DAVIDSON, N.C. - One door closes, another opens.
That helps explains how the Fredonia State men's basketball team finds itself in North Carolina preparing to meet the Davidson Wildcats at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the John M. Belk Arena.
"Every kid playing Division III basketball," Fredonia State head coach Kevin Moore said, "wishes they had a chance to play on the big stage. It's hard not to feel that way with all of the exposure that Division I basketball gets on television today. My six seniors will a get chance to experience what that's like with our game at Davidson. I know they're tremendously excited for that opportunity and will play with a great deal of passion and intensity in a game they love so much."
In addition to a case of serendipity, the trip to Davidson is a testament to the speed of the internet. Initially, the Blue Devils were scheduled to travel to New Jersey for a four-team tournament early in the season. When that tournament was cancelled, Moore was left scrambling for replacement games.
"I posted onto a Web site (used by college basketball coaches)," he said, "that we were a Division III team looking for a road game in exchange for a financial guarantee to cover travel expenses. Within 10 minutes, Davidson called."
It's not the first time Fredonia State has made a trip similar to this one. During a stretch of 11 years, the Blue Devils played 18 Division I teams and three Division II teams on treks to the South and Midwest but not once since a 68-56 loss at Indiana State on Nov. 28, 1987.
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It also isn't the first time Moore has coached against a Division I team, or the first time Moore will get to shake hands with Davidson head coach Bob McKillop. Moore was the head coach at Elmira College in the late 1970s when his teams met Canisius twice and St. Bonaventure once. A few years later, in 1983, Moore met McKillop then the head coach at Long Island Lutheran High School at a basketball coaching clinic.
After winning five state titles at Lutheran, McKillop was hired as head coach at Davidson in 1989 and has been there ever since. He is the longest-tenured, most successful men's basketball coach in Davidson history (367-237). His teams have won 10 Southern Conference division titles, five conference tournament championships, and have made five NCAA Tournament and four postseason NIT appearances.
He was named 2008 National Coach of the Year after the 2007-08 Wildcats led by sophomore guard Stephen Curry advanced to the Midwest Regional final in Detroit before losing two points to eventual champion Kansas.
With Curry back for his junior year, the Wildcats were 27-8 last year, losing to Saint Mary's in the second round of the NIT. They are 0-4 this season without Curry (now a member of the NBA's Golden State Warriors) with consecutive losses to Butler, South Florida, LaSalle, and Penn State, the most recent Nov. 22 to the Nittany Lions, 59-57, at Charleston, S.C.
The Blue Devils are 0-2 heading into Wednesday night's game with their most recent loss also against Penn State except it was Division III Penn State Behrend. Despite 26 of 37 shooting (70.3 percent), Fredonia State was defeated by Behrend, 69-65, Nov. 18 at Erie, Pa.
Fredonia State has never defeated a Division I team.
"We hope to be able to accomplish three things," Moore said. "One, execute our offense at a high level. Two, take care of the basketball limit our turnovers and, three, limit our opponents' second-chance points rebound the basketball all of this against an opponent that is quicker, stronger, bigger, and more athletic than anyone else we will face in the SUNYAC this season.
"If we can succeed against a quality team like Davidson then we can be very successful against anyone in our conference."
Game notes: The Belk Arena has a seating capacity of 5,223 The Blue Devils flew to North Carolina Tuesday and will practice at Belk Wednesday night. They also have a a shoot-around Wednesday morning Live coverage of the game will be available via the Fredonia State website. Links to live video, audio, and stats will be posted on the athletics home page. The audio and stats are free but the video feed costs $5.95. The links provided by Davidson -- will be posted Wednesday.
