Brandyn Curry was as good as any basketball player in Charlotte his senior year at Hopewell High. He was recruited by George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth, Wright State, William & Mary and Harvard. He chose Harvard.
A point guard, he knew he was good. He had always been good. In pickup games in Cambridge, Mass., before his freshman season, he often was matched against a senior. The senior was 6-foot-3, two inches taller than Curry.
"He hit everything," Curry says by telephone from Harvard. "If I played off him, he hit from the outside. If I challenged him, he drove past me. I don't think people realize how quick his first step is. I couldn't stop him. I couldn't do anything. It was a hit on the ego. I felt deflated."
The upperclassman approached Curry.
"It's OK," Jeremy Lin said. "I'm a senior. I'm supposed to do this."
Curry became a starter before the season ended and joined Lin in the backcourt. Lin was to Harvard what Stephen Curry - no relation to Brandyn - was to Davidson.
Lin, now with the New York Knicks, is a phenomenon . If you see another athlete featured on ESPN, a producer made a mistake
"J (Jeremy) blew up," says Curry. "He's all everybody is talking about here."
Curry says Lin's success hasn't surprised him. The surprise is the NBA didn't realize how good he was.
Why didn't the league know?
Curry says he has no idea. But he adds that when Lin plays poorly, he can lose confidence. Opportunities were limited in Lin's first two NBA gigs, with guard-heavy Golden State and with Houston. The Knicks started him only because injuries left them little choice.
Now Lin is on the cover of Time Magazine.
"We've talked," Curry says. "But J is so busy. He'll have 40 messages on his cell phone. I wished him luck against Kobe Bryant. He wished me luck against Penn and Princeton."
On Feb. 10, Harvard beat Penn and rode a chartered bus from Philadelphia to Princeton, N.Y. That Friday night the Knicks and Lin played the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant.
Harvard players tried to follow the game on their laptops or phones, but reception was inconsistent. This was their guy, and they needed to watch. They tried to talk the driver into stopping at a restaurant. They failed.
Lin scored 38 in New York's victory.
When the Crimson players aren't watching, they're playing and playing well, including a win against then-first-place Florida State 46-41.
Curry leads the team with 4.9 assists and 1.7 steals, and he averages 7.4 points. The coach is former Duke point guard Tommy Amaker.
On March 4, Curry might find out how popular he is. The Knicks play their final regular-season game in Boston that afternoon.
Only single tickets are available.
"It will probably be sold out by then," Curry says.
You don't need a ticket. You're Brandyn Curry. You play for Harvard. Your former backcourt mate is Jeremy Lin. Just tell them who you are.
"Think it will work?" Curry asks.
