This man fits our BB program, whether he can recruit at 125th street or not.......
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news;_ylt=ArF4NRiF3d.LmaOngrp1H445nYcB?slug=ga-mckillop032908&prov=yhoo&type=lgnsDavidson’s Silver Fox
By Gerry Ahern, Yahoo! Sports
11 hours, 29 minutes ago
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Curry, players on Friday's big win
DETROIT – Davidson coach Bob McKillop knows all about disappointment.
As a lightly regarded guard out of Hoftsra University, he was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1972, but was cut.
“That team went 9-73,†McKillop said last week in Raleigh, N.C. “So I was cut by the worst team in the history of the NBA.â€
Thirty-six years later, McKillop has proven he can handle success as well, building tiny Davidson College into the biggest story of this NCAA tournament. The Wildcats, the 10th seed in the Midwest, face top-seeded Kansas on Sunday in the regional final with a berth in the Final Four at stake.
Improbable. Unlikely. Unexpected.
Not to this 57-year-old silver-haired Irishman from Queens, N.Y., a guy with a thick accent and philosophy on life and basketball that would make Al McGuire proud. McKillop has a plan, and his team has some unfinished business this weekend.“It’s a work in progress,†the coach said Saturday. “I’m in a quest for the perfect game, the perfect performance, the perfect season. And we certainly haven’t reached that point yet.â€
It’s been a long road to glory for this self-described tough guy who has presided over the rebirth of a program. Davidson has not seen this level of success since the legendary Lefty Driesell called the shots at the small liberal-arts school in North Carolina, enrollment 1,700, in 1969.
He has been head coach at Davidson since 1989 trying to restore a luster that left with Lefty.
His start was slow, his first three teams going 4-24, 10-19 and 11-17.
But McKillop isn’t one to give up or stray from the plan. That perseverance is paying dividends. His past three teams have qualified for the NCAA tournament, this season’s squad on a national-best 25-game winning streak.
In his 19th season, he has the Wildcats on the verge of college basketball’s Holy Grail.
Davidson features the tournament’s best player – Stephen Curry – and the top playmaker in college basketball – Jason Richards – as well as a host of system-styled teammates from near and far. There’s Thomas Sander from Cincinnati, Max Paulhus Gosselin from Quebec and Andrew Lovedale from Nigeria. These guys do all the little things that make a good team great, setting screens, gobbling up loose balls, pounding the boards, taking charges. Not taking guff from anyone.
It took a lot of time and a lot of frequent flier miles to assemble this group. But McKillop had experience in recruiting diverse players in the past – Canadian Bill Wennington and Italians Augusto Binelli and Marco Baldi.
“I worked at a Catholic school in New York. I worked at a Lutheran school in New York,†McKillop said. “In both those cases, my team was a composite of the same kinds of ingredients we have here with our team. Varieties in socioeconomic backgrounds, even varieties in religious backgrounds.â€The recruitment of Richards, the nation’s leader in assists, was the linchpin to Davidson making its big move. The 6-foot-2 senior from Barrington, Ill., remembers his first meeting with McKillop.
“He came to an open gym at my high school,†Richards said. “We were playing a pickup game. He didn’t say anything to me. He just sat in the corner taking notes for about an hour and a half. After practice he came up to me, shook my hand and smiled and said a few sentences and left. I didn’t know what to think.
“After I committed, he sent me a three-page email of the notes he took that day. The positives of my game, the things that needed to be worked on. From that point, I knew he was a great coach and that he’d definitely help out my career.â€
It worked out for both of them. Richards’ commitment and one McKillop would get two years later from Curry, passed up by Atlantic Coast Conference schools because of his small stature, changed the course of the Wildcats’ and NCAA tournament history.
“I am a local guy so I actually knew Coach McKillop since I was 10 because I played on the same AAU team with his son,†Curry said. “My high school was about 20 minutes away from Davidson’s campus so it was easy for them to come down, watch games and be involved.“Coach McKillop told me that I had the ability to play anywhere in the country and that he would do anything he could to make me better every time I stepped onto the floor.â€
Curry can play anywhere – averaging 25.9 points a game this season and a whopping 34.3 in the NCAAs.
McKillop’s Wildcats played a grueling nonconference schedule this season against the game’s elite – North Carolina, Duke and UCLA. Davidson battled in each game but lost all three. The slate clearly toughened up the team, which went undefeated in Southern Conference play.
Then came March and a miraculous NCAA run. Down went Gonzaga, then Georgetown and then Wisconsin, the Badgers bowing with unexpected ease.
Now, standing in the way of destiny is Kansas, which has won tournament games against Portland State, UNLV and Villanova by an average of 19.3 points. The Jayhawks’ deep and balanced roster includes Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers, Darnell Jackson, Sherron Collins and Russell Robinson.
Led by Bill Self, Kansas – another elite program – is desperate to get to the Final Four for the first time since 2003.
Just another giant to kill for McKillop and Davidson. Just another opponent to dissect on film and prepare for in practice.
“I don’t even think about the Final Four,†McKillop said. “You may think this is some Irish blarney. If I start thinking about the Final Four, I won’t have the energy necessary to get our team ready to play the next game. And the next game is the most important game we’re going to be dealing with.â€
Staying the course. Sticking to the plan. That’s Bob McKillop’s way.
It just might be the way to college hoops heaven.