Davidson, star Curry haven't come down yet

The question: Can they stay there?

DAVIDSON -- Stephen Curry won't fool anyone with that baby face this season.

Neither will the Davidson Wildcats. After an astonishing appearance in the quarterfinals of last season's NCAA Tournament, Davidson enters the season as one of college basketball's hunted teams, ranked No. 20 in both major preseason polls and boasting a preseason All-American, the wondrous Curry.

Coach Bob McKillop has encouraged his team to embrace the high expectations even though the team lost three of its top four players to graduation and will switch Curry from shooting guard to point guard. But McKillop has also warned his team that it is destined for disappointment unless it pushes relentlessly.

"We can't fall in love with our success," said McKillop, entering his 20th season at Davidson. "As soon as we do something like that, we're writing our own obituary."

The small Davidson community, 20 miles north of Charlotte, has embraced McKillop's teams for years. But no previous season has been this highly anticipated.

The season-ticket base has doubled from 2,000 last season to 4,000. Every Davidson home game probably will be sold out at 5,219-seat Belk Arena. And on Davidson's tiny main street, in coffee shops and diners, talk about the season predominates.

"The basketball team energized the whole town last year," said Misty Utech, general manager of The Soda Shop, which specializes in milkshakes and sweet potato fries. "And now everyone here wants the new season to hurry up and start. From what I'm hearing, most people in the community expect that the team will do even better this year."

For that to happen, Wardell Stephen Curry II would need another remarkable season.

The 20-year-old junior with the sweetest jump shot in college basketball became a celebrity after the NCAA Tournament. He appeared on Conan O'Brien's talk show and at the ESPYs. In April, more than 10,000 people asked him electronically to be friends on Facebook.

On Davidson's campus, where Curry says he knows most of the 1,700 other students by name, he is not quite immune from autograph-seekers.

"Sibling birthdays," said Curry, whose first name is pronounced STEFF-en but who is called "Steph" by most everyone. "That's what I get approached about most -- to sign something for someone's little brother."

Said teammate Bryant Barr, who has lived with Curry on campus for three years: "The juniors and seniors are used to Steph and treat him like a normal kid. The freshmen? They treat him like he's Michael Jordan."

The kid next door

Curry has handled the acclaim with grace. He watched his father Dell treat people kindly for years as a jump-shooting icon for the Charlotte Hornets.

When Dell and Stephen Curry were together last week, a kid approached Stephen for his autograph and was thrilled upon receiving it. Then, as Dell remembered it, the kid looked at Stephen's father, sighed and said: "OK -- let me get your autograph, too. My dad says you were pretty good."

Much of Stephen Curry's fame can be traced to 10 dizzying days in March, when he averaged 32 points over four NCAA games. Davidson pulled three straight upsets -- over Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin -- before falling by two points to eventual national champion Kansas and barely missing the Final Four.

Part of Curry's allure comes from his appearance. His teammates revel in finding pictures of him and proclaiming to Curry: "You still look like you're 12!"

Curry didn't seriously think about turning pro after his sophomore season, but that decision will be very much in play after his junior year. "I'll wait until the last whistle blows after this season and then figure it out," he said.