Stephen Curry was one of the biggest names in all of basketball long before he was a three-time NBA champion, two-time MVP, or generally considered the greatest shooter in history of the sport.
The Golden State Warriors guard first blazed his path to superstardom at North Carolina's tiny Davidson College, when he led his team all the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The 10th-seeded Wildcats fell to the eventual champion Kansas Jayhawks when Curry's desperation, game-tying 30-footer as time expired caromed off the backboard, but not before he captured the imagination of the sports world with one of the most memorable individual performances March Madness has ever seen.
Eleven years and many, many more accomplishments removed from his breakout on the national scene, Curry reflected on the moment in an article by ESPN's Nick Friedell:
“It was just a monumental moment, like snapshot in time, with that tournament run,” he explained. “To be honest, the storyline around the school was 1,800 students really rallied around us and showed that support…I think [people] see me in the red jersey and kind of look like I'm 14 out there and doing amazing things – that's something people remember. I definitely do. I look forward to going back every time I have an opportunity. And when I see my teammates that I played with, you pick up where you left off in terms of how much they all had to do with my success and our success as a team.”
Stephen Curry recorded 31.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 3.2 steals per game in leading Davidson to the Elite Eight. The mid-major Wildcats, from the Southern Conference, beat the likes of Maryland, Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Wisconsin before falling to Kansas.
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