Navy, Gonzaga and Davidson: The Cinderellas

that couldn't win a game. And we have a very special two week theme going on here on the podcast as since we are in the month of March, this is n c A Tournament Month, a special Cinderella's Podcast, not one, but two as over the course of this weekend. Next week, we're gonna look back at six of the best Cinderella schools in n c A Tournament history. Up they were able to accomplish the big names, the big wins, the big everything Part one three teams Today. I like

the way you did that. You set it up and you had me and then you said schools and all the prep I did on Tom Kieford just went out the window. Oh I'm sorry. Okay, Well, here's gonna need to know. Long Cold Winner, one of the most underrated hair metal albums of all time. Cinderella. Probably boy, they're on that there and there and what are they one in the top seven or eight hair metal bands of the eighties early nineties. Oh, they had a fantastic run,

there's no question about. I mean, bad Seamstress Blue is Coming Apart At the Scenes is one of my favorite songs of all time. Pretty good. Yeah, yeah, I mean you go all the way through. I mean Tom Keiform still making the rounds, and just a couple of years ago I got to see him play a little acoustic light show. But yeah, it's you know, you're talking about millions upon millions of albums. I mean, you go back into the cassettes. I'm sure you still have a few

floating around. The singles I have of Cinderella, so many of that joy It sounds like just like him where the cat got at your throat. It's really hard to sing, like it hurts in the car because I get done, I'm like, I can't talk for an hour. That's at the scenes. So when you listen, when you listen to our show on Fox Sports Radio, the Jason Smith Show in Mike Armen, when you hear me talk a lot within an hour, Jason did something really bad on the way in either he ate something he should have his

throat dirt, or he sang some hair metal. Uh yeah, Mainly that would be if I did the first three songs of Long Cold Winter, because that goes into Gypsy Road. Don't know what you got till it's gone. Yeah, I would have no voice after that at all. Yeah. No,

it doesn't work out well for you. But instead it is Cinderella teams in the n c A tournament, teams that were high seeds, not expected to go very far, and ones that grabbed our attention in tonight's episode, today's episode rather or tonight today, tonight, whatever you're listening to it. We have a team from the eighties. We got a team from the nineties. I've got a team from the odds. The isn't getting be better than that? When we should

start with the eighties because we're talking about Cinderella. Hey remember the eighties? Eight it's the eighties? Man, wasn't that with Goat Boy? I think so? I think, yeah, I think I know. I think that was the title of a Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goat Boy. That's book eight. The first team up Night six Navy, the midshipman led by none other than the Admiral David Robinson,

who had some kind of run all season long. Four Navy and look, he went out to be called a Hall of Fame player Championship with the San Antonio Spurs. He could not be stopped in the pros once he got through his Naval obligation. But coming into his senior year he was highly regarded and he just took over in the n c A Tournament. This is a guy that, believe it or not. At the end of the year, he was only a second team All American. I mean, imagine that, David ro Hobbinson, one of the most decorated

players in NBA history. Second team All American. That's as good as he could get. I just remember all of the little vignettes right the Hey, let's look at the life of David Robinson. Hey, he can't fit here, he can't fit there. And he always looked like a giant compared to the guys he was playing against, like he was larger than life. As a college athlete. I remember the when he the rookie cards came out, one of

him holding the jersey. Right, they didn't have the inaction shot because all you have was draft night and everything how sought after all that was. But I just remember those CBS telecasts and there he is, you know, always with a quick nod to the service to be done, and always in his Navy blues. And then you get back on the court and just watch him dominate from pillar to post. I mean, just ridiculous athleticism that you

knew was gonna make him a star. On Davy's coach by Paul Evans, they play in the CIA and they come out of the year with a thirty and five record. Alright, so not bad thirty and five, but it's Navy. How good really are they? They have one good player? How far can they really go? In the n c A Tournament first round, they beat Tulsa, Okay, not a big deal. David Robinson goes for thirty and twelve, and hey, that's a nice story. Here's the ad before he's really the admiral.

Here he is with a big game. But now let's see what he can do because then you have Syracuse coming up next, your Syrius Syracuse Orange back then the Orange Men, and before I went there, so this is when you know I was a st John's fan. So it's not like I was watching this game rooting for Syracuse because I was a St. John's fan and St. John's was a rival of Syracuse. If anything, I was rooting for David Robinson to have a big game. About that,

see how life has changed. Big game he did. They beat Syracuse five, David Robinson thirty five points, eleven rebounds, seven blocks. After the game, he actually said, I actually felt slow on offense tonight. I didn't feel like I had my s game going. Vernon Butler very underrated, who was Navy's second best player. He had a bunch of big games over the course of the season. He had twenty three points. It was the last game at Syracuse for Pearl Washington. He would go to the NBA after

drafted by the Nets. The next year's Syracuse would go to the National Championship Game. But now beating Syracuse because in the eighties was really when the birth of Syracuse happened. Like different schools hit it big at different times, but the magic of television, Syracuse was always on TV. People would see it, would see the Carrier Dome. Thirty three thousand, thirty five thousand people at all the games I want

to go to Syracuse. They churned out NBA prospects. Beating Syracuse really put Navy and David Robinson on the map as well. This is not just a really great player who's you know, doing well against the CIA. This is a guy that just really put it on Syracuse. Right goes and the decided step up in class. I mean, you go through their schedule. This was their fifteenth win in a row. That had an earlier winning streak of seven that that had gotten snapped by the Richmond Spiders.

About that for the randomness in the don't bring up Wan, bring up rich because that reminds me of ninety two when we went out to Richmond in the first bleeping round. No, that's what you know. That's the Special Team's podcast and Syracuse Failures. Okay, that's another special one. That would be a long we don't have enough time for that podcast. That's four parts. We don't have enough four parts. People

would say, you need like seven more. No, no, no, no, we could, we could no. Actually those are hour long therapi more. Lawrence Moten calls time out and we lose to Arkansas. Was just like Chris Webber, but nobody paid attention to it. He got a Lawrence Moten reference. We actually we're actually Facebook friends, Lawrence Moten, I Facebook good. He used to come into bars and Syracuse wearing a Syracuse hat that had rhinestones on it. I mean it was I mean, I said, I want that hat. It

would sparkle. It was glittery diamonds. It was lovely and gorgeous. No, that's great. I mean they put up ninety seven in the game against Syracuse. I mean, this is a on young Ronnie Psychly too, who still look thirty five, but he was, Yeah, he was. He minutes playing Washington and Alexis with your leaders Monroe with fifteen off the bench, but still at twelve point loss, just dominated by Robinson.

So then they go to the sweet sixteen. And this game was a very famous game in n c A history because I remember, this is one of the first n c A tournaments that I really paid attention to the whole thing. And I'm saying to myself, Navy is gonna play Cleveland State. Who was the other Cinderella that year, Ken Mouse McFadden. You know, this is a team that's surprised. You know, won a couple of games like Oh, look

at my goodness. Cleveland State is winning this. They upset Indiana in the first round, and Navy or Cleveland State was going to the Elite eight, and that back then I was young enough to go. That blows my mind. One of these teams are gonna be. It shouldn't be one of these teams in the Elite eight. Now you see stuff like this all the time. But when I was like, you know, fourteen, I'm like, this shouldn't happen.

These teams don't deserve to be at least always thought it was such a separation, or at least that's how it was portrayed. I mean, now you have so many breakdowns, so many networks, so many different ways to get and parse out information, advanced analytics and stats that you understand how this could happen. But at the time, you know, you still had David and Goliath. I guess d J.

David becomes Goliath. You have it against Cleveland State. DJ. I kind of fumbled back into that one because I knew you would be ready with the Burman pick up. So they play Cleveland State and Cleveland States very physical in this game. Paul Evans actually uh challenged David Robinson had not to a fight, you would have lost because David rob But if I could have anybody in sports history, I'd want David Robinson's that he was like a Greek

god man. Yeah, that was that was statuesque. I want to hey, ladies, I'm David Robinson, except I'm Jason Smith with David Robinson's body. Um. He challenged Robinson half because he wasn't playing well, probably the physical play. Robinson had a huge second half. He finished with twenty two and fourteen nine blocks. He has one block shy of a triple double with blocks blocks. When you see something get beyond two or three in a game, you really want to go back and watch that again, right and you

get to nine again. Talking about dominance and how active he was because he could close out right that length where it didn't look like he was in a play, and all of a sudden he just come back in get a fingertip in and he was good about keeping the ball in bounce and it's one of those things. Always celebrated the play of a c earl of Iowa who was the big ten shot blocker because he would keep it in play. It was always a tap into a teammate instead of the hey, let's throw it into

the fifth road. David Robinson was doing the same thing. Robinson wins the game for Navy with a tip in on a lob pass with five seconds left. They win at seventy seventy and year goes Navy into the Elite eight where it's Duke, and suddenly it's the Admiral and Duke. And who do you root for? Because this at this point, everybody still loved Duke. I mean this is they have not been demonized boy Duke and Mike Shashowski. What a great program they have. It's all about respect. We love Duke.

But now five or six more years, I'm not like dude. No. And then it became the team that was always there at the end and you cheered against. And then you got into bracketology of is this one of those years where they're gonna make a big run or they bouncing out early. Now he's yelling at his own fans. Yeah, so you don't know what to expect anymore. Uh. Navy

comes back to earth in this game. They lose seventy to fifty one, and I remember the pageantry surrounding Navy because whenever any of the service schools, the Service Academy's, Navy, Army, Air Force do well. It just evokes this image of an early America, of the you know, the nineteen forties in college football when it was Army, Navy, and Cornell, I think we're the only three teams, and it just get When the service academies do well, it's like it

makes everybody feel good. And David Robinson was that feel good story. Even though they lost, boy, he brought them all the way to the elite. Hey, this guy is gonna be a super duperstar. Like like I said before, with the the vignettes you'd always have as they were getting ready because he was gonna be the number one pick. I mean that was decided. There was no question about that. So let's get to know him. And it was a

chance without being a commercial. It became a commercial for the Navy and what you could do, and we certainly see it in college football. Bunch hasn't had the same opportunity in the years since David Robinson to do that on a basketball stage. But it was look a look at the athlete, look at the well rounded guy. Because they would always go into the academics right, here's what his schedule looks like, and here's how you prepare and and all the rigors of it. Just to really elevate

who he was. He has to come back for a senior year because it's Navy. And you know, this is a story that you look many people who are our age remember it. But this was a huge controversy. If this happened now, this would be an everyday story for a year because in the Navy, you have to fulfill your naval requirements following graduation. Now, not many players were talent enough to go from Navy Army to the NFL or the NBA, because you don't go there. If you're

that good, you're going to different schools. But David Robinson was different. He wanted to go to Navy. He wanted to go to the Naval Academy. He's got to come back for his senior year. You can't go pro because you got to go to the Navy first. They have another good season, but they lose the first round of the n c A Tournament the following year to Michigan. He scores fifty points in that game, his final collegiate game, Spurs making the number one pick, but he's got to

sit out. There was so much pressure to allow him to play because it was a good story for the Navy, and the Navy knew, Okay, we're not gonna have any good publicity if we just keep him from playing. So they cut short his commitment by two years, and the Spurs waited for him. He said, I'm gonna honor the Spurs made the number one pick. Knowing they weren't gonna

have me, he stayed. And look we did with san Antonio, his entire Hall of Fame career, an amazing run, right, and then you seeds way to Tim Duncan and they carry that on for so many years. Again, this story, if it happened now, it would go on for your Let David Robinson go let him go play interviews with rear admirals, vice admirals, front admiral, side admirals, all kinds of admirals. We'd be talking to lieutenants. But this put Navy basketball on the map, Navy sports on the map.

That wasn't just hey, Army Navy at the end of every year, the one game you watched, how about somewhere are they now the Navy midship and no fair saying names and just saying they're in the Navy. No fair saying that, no idea first for Navy as a whole. This was their last n C double A appearance in the tournament. They've had five net win five seasons with at least nineteen wins, but have never gotten to the

dance again. All right, here we go. We've got Carl Liebert in the Navy CEO and President of the Navy at Auto Nation. Oh really wow? Okay, all right, Kyler Whittaker, Navy, No, Senior Managing Director of Corporate Sales for Medtronic Cardiac and Vascular Group. That's the real name they picked out for that. You gotta have a better You have a snazzy your name. That's a long title. I played with David Robinson. That should be the time. It's a big deal that he

keeps people's hearts going, keep hearts going. All right, great title parts going dot net for the Navy. And then you've got uh Douglas woji Right, Frederick Douglas Wojic, Navy Army. He is an assistant coach director of recruiting for Tom Zoh oh, alright, alright, well, well he's got a chance to go to more NC tournaments. Yeah, he's got a lot of appearances along the way. So that's Navy Midshipman

in their incredible run behind the Admiral David Robinson. Coming up next, we head to the nineties where a team that's a true Cinderella before becoming an n c A power years later. That's coming up next. Jason Smith Mike harmon Special Teams Podcast. Continuing on Special Teams with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon ur podcast, a special Cinderella event Slash Podcast, and I got my shoes on, my glass slippers. Let's go. No place like home, No place like home,

Oh baby. So from nineteen eighties, we go to the nineteen nineties and the first true Cinderella of the nineties that turned into a latter day n c A power, Gonzaga Bulldogs. This was their Cinderella debut. Now they're a power, but back then it was boy Gonzaga out of the w c C. Are they really any good? Dan Monson is the head coach. Their star players are Matt Santangelo and Casey Calvary. They dominate w c C during the season.

They go twelve and to twenty eight and seven but really they were off the radar because mid major darlings weren't really a thing back then. You know, these are teams where your Cinderella still kind of needed to be, teams that stood out or lower teams from the Power five conferences way back then when there were less conferences, because the mid majors really didn't become a thing for a few more years. Well, but they also started slowly. There were four and three out of the gate losses.

Okay to number eight Kansas, number fIF team per do, but you beat Memphis, you beat Washington State, okay, never never a powerhouse at Eastern Washington with a big win and and then a loss to Detroit mercies. I was like, what is this team? As you get role and into the season and j no mercy for the Bulldogs at Detroit. That was well done, well done. I've actually actually said that on the air, said that I think we could probably go back and check the videotape or we could

just use your re enactment. So they win the West Coast Conference, they go to the n c A Tournament, and this is really interesting. Their first game is against Minnesota. Right now, why is this such a big deal? Row the boat the day well, no, it wasn't rowed the boat Minnesota. This wasn't no, no, no, no, no, this this wasn't rowed the boat Minnesota. Oh my god, Minnesota's

got a good football team. The day before the n c A tournament, it was revealed their academic counselor Jan Gangelhoff, did coursework for as many as twenty players dating back to n coursework for the players. So the day before, four players immediately are suspended for this game. So the day before the nater which usually only happens to Syracuse because its happened a couple of times right before the tournament, they've lost a guy um and they beat Minnesota in

the first round and they win. And really, when the day before you lose four players and are suddenly embroiled in a huge scandal, because it's not just you're losing these four players, this is you're losing four players and now we're gonna come to town on you. And they lose in Gonzaga wins. But at the time I remember it being a well, what can you expect from Minnesota?

How you expecting to win that game? Yeah? No, it's certainly Kesta a big shadow over that game as you went in and Minnesota was also a team that scraped in, right, they weren't exactly a powerhouse kind of what finished seventeen and eleven, So it's not a juggernaut of any way. They were a seventh seed. It was a seven ten game in Gonzaga's attends in one of those when you look at those records. Now, I mean we mentioned a little earlier in the podcast, Hey you've got Navy winning

nineteen a game. They're not sniffing the NZ double as you've got a seventeen win team that finds its way in. Now remember Minnesota for later on we talked about Gonzacka. Just remember Minnas soda scandal, lost players, and I want to talk about Joel Joel Prisbillo little we will get to Joel Prisbilla. The Prisbilla uh second game of the tournament, they beat Stanford. Now Stanford, this was a very big win. Seventy four was the final. Matt Santangelo had twenty two

points to lead the way for Gonzaga. He was heavily recruited by Stanford, decided to go to Gonzaga. They had tons of threes in this game. And this is when This is around the time in the n c AS

when look, the three pointer was always a weapon. But this is around the time when teams realized, like the mid major teams, that if we can hit threes, we can stay with bigger and better teams, kind of like when lesser teams in college football would go to a spread offense, Like like like teams that can't compete athlete wise with some of the top teams in in the A, c C or the SEC. Hey, you know what, We're gonna go to a spread offense scheme and now we

can do this. Yeah, and and teams make it tougher to prayer prepare for us. And this is where teams realized, wait, if we're good a hitting three balls and we get it from far out, wait, we can really even the playing field against teams that are bigger, more physical, more season than us. And this was one of those games with those examples. On shot twice as many three pointers

as Stanford did. I love that team, though looking at Madison, who didn't love Mark Mattson, Chris Williams, Arthur Lee remember watching them quite a bit as the season wore on. But as you say, and get to the three pointer hit eleven of twenty. So the shots are falling and you're able to take down what had become a strong perennial powerhouse in Stanford. So they move on now to the Elite eight, and suddenly it's who is our going to the Sweet sixteen? Who is Gonzaga? Right? They get

out of the first round. Gonzaga this school. Wait a minute, John Stockton went there. Let's get John Stockton on the air for interviews. He's the only he's the only thing people know about Gonzaga. That's where John Stockton went. See. I was always convinced he wasn't. Actually he went to one game and it was stock footage again, Sean Stockton stock footage of John Stockton at a Gonzaga game. He's not really there, but you had to pick it along. So hey, listen, we learned how to do photoshop way

back in. So that's what happened. So now they go onto the Sweet sixteen and they play Florida and they win seventy three seventy two. Casey Calvary with a tip in with four seconds left to put him into the Elite eight. I remember this. You'll see this video on YouTube. He leaped up above everybody going in just for the tip in, and suddenly Gonzaga is Now wait a minute, Cinderella the Slipper fits. They go into the Elite eight.

This is where their ride comes to an end. They lose a tough one to Yukon sixties seven sixty two, and the ride ends for Gonzaga. But this really was the spring board to success for them because after the season's over look Dan Monson, you figure, Okay, this guy can go wherever he wants to. He gets the head coaching job for from what did I tell you remember from a few minutes ago? What school Batman? Minnesota? Minnesota

who needs to clean up their entire programs. Hey, let's get the guy that beat us in the first round of the tournament. Let's go get Dan Monson. So Dan Monson goes to Minnesota and he does well for a little while, and then they decide, well, let's give the

job to Mark Few. Mark Few who then goes and takes what Dan Monson started and turns Gonzaga into a yearly power in college basketball, to the point where a few years later it was not only is Gonzaga in the tournament every year, but there are three or four seed at worst. You know, they made it the final fours. Now it's gonz You think Gonzaga is one of those powers in the West, almost like how he looked at un l V in the late eighties early nineties under

Jerry Tarkanian. It was, well, they don't play in a great conference, but they get to the tournament, they win games. The old you can only beat who's on the schedule, and you'll have some of those preseason tournaments and things of that nature. But you're looking every year at thirty win team, may one straight years. I'm already counting ahead too when they get there. Uh in later uh as we we're looking at this squad, right, you know, and that Yukon team that they fell to. It was also

just a juggernaut, right Richard Hamilton's Jake Voskill. Wasn't it fun watching in Phila, La Mean, who was everybody's hero because his body type. He was a fire plug running point. So it was fun. But for Gonzaga, yes, it was the beginning of a whole new era basketball and then it became how do you how do you find that formula? We talked about it all the time. Uh, you know, we we do it with the NFL. Of all right,

here's a team that leads the way. And for Gonzaga, they became the blueprint at least trying to figure out can we recruit enough guys that can shoot it right? And the game started to change. And we'll get to another guy who helped change the game in a whole other way in a minute. But when we look at Gonzaga, you know, they became the standard and still are to this day. So that launched things for the Gonzaga program. How about little where are they now? All right? Don't

tell me stock footage of Gonzaga games? Okay, I can do that. How about Matt Santangelo? Matt Santangelo? Where is he? The executive director of the Spokane hoop Fest Association. Isn't it like a summer tournament that happens on a weekend. It's a full time job. Yeah, okay, that's what that's going to listen as a man, as I ferreted out the information, sounds like something I could just do for a weekend in July. It's okay, it's I mean, it's

a hoop Fest Association. It's not just you said hoop FESTO, it's a hoop fest. Hoop you gotta celebrate the pageant exactly. How about Casey Cavalry TJ here comes the Cavalry, played six years overseas, and now he is a salesman of medical devices for kinetic orthopedics. That's good. He's he's going to be a guy who eventually invents some kind of robotic foot like terminator. Could be I like that they contributing to soci had a good surname that would be

good for the company that he later found true. And look, and the thing is, I remember in that tournament how many lines. I don't know if it was Jim Nance, but I just remember. And the cavalry is here for they lead by four time out, we'll be back. That rights itself. I mean, you know that's one you don't even have to put any time into. Yeah, you just take the surname and go. Finally, Axel dench Oh, he's the lead singer of Guns and Roses. That's his real name. Now,

that would be Bill Bailey. But don't you come home, Bill Bailey? Won't you come? How did I know you're gonna do? That's his name is Bill Haley oh, I think he said, Bill Haley. Now we're going to rock around the clock to nut we the comments. Now what are we doing? Hexel Foley is where Hexel Folly is the strategy director at ten ft Tall and add Agency in Australia. You know what he will And they played dant that. So there it is the Gonzaga bull Dogs

becoming a Cinderella and then becoming a power. Coming up next a Cinderella team from the Odds where the player who left went to the NBA it became an absolute global superstar. This is Special Teams with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon from David Robinson in the eighties Gonzaga in the nineties. We head to the Odds for the final Cinderella of this podcast and no better way to and remember we're gonna have Cinderella Part two next week with

three more teams. But no better way to end this one than with the two thousands Evan two thousand eight Davidson Wildcats led by none other than Steph Curry, who, if you remember, was Stephen Curry. Wasn't Steph Curry yet he was always Stephen Curry and everybody were right and anybody I feel really anybody that says Stephen Curry, I feel like, do you really know what you're talking about? But that it was it was Stephen Curry. Someone who

got the the copy. They printed out a Wikipedia page on him and it still has his birth name on it instead of the shortening that we've done. Bob mckilp was the head coach. He was in his nineteen season then. And the thing is, Curry put up video game numbers during the regular season, and so it's not like he came into the tournament as an unknown. But still, you know, playing in Southern Conference, how good is he really? Believe

it or not. At the end of the year, he also wound up, like David Robinson, a second team All American. I mean, now, I think you want to go back and revote and go, uh they Kim the Player of the Year and first team All American. No, it's a better story if he's not right because he was slight. I mean, not that he ever really bulked up, but at that point you look at some of those you look like he was twelve. That's true. Yes, he looks

like baby Face Dissassin. Now he at least gets a little bit of a peach fuzz going, hey, who's little brother? Are you? Are you? Oh no, you're you're Steph Curry? Are you shooting from ft out? And look, if you go back and watch some of the video, it's very similar to some of the shots he takes out the way he could slide away from players and get a

shot from anywhere on the floor. And that year, the best thing that Davidson did was they played a lot of big time programs to get themselves ready for the n c A tournament. Looked, their first game of their second game of the season was against number one North Carolina. They lost by four. They played Duke and they lost by six. They were ranked seven. U c l A was ranked seventh, they lost to them. They played North

Carolina State. So they loaded up their early season scheduled by laying a lot of top twenty five teams, and the players all said that helped us get ready for the n c A tournament. Yeah, running that rigorous schedule. As you you look through Duke, Q, U c l A, North Carolina off the jump, I mean, and and again you look at taking that beating early, a lot of teams quit. I mean, that's it. Not that you weren't

in a step up in class. But you start the season and you're, what four and six in your first ten That usually is the death knell. But they were just coming together. They go on a tremendous streak, I mean through their conference tournament twenty two straight coming into the n c Double A Tournament. So they entered to the n c A Tournament as the ten seed in the Midwest. They get twenty four rank Gonzaga, who comes in as a seven seed. So, okay, Gonzaga, Steph Curry,

here's a couple of cinderellas. Uh first round, two seventy six is the final. Davidson wins, Steph Curry goes for forty This is not that long ago in college basketball, right, this is two thousand and eight. How many guys do you see in a game in a season going for forty None, maybe once a year you get a guy. While this guy at a great game, he went for forty points. But Steph goes for forty in the first game of the n c A Tournament and they knocked

out Gonzaga. And this was where his personality and his stardom just took over the term. There was no hey here's a cinderell. No, this was well Steph Curry during the regular season and he had big games. He had thirty a couple of times average six for the air. He had a forty one point game against North Carolina Greensboro. He had some thirty four, thirty six, thirty seven point games. But you dropped forty the first day of the n c A tournament. You not got a top twenty five team.

And suddenly it was Stephen Curry because he gotta go by what he was Steph and Curry. Everybody wanted to see him. At this point. It became a full minute of highlights because he was eight of ten from three point range and it was Curry again and again and again. I mean you cut up highlights at ESPN. How easy was your job there? You stayed on that game. It's like, we're just gonna give him a minute of Steph Curry because this is all that matters. Five steals on the game,

just absolutely dominant on the other side for Gonzaga. Just gotta make a note Robert sokra Ah at t J Gonzaga calling sock gray blue after losing to Davidson. Well, if you want to see a typical Steph Curry highlight that we saw so many times. He hits the three with about a minute to go off a rebound where he was coming back down court because they missed the shot, but they get the rebound, he jets back into the picture, gets it right away and just immediately puts up a

three that quick release. It goes splash. They go up three and they wind up winning by five. And there is your first signature Steph Curry play of the tournament with Steph Curry all those times that we we've seen that, right, that is just a trademark move of his. But it's I want to see the origin story, right. We talked about guys in in their growth and development, and for Steph Curry, like, what was the drill that got you that catch and release? Because you don't see that, but

you got you got guys that are great shooters. But it's normally not that quick a release. It's normally not a not not even a full catch, almost like a put back from three point range. That's how fast his hands were so waiting for Davidson was the number two seed in the Midwest, Georgetown, who were ranked eighth overall.

This was Georgetown, Roy Hibbert, Georgetown. This was this was Georgetown in the middle of a run where they would be a top ten team every year and they would lose in the first or second round of the tournament every year. Like that was Georgetown for most of the auds and into the early teams. But that's just it, even you know, having this level of seating as you're doing the research and going back and you're trying to

jog your memory, like, all right, what brought him? Because Hibbert was it was growing and he played sixteen minutes in the game, six points, But it was it was just the they were that that good. Who do they play? What are they do? What did one season? Was always good? John Thompson the third the teams he coach there, and then they wound up just throwing up on themselves in the tournament. Yeah, and certainly here's another another case twenty

eight and five. Entering the tournament, they had a seventeen point lead in this game, and in fact, it got to such a bad point where at halftime they had to talk about just going out there and having fun. That was the big topic of conversation in the locker room. Hey, we having fun let's go out there and have fun. And they go out and Curry gets a four point play, he hits a couple of threes in a row. Suddenly their lead disappears and they pulled past Georgetown to win

seventy four seventy Steph Curry. Stephen Curry finishes with thirty points. The legend of Curry grows, and now you have a whole week to talk about him as they get set for the next game in the sweet sixty. Yeah, terrible shooting night overall right eight kind of thing in college basketball when you're a star and the guy with it with the spotlight or in the NBA, you know, the the result something because we do it all the time,

Westbrook Harden, pick your guy. No matter what that final box score reads, you know we'd go a little deeper in the analytics. Here's Steph Curry. Stephen Curry would not have gotten the free best like, oh, great second half and rallied, but can you survive that? Only five or fifteen from three point range? But succeed and proceed as it were. They go on to face the number three seed in the Midwest, Wisconsin, and Michael Flowers was the best defensive player in Wisconsin. He was not really the

self anointed, but he was the Curry stopper. He was the guy, I'm gonna stop Steph Curry, and he stopped him. He stopped him from scoring thirty four points. Because Curry went for thirty three. He had twenty two points in the second half. Wisconsin had twenty. He outscored the Badgers by himself in the second half. They win seventy three

fifty six. It's not close. And suddenly now here's Stephen Curry and Davidson who have been the were now the only story of the n C A turn one win away from the Final four, the only team in their way, Number four Kansas. Just remember those Badger teams that just grind you down, but they could, they would win like a blower, right, Those were those bow Ryan teams. And it was watching paint drive. So as soon as Curry heats up, that's it. I mean, they're they're not scoring.

I mean they were like two D and twenty. If there's something in the nation and scoring per game. Being the big ten guy I was, you'd always cheer and go they're not gonna win. And anybody gets hot at all in in the tournament. They're in trouble and that's exactly what happened here. They run into uh some hot shooting that that takes it over the top. Curry goes six of eleven from three point range, the thirty three,

as you said, and just no chance. So they go and play Kansas and this is where the season ends in shocking fashion for Davidson. This is a Jayhawks team that's loaded with talent, right, this is Mario Chalmers, Brandon Brush, Daryl Arthur. But it's a close game all the way through. Curry finishes with twenty five points. So every game of the n c A tournament he finishes with at least twenty five. They have a chance with the ball down fifty seven with fifteen seconds left, all right, So they

got the ball. There's fifteen seconds left and they're down by two. Curry did not have a great game shooting the ball, but it's Curry. You know he's gonna get the ball. This is where things really broke down, and it was it was bad strategy by Davidson and bad luck for them. Curry brings the ball up with fifteen seconds left, and he brings it up so slow. You're down to not three right, you're playing while you're hanging with them. You could have gone to the hoop, got

in a basket to tie the game. But instead, because Curry brings the ball up walking past half court, they're almost locked into it's gonna be a three or nothing. And Kansas, of course comes out on the perimeter because they're gonna stop that. And it doesn't look like great strategy because they were ready for it, and why would you not wanna make sure you give yourself enough time for whatever kind of shot you want. So he brings it up slow, They run a pick and roll and

Brandon rushed trips. Curry's got a wide open teammate, wide open, He's got a lane for a time. Who But instead Chalmers gets out on d really fast to stop Curry from doing anything, and Mario Chalmers does a phenomenal job staying on him. If Curry had seen the fall of Rush, he gets it to a team. He goes in for a layup and it's a tie game, and who knows what happens coming back down court, but Curry holds onto

the ball. He dribbles to the side and he can't get a shot off, and now the clock is ticking down and he passes to Jason Richards, who was the starting point guard had had a really good season, you know, there was you know, looking back, he was one of the top two or three players on the team. So the final shot of the game goes to Richards for a really far off three. It doesn't go Kansas wins, Davidson goes home, and everybody watching the game goes, what

the hell was that? I mean, they bring it up slow, you don't see the pick and roll play, and then you hold on. He doesn't even get the final shot. He passes to a teammate, and that's how the best n c A tournament run ends for Curry. Well, and that's the thing that's so frustrating about it is you hung with this this team, even though you didn't shoot well at all. Right, Curry another nine for night, so

his shots off. Yet you're you're a two point loss against a juggernaut, a team that just ran rough shot and scored major points on teams all year long. I mean, thirty five and three was the final record for Kansas that year, and you played him to a mistake, right, and they went on to win the tournament, right, you know, They went on to beat Memphis and win the tournament

that year. So it ends for Davidson, but Steph Curry becomes the biggest household name in the world and you would think, Okay, he's going pro after this, but instead, because he was told by too many people, NBA analysts and evaluators, you might be too small and fragile. We want to see and be able to play point guard. Because the knock on Curry was I don't know that he could get his own shot in the NBA, right, I don't know that you get his own shot. And

I'm like, what are you watching? Really? I mean, you knew he was gonna be good. So he comes back for a senior year to develop as a point guard, even after this tournament where he became a superstar. Who after this would say, yes, I'm going back to school for one year. Oh, that's what the n c A, that's what that tell The evaluators say, all right, that's what i'nna, I'm gonna go back to school for my senior year. Who does that? Nobody anymore? Money's on the table,

go get it. So yeah, I mean for Steph Curry. Uh, Stephen Curry still like we hadn't adjusted, right, it's at two, had not begun yet, but just an amazing run and still doesn't look like he's aged much at all. No, he's the same. Where's this video? I don't understand. Okay, where's this video? Okay? So Curry comes back for a senior year and he has a great year, averages twenty

eight points per game, five and a half assist. You'd think he would have done everything possible to be one of the top two or three picks in the NBA draft. You were expecting another big year from the tournament. But they lose to the College of Charleston in their tournament semifinals and look College at Charleston. They were okay, but Davidson still should have won this. They were eighteen and

two in conference. So Steph Curry finishes his n c A career in the n I t and he falls all the way to seventh overall because teams still didn't know is he gonna be too frail? Could he not play the position? And look at what he's done. He's become one of the top players in the n B a NBA champion, one of the big superstars. The guys and icon and he went seventh in the draft. On so many levels. He also uh said early in twenty I really thought I was gonna be a nick I

wanted to go to New York. Don't tell me that, you know. I thought I just wanted to fill in for the nice people I mean. And he was also the third point guard selected for the Rubio And Johnny Flynn has had an okay career, is right exactly? I forget where Johnny Flynn went to school where, well, you know, so, yeah, he went sixth overall, so you got to cheer that when he got drafted by the t Wolves. But yeah,

Curry goes seventh and the the rest is history. Uh. If you ever do get a chance to the College of Charleston. At one point in a former life, when I was working in the financial aid world for my alma mater and Northwestern them, I went to a conference down there. Ok I got I got a chance to go watch a College of Charleston game. You didn't get to a game. It's like a high school gym, raddling the excitement, the enthusiasm like that was. That was like

Friday night lights man. That was the town's kind of shut down and then after the game, all the bars and restaurants reopened like it was at least you know, that's where it was when I got to go. I'd love to go back, but everybody's so nice and welcoming and worth a worth a look. I've been too out of places where the best thing about it as a bar, and I have a great memory of that just because

of that. Well, as long as you actually remember there is the bar still open now that closed twenty years ago. Oh that was a great bar, man. I had a great night there because they had beer, you know, like wow. But the point was you remembered the bar normally if it's a really great night. Yeah. Not all right, So let's play a little Where are they now? Steph Curry, I know where he is. I think I heard of that guy. But you know the head coach, Bob McKillop.

One of his players was his son, so Brandon, who's gone on to some great things director International Basketball Operations. Yeah, he's said he's had a busy couple of years for the National Basketball Association. Wow, and does he on his business card? I played with Steph. That's the hands out everybody here, you'll I played with steth. Well, that is a pretty decent calling card. Here's a picture of us fight, right, Bob Costas carries his mantle overman's got his wagger. He's

got a picture of him and steph Um. Mike Schmidt not the third basement of it, had a lot of home runs and he had a good run. Amika Insurance, you've got Thomas says, really not the same guy, not no, no, d'd uh. I don't know how much d playing that again. I could watch the tape because that's then he was a pretty good defensive third. But he in fact he retired. I remember because he had a Mike Schmidt had a weekend where he had like he made like three errors

and he walked off and he said, I'm done. What do you mean You're done? He made three errors? I remember that. I was okay because it made the Mets easier, you know, the Philly Stunk war. But well, he said, a bad weekend. He retired him and Yas and just walking away in eighty three, I'm done, mout wow, yeah there you go. Uh So, yeah, you've got Thomas Sander, a VP of Commercial real Estated Wells Fargo, and they got Ben Allison I like this. He is the creative

executive at Benko. Like that? Okay? Ben Allison? Is that his own company? Yeah? Video Production in North Carolina, so they do corporate videos and little films, TV commercials, etcetera. My name's Ben. What's your company's name? Ben? Go? Wow, it's like opener. Yeah, it's a good opening line. Hey ladies, my name is Ben. Who do you work for? Benic? I'm my own enterprise. That's not a bad way to go bet on yourself, isn't that what we're trying to preach every Uh So, there it is a look back

at three of the best Cinderellas of all time. In the n c A tournament. Coming up next week, we'll look at three more all time great Cinderella teams. You have some suggestions for teams you'd like to see a speech here on the podcast, hit us up on Twitter at how about a Fresca Mike at Swollen Dome and maybe one of your suggestions we'll make it onto our

future show. We'll talk to you next week before you go rate and review the Oh, whether you're listening on I Heart Radio, I Heart Radio, apps, Apple, whatever it is, give us a rate, tell us. You like it, we will love you forever and ever and ever. Special Teams is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.