AP Photo by Mel Evans

Stephen (pronounced Ste–ff-eh–n) Curry isn’t the biggest or strongest kid. However, the Davidson super sophomore shooting guard who somehow escaped the eyes of major Division I teams is more than making up for his lack of size with tremendous speed and basketball IQ.

Try asking his latest victim the No.2 seeded Georgetown Hoyas yesterday in a second consecutive upset courtesy of another remarkable second half Curry performance. It’s one thing to light up Gonzaga for 30 of 40 points in the last 20 minutes to lead your school to their first NCAA Tournament victory in an ironic 40 years. However, it’s quite another to be able to have a signature near repeat against the Big East regular season champs who were picked by many including yours truly to make another run to the Final Four.

Well, as legendary TV/radio sports anchor Warner Wolf likes to say:

“If you had Georgetown winning more than a game in this year’s Big Dance, YOU LOSSSTT!!!!!”

So, how did it happen exactly that Curry, who was held in check by relentless man-to-man D by the Hoyas for just five first half points was able to get off finally scoring a remarkable 25 of his game high 30 in the all important second 20 minutes?

I really wish I had stayed with this game because to be honest, when the Hoyas went up 17 early in half two, like many observers, I figured Curry and potential Cinderella Davidson were toast. But as CBS switched to another interesting development where another No.2 seed Tennessee was having all it could handle from gutsy seventh seeded Butler, something even more remarkable was taking place in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Suddenly, former NBA long range shooter Dell Curry’s son found his game and took over leading his team all the way back for a surreal 74-70 win over the Hoyas to put his school in the Sweet 16 in the Midwest Regional against No.3 seeded Wisconsin at Detroit later this week.

“I remember being in the huddle. I forget what timeout it was, but we were down 16,”  valuable running mate Jason Richards told the AP after scoring 20 himself for the Wildcats which also meant that the dynamic duo accounted for an unheard of 67.6 percent of the offense.

“And coach is asking us if we’re having fun. We got smiling a little bit and we got our focus off where we were and we came out and got some great stops.“

Sometimes, a simple question like that when your team is down can get overlooked. Athletics are supposed to be fun. Especially at this time of March. I think what Davidson veteran coach Bob McKillop did was great cause it took the pressure off and allowed his team which entered with the nation’s longest win streak (23) to relax. There was still a lot of time left. Obviously, when your down that much, you can’t make it up all at once. You just got to chip away.

Essentially, one run gets you back in the game. Luckily for McKillop’s team, Curry caught fire at the right time getting started with a four-point play, a trey and a nice pass to Andrew Lovedale for a lay-up which sparked the Wildcats on a 16-2 run suddenly slicing the deficit to 50-48 with still 8:47 to go.

At that point, whatever good the Hoyas had done became irrelevant because whenever you let a dangerous team with a lethal scorer like that off the hook, they can comeback to burn you which was exactly what transpired on the N.C. State home floor where many North Carolina supporters continued taking to Curry and his choir boy look. I swear he don’t look older than 15.

Thankfully, CBS did a decent job switching back between breaks of Butler-Tennessee to show the East coast the final few frantic minutes. There was a great sequence where Curry made a great backdoor cut and took a Richards pass converting a tough lay-up while getting fouled. He swished the free throw to complete the three-point play giving Davidson a two-point lead. Their first one since it was 2-0.

Following a key defensive stop, the very poised Curry didn’t even have much room but fired from approximately 25 with a Hoya right in his face. It didn’t matter as the ball hit nothing but net to suddenly put the Wildcats up five.

“I have confidence to shoot the ball every time I shoot it,” the hero noted of his torrid shooting which has seen him go for 70 total points in two Davidson wins with 55 coming in the second half.

“In the open court, that’s my game—get my feet set and knock down shots. … When I start getting my shot going, it does feel good.”

At that point, you knew John Thompson III’s Hoyas were finished. When he’s making impossible shots like that, there’s little that can be done.

 “For the most part he had guys all over him and the ball was going in,” the disappointed Georgetown coach later said as he said goodbye to seniors Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace and Patrick Ewing, Jr. much sooner than expected.

“They’ve done so much for me. I just feel like I’ve let them down,” Thompson lamented.

“It’s a group of guys that have done everything I’ve asked of them for four years. They put this program on their back and put us in position where we can possibly have success in the future. I just feel bad for these guys.”

Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the beast in this tournament. They got beat by a great player who gave Richards and teammates plenty to smile about as they headed back home to prepare for another very tough opponent in Big Ten power Wisconsin.

“He was going to catch fire, and he sure did,” Richards pointed out.

“We smiled. You got to have fun out there. If you’re not going to have fun in the NCAA tournament, there’s something wrong with you. We just kind of stayed relaxed, got him to smile finally, and I think that really got him going.”

Could they possibly be this year’s George Mason? For now, let’s just enjoy the Stephen Curry Show for what it is. Classic old school hoops.