Catching up with Stephen Curry

A few quick thoughts from Stephen Curry as Davidson prepares for its NIT opener at South Carolina tonight:

At least you guys are still playing ...

"Yeah, you can't complain about that, having more games, another opportunity to finish off our season on a good note. It's not what we wanted; we wanted to be in the (NCAA) tournament. But the NIT is not that bad. We've just got to go and take the opportunity and play well."

Did you watch the selection show?

"I watched every minute of it, from start to finish. We didn't want to get our hopes up, but just in case a miracle happened, we wanted to be there to watch it. When it was over, we weren't shocked that we didn't get in, just a little disappointed. But you have to move on."

Did you watch the show with anybody?

"We had six or seven of our teammates over at our apartment, had some chips and dip and had some fun and watched it."

Did you see yourself in the background pictures on the show?

(Smiles) "Actually, we were joking. The first segment, in the background I saw one of my celebrations from the Madison Square Garden game (versus West Virginia). I thought it was an omen that we were going to sneak in there."

What has the past week been like?

"Really confusing. Since I've been here, we haven't been in this situation before, not knowing what we were doing after our conference tournament. Just having to wait it out and see what happens, so it's been a different situation. Practice has been fun, though; really competitive, just trying to keep our flow and staying in that competitive spirit, just waiting to see what we'd do. It's been a crazy week."

Were you disappointed after the Southern Conference tournament loss?

"Yeah, we came back on Monday and had some time to think about it, what we didn't do right to win that game against Charleston. Practice has been a chance for us to forget about it and keep on playing and get ready for (South Carolina)."

What are your thoughts on the Gamecocks?

"I know (guard) Devan Downey's a great player; I played with him last summer at a couple camps, and he'll be a tough matchup. I know they're a very athletic team. It's going to be a great challenge to go down to their place and get a win."

Have you played one-on-one with Downey at camps?

"I guarded him a couple times at Chris Paul's camp, but no straight one-on-one matchups. We just had some fun."

Coach Bob McKillop called still playing now a gift ...

"A lot of teams are not playing, not having practice and can't have an opportunity to have fun again. It's not what our goal was coming into the season, but you have to be happy to play another game and try to extend the season as far as you can."

Are you looking forward to playing at South Carolina?

"I've been down there once to see a game when I was in high school. I guess it's going to be a different experience for us. I know a lot of SoCon teams have played down there this year, so we get a chance to see what's that like."

Now you have a chance to win five games and cut down the nets in New York ...

"That's our goal. We have to be able to generate a lot of excitement coming from that kind of disappointing emotion we had all week, of not knowing and seeing our chances go down to the wire when we had the selection show. We have to find a way to get excited, get some momentum and go from there. So we're excited."

Do you think people around the country are disappointed Davidson is not in the NCAA field?

"I think so; I remember the excitement that we brought last year, and maybe people were looking forward to seeing if we could make another run at it. But it didn't work out that way, so somebody else is going to have to make that story now. I'm pretty sure that something will happen."

--Stan Olson