to Davidson. A few years ago, that would have been followed by "it's a liberal arts school near Charlotte" or "no, not Dickinson."

Last week it was followed by "yes it is a great school and we did almost beat UNC." The way I figure it, if we finally break out of the moral victory hall of fame and start winning some games, the publicity will be even better.

Anonymous said...

I don't necessarily want to have the last word, but while it is nice around the water cooler to have people recognize your alma mater, the fact that Davidson ranks perennially in the top ten of U.S. News and World Report collegiate rankings does not go unnoticed by high school guidance counselors and potential applicants. Davidson has been a national liberal arts college for fifty years, not because of its basketball team, but because of its outstanding faculty and dedication to undergraduate education.

I notice there is now a countdown to the Southern Conference Tournament. Let's not forget that there are still some important games ahead long before March!

DrFrankLives said...

well that was pretty patronizing.

you think i don't know that?

WB said...

The countdown to the SoCon Tournament has been up for a couple of weeks. It's at the bottom of the page for a reason.

Don't read too much into that countdown. It's just another little feature on here. Nothing more. Nobody is looking ahead to March and looking past the games in between.

Anonymous said...

To WB - Good to know! I really think the N.C. State game could be a very good indicator of just how good this Davidson team can be. I do believe they are capable of beating a Division I opponent with a winning record, even if they haven't done it yet.