Was anyone at this game? Steph vs Michigan ‘06
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/2006-11-11-michigan.html
Went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole and found this game, where freshman Steph Curry played the last Amaker Michigan team and scored 32 in his second career game.
The Basketball Reference page indicates there was a wacky starting lineup this game, which indicates there was obviously some sort of discipline thing (Courtney Sims and Dion Harris came off the bench). But did anyone here attend this game?
Almost certainly was there in the Maize Rage but don't remember it specifically unfortunately.
I think they called that the "Steph infection" game, but I could have that wrong.
No, but I did attend this one a few weeks later and was shocked Steph was playing at such a small school.
How this isn’t brought up in every segment Seth Greenberg is involved in on ESPN I will never know.
He was a short, scrawny kid in high school. He just didn't have the size or strength at the time to entice any high level programs.
He was also the son of the two or three greatest players in program history and a reasonably sized guard to be a contributor. That's a failure of imagination.
i wouldn't ding virginia tech too hard. nobody else was really after him, either. they were only making the same mistake nba teams were making - worried that he was too slight to hold up to the grind.
kinda reminds me of tom brady going to the nfl - i mean, he was a very good college player, and he obviously worked out, but you can't really kill a specific team for not drafting him, since they all missed out. heck, even the patriots passed on him multiple times!
That's an incredibly easy judgement to make in hindsight, but Curry was undersized in every way coming out of high school. It's likely that power programs didn't see a kid who would be able to run with the bigger, stronger kids at his position. He overcame that, yes, but for every one Steph Curry that pans out, there are 100 others who don't.
Incorrect by a wide margin. For every Steph Curry that works out, there are 100,000 that don’t.
Steph Curry also wouldn't have done anything in the NBA without the latest medical technology/techniques that he was the first one to benefit from. He had to completely relearn how he runs to overcome his ankle injuries. At the time of his HS recruiting he literally wasn't physically able to make it in the NBA.
That game was technically the next season --- the season where Davidson made the Elite 8.
WMU was not particularly great in 2007-08: they played in no postseason tournament at all (this was the first year of the CBI, there were only 3 of those tourneys that year).
If Davidson had not won the SoCo tournament that year, it's very possible Davidson doesn't get an at-large bid --- after all, NO SoCo team had ever got an at-large bid up to that point. And that game vs. WMU would have been the likely reason why. No truly great wins for Davidson (despite a great player in Curry) and a loss to a mid-tier OOC foe.
Luckily that didn't happen and the 2008 Davidson/Curry memories occurred.
Good catch. My memories of 15-16 years ago are not that great. Especially considering I was 22 ;)
I saw Steph play during the Elite Eight run. The first two rounds were in Raleigh. Pretty sure that Davidson beat Georgetown (Roy Hibbert) in one of those games. I also remember trying to see Steph's mom in the crowd. Dell too....but mostly Sonya.
Yep, first two games of the season my freshman year. It was a two day four team tournament with Eastern Michigan, Davidson and some other small school. They played Eastern on the first day and he had a ton of turnovers.
That was a football Saturday, I skipped going on a road trip to IU (only game I didn't go to that season) and ended up going to the basketball game instead.
Jason Richards of Davidson ended up leading the NCAA in Assists by simply dishing off to Steph. Jason went to my local high school and is the son of the late Tom Richards (who played at Pitt and was the former CEO of CDW...a great guy and a true gentleman!).
You are underselling Richards a bit, he certainly benefitted from having Curry but he was a stellar PG. His assist rate was only slightly lower the year before Curry arrived.
No, I was one year removed from grad school so missed it.
But fun fact: two guys that played in that game were top 7 picks to GSW; Steph (no. 7 in 2009) and Udoh (no. 6 in 2010).
And who is to say which of them had a better NBA career? Too early to call...
I like to think about what Steph could have done in a Coach B offense.
I also like to just post random thoughts I have on an internet message board. If Coach B would have recruited Steph it would have been to WVU not Michigan. So, the hypothetical has some hoops to jump through to work.
Klay, on the other hand, that timeline would have worked out.
Pretty crazy that the Warriors drafted their dynasty's core from schools like Davidson, Wazzu and whatever shit school Draymond went to
Beilein did recruit Klay pretty heavily in one of his first couple classes and lost out to Washington State. Michigan's basketball reputation was a little different back then.
That's another case where a staff fell down on the job, though there was absolutely more of an excuse for Minnesota in that one.
Yeah, Michigan finished 2nd in the recruitment for Klay Thompson. Klay would've been a perfect fit for Beilein offense with his shooting.
But, Michigan has a great track record with sons of former NBA players.
I was 2000 miles away in grad school working full time (3rd shift) at as casino while simultaneously getting my PhD in Molecular & Cell Biology from Berkeley. So no. In fact, because of the lack of sleep, I don't remember much from that time period. Definitely not an OSU football game.
I was 700 miles away and probably changing my newborn's diaper. So no. In fact, because of the lack of sleep, I don't remember much from that time period. Definitely not an OSU football game.
oh good. i was afraid something bad might have happened during an osu game in 2006 but glad literally nothing happened ... ever.
Jesus you must have gotten about 20 minutes of sleep a day
2-3 hours on average. i had a decent schedule worked out to maximize time off. job and school 4 days a week, one day a week just work, one day a week just lab, and one day a week neither.
those were the days I'd just take the kids to the park and ride bikes from 8 am to 8pm because i saw them 2 hours a day otherwise.
many days of zero sleep. at least once a month I'd go 48-72 hours without sleep until I started hallucinating vividly and my wife would make me go to bed.
I had that happen a couple of times working crazy hours on Wall St. Losing your mental faculties from sleep deprivation is unnerving.
5 of 15 on 3 point attempts, dang.
33%! From the college line no less! Under-achieving!
(by Steph standards, ha ha)
A good friend (who played college ball) played with Steph in high school. He said absolutely no one saw this greatness coming.
Was at that game. My dad had gotten free tickets from someone. Arena was pretty empty. My father and I were wondering who this twiggy guy was that was torching Michigan. Curry looked like a 10 year old in those big baggy shorts and was SKINNY!
Reed Baker would have locked down Steph Curry. If Reed Baker played 35 minute Curry would have 1 point with Reed forcing a missed free throw due to being in Curry's head.
No, I was watching Steve Breaston dodge and weave through Indiana to set up Football Armageddon.