The oldest axiom in basketball is at the heart of a problem Bob McKillop has been wrestling with at Davidson for over a quarter of a century. It’s a fact of life ingrained in the fabric of the quaint North Carolina campus and ultimately manifested on the basketball court. Even with a fine academic reputation, Davidson can’t teach size.
Stephen Curry is long gone, but the Davidson way survives under Bob McKillop
Seven years after busting into the Elite Eight, Bob McKillop and Davidson are still working to keep the spirit of Steph Curry alive.
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Nestled about two hours away from the epicenter of college basketball in the state’s Research Triangle, McKillop has built a powerhouse program within a school that boasts of an enrollment of only around 1,800. That makes Davidson one of the 10 tiniest schools in Division I basketball, even smaller than many of the state’s surrounding high schools.
On the court, the Wildcats face a similar problem.
“We can’t get those two 6’10 posts that some schools can get,” McKillop told SB Nation. “We just can’t recruit that. What we can recruit are players who have skill and may be undersized or may be a step slow. They make up for their lack of size and maybe their lack of quickness with ball movement. We do move the ball very well.”
McKillop has meant so much to Davidson that the Wildcats’ home court now bears his name. He’s led the school to 13 regular-season championships in the Southern Conference. He’s guided the program to an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament seven times. He’s won over 62 percent of his games. Now at age 64 and in his 26th season at the same place, McKillop is leading Davidson through a new challenge.
Davidson has been called up the big leagues, so to speak. After a lifetime spent in the Southern, realignment in college basketball gave the Wildcats the opportunity to join the Atlantic 10. It’s not a small jump. Last season, the Southern ranked No. 30 out of 32 conferences, according to KenPom. The Atlantic 10 was No. 8.
It made sense to doubt Davidson’s ability to hit the ground running in year one of such a jarring transition, especially after the graduation of last season’s leading scorer and rebounder, De’Mon Brooks. Most preseason predictions had Davidson pegged to finish around 12th in the 14-team conference. With a young team in a new league, Davidson appeared to be facing an uphill climb.
McKillop knew he had something to believe in during the non-conference slate when the Wildcats were able to hang with No. 2 Virginia in a game they led at the half. The A-10 schedule hasn’t been easy, but Davidson has acquitted itself well so far. It thumped No. 22 Dayton 77-60 without second-leading scorer Jack Gibbs and erased a six-point deficit in the final 13 seconds to beat George Mason.
The conference may be new for Davidson, but the ethos at the heart of the program have remained the same. At this point, McKillop knows what works and what doesn’t. Spread the floor with shooters, share the ball, cut, screen, limit mistakes. It’s a style that might remind you of the way another team plays, one 2,700 miles away from Davidson’s quaint campus. They have the best record in the NBA and frontrunner for MVP. Steph Curry once spent some time at Davidson, too, you know.
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Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
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It’s been seven seasons since Curry helped Davidson barnstorm the national consciousness. Curry was the star sophomore guard, leading the Wildcats to a 20-0 record in the Southern and a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That’s where his legend began.
Gonzaga was the first victim. Curry drained 8-of-10 three-pointers and erupted for 30 points in the second half (and 40 in the game) to lift the Wildcats out of the round of 64.
It was Georgetown’s turn next. The Hoyas had reached the Final Four the season before and had a 7’3 monster in the middle in the form of Roy Hibbert, but they couldn’t put a lid on Davidson’s offense. Curry scored 30, backcourt mate Jason Richards added 20 points and Davidson pulled off an incredible upset. In the Sweet 16, Curry hit six three-pointers and McKillop’s team did it again, this time blowing out a bigger, stronger Wisconsin team.
The storybook run came to an end in the Elite Eight with a two-point loss to eventual champions Kansas, but by that time Curry’s brand was established. Davidson’s was, too.
“Stephen Curry is a constant shining light for our program,” McKillop said. “He’s always doing something to let people know about his Davidson roots. We are very grateful that he has that kind of relationship with our program. The kind of imprint he has left on us is incredible.”
It goes without saying that there’s no Curry on the roster this year, but Davidson still plays the same way.
The 2008 team reached the Elite Eight thanks to an offense that finished No. 5 in efficiency, per KenPom. Davidson entered the week as the No. 5 offense in college basketball this year, too. Curry’s team was taking three-pointers on 39.2 percent of their possessions and making 37.2 of them. This year, Davidson is taking threes 44.8 percent of the time and making 38.9 percent from deep.
For McKillop, the key to so much of his success lies in consistency. The teams like Curry’s Warriors or the reigning champion Spurs are making sharing the ball cool again, but none of this is anything new for Davidson.
“Our offense is something that has been with us for a long time,” McKillop said. “The drills are very similar to the drills we ran 15-20 years ago. In fact, many of the drills we do today, the high school teams I had back in New York ran back in the ‘70s. We haven’t invented anything, but we do have something that works for Davidson.”
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The reason college basketball coaches so often get treated like kings is because they have twice as much power as their pro counterparts. McKillop isn’t just the coach at Davidson, he’s essentially the GM, too. To build something sustainable has required a tireless work ethic and a Rolodex that reaches across the globe.
McKillop started coaching clinics in Europe in 1979 and continues to do so to this day. It’s paid off. This year’s team features players from Nigeria (Nathan Ekwu), Finland (Oskar Michelsen), Scotland (Ali Mackay) and Greece (Manu Giamoukis). There’s also an unusually large number of players from the state of Ohio, partly because McKillop’s son, Davidson assistant Matt McKillop, married a woman from there.
The pieces change, but the process is always meant to remain the same. The Wildcats have five players averaging double figures in scoring this year, and four players shooting at least 41 percent from three-point range on a high number of attempts.
If there’s a problem for Davidson this season, it’s defense. That’s where the comparisons with Curry’s squads end. While the 2008 team placed No. 21 in the country in defensive efficiency, this year’s team ranks No. 216. One thing that helps a team play better defense is size, and Davidson knows it’ll never have that.
During a time when mid-major coaches are constantly looking for the next promotion, someone like McKillop feels like a throwback. He’s raised his family here, and lives across the street from the athletic center in a picturesque white house. He doesn’t seem like a man who regrets not jumping at a bigger change.
“It’s not so much a challenge as it is a joy,” McKillop said, looking back on his career. “Being at Davidson for 26 years of my college coaching career has been an absolute joy because it’s allowed myself, my family and my players to all become one.”
There’s still plenty of basketball in front of Davidson this season, but those early-season projections already look foolish. For McKillop, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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