Even though they lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this past spring to Maryland, the Davidson men’s basketball team wanted to relive the experience of playing the Terrapins.

The players benefited from the knowledge of playing a high-caliber team in the tournament and felt that games against teams like Maryland improved their play, Wildcats head coach Bob McKillop said.

So after the season, the players had a simple request for McKillop.

‘They said, ‘Coach, go out and find some games that are going to give us the experience to make us better as we progress through the season and get us prepared for the end of the season,” McKillop said.

McKillop obliged.

He has put together one of the hardest non-conference slates for any team in the country, with Davidson playing four games against preseason top 25-ranked teams. With the schedule, McKillop hopes the games will prepare his team for the end of the season, when the games matter the most.

With the Southern Conference being a historic ‘one-bid’ conference, the games that the Wildcats play in the tournament will most likely determine their NCAA fate.

To say the Wildcats’ non-conference schedule is challenging might be an understatement. Davidson, which has made the NCAA Tournament for two of the last three years, has North Carolina, Duke, UCLA and N.C. State all on its schedule this season.

Davidson already lost to North Carolina, 72-68, on Nov. 14. In that game, the Wildcats led the Tar Heels for much of the second half until UNC finally went ahead with under four minutes left and managed to hold on for a tight victory.

All four of those teams have won national championships, as recent as UNC two years ago. Also, UNC and UCLA are currently No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation, respectively, while No.7 Duke is undefeated at 7-0 and No. 24 N.C. State is 4-2.

McKillop said when he put the non-conference schedule together the chance to play each opponent could not be missed.

‘When you get opportunities to play some of these opponents at the venues that you are going to play them, North Carolina in Bobcats Arena, Duke in Bobcats Arena and UCLA at Anaheim, you have to seize the opportunity,’ McKillop said.

‘North Carolina State, Duke, (North) Carolina, UCLA, all have championship banners in their arenas, so it’s just coincidental more than anything, but we’re certainly thrilled to get on the Broadway stage because that’s what it is, the best of college basketball. You’re playing traditional powers, and it’s a wonderful experience for us.’

The schedule also allows for some of Davidson’s premier players – including sophomore guard Stephen Curry and senior guard Jason Richards – to matchup with some of the best players in the country. Curry led the Southern Conference in scoring last season while Richards was second in the nation in assists, and both will get chances to showcase and test their skills against the tough backcourts of the perennial powers.

‘When you do it on a stage that is as national and as prominent as the stage (against UNC), you get more and more exposure,’ McKillop said. ‘Jason Richards, our point guard, has reaped the benefits of playing against great teams in great venues, and it has validated how good he is as a player.’

Other coaches and notable people in the conference have taken note of Davidson’s non-conference schedule and the reasons behind it as well. Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino said he thinks it good when teams in the conference try to compete against teams from the ‘so-called power conferences’ and likes to see those games in conference teams’ schedules. He also complimented Davidson.

‘I give the Davidson coach Bob McKillop a lot of credit,’ Iamarino said. ‘He knows he has a veteran team coming back this year. They lost virtually no one from last year’s team. He’s trying to prepare his team for the conference season and beyond.’

UNC-Greensboro coach Mike Dement, whose team knocked off Georgia Tech earlier this season, also talked about the importance of exposing one’s team to different styles of play in preparation for the end of the season.

‘When you play those games, you’re going to see an experience and everything that you possibly can in terms of size and quickness and executing and high-level coaching and high-level athletes and fan support,’ Dement said. ‘So when you get in your league and you have that come up, you’ve kind of been there, the kids have been in it before and hopefully you gain some confidence in that regard if you play them well.’

Dement also said that it doesn’t surprise him and other coaches in the league that Davidson has such a schedule and would not be surprised if the Wildcats were to pull the upset in any of those games.

But to McKillop, his focus on the schedule is not to make the headlines with an upset over a ranked team. His goal is to get his team experience that will make them better prepared overall for March.

‘That’s the only thing I’m worried about – is that experience going to make us better, not whether we can play with them or not play with them,’ McKillop said.

‘At the beginning of March, we want to be at our best, and the only way to be at your best is to expose yourself to every possibility offensively and defensively, and the greater teams you play, the greater that exposure occurs.’

November: Month of the ACC

The ACC has been on a tear through the month of November. Miami (Fla.), Duke and N.C. State have all won their respective in-season tournaments, while half of the conference’s 12 teams are currently undefeated. The conference also has the No. 1 team in the nation in North Carolina and has won the Big 10/ACC Challenge for the ninth straight year.

Within the ACC, though, perhaps no team has had a better month than Duke. The Blue Devils won the always-tough Maui Invitational for the fourth time to extend their record in the tournament to 16-0, while their victory over Wisconsin in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge improved their record to 9-0 in the event.

Published on November 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm