Davidson College men’s basketball star Stephen Curry is one of four nominees for ESPN’s Best Breakthrough Athlete contest for 2008. He joins Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson, Nascar driver Kyle Busch and tennis phenom Ana Ivanovic in the contest.

The breakthrough category is one 37 in which fans help determine a winner for an Espy, an annual sports award from the cable TV network ESPN. Viewing the breakthrough category and voting requires registration through the ESPYS.tv website. The Espy awards ceremony will air on ESPN at 9 p.m. Sunday, July 20, with Justin Timberlake as host.

The 2007 winner in the “breakthrough” contest was Chicago Bears wide receiver Devin Hester.

Most nominees in the breakthrough category are professional athletes, like Tiger Woods (the 1997 winner) or Lebron James (who won in 2004, after he’d spent a season with the Cleveland Cavaliers). But we in Davidson have long known that Stephen Curry is special. Here’s what the Espy award press release had to say about him:

Curry became the fourth player in NCAA?history to score 30 or more points in his first four NCAA Tournament games, joining Clyde Lovellette of Kansas, Jerry Chambers of Utah and Glenn Robinson of Purdue. The rising junior tallied 30 points in his tourney debut against Maryland in 2007 and went for 40 to lead the ‘Cats to an 82-76 first-round victory over Gonzaga last March, Davidson’s first NCAA Tournament win since 1969.

He followed that by scoring 30 points as Davidson upset Georgetown 74-70 to earn a trip to the Sweet 16 in Detroit and scored 33 in the Wildcats’ 73-56 triumph over Wisconsin. The streak came to an end in the Elite Eight as Curry scored 25 in a 59-57 loss to eventual national champion Kansas, but despite the loss in the regional final, he was named the Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player.

A second-team All-America selection by The Associated Press, Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News and a Wooden Award finalist, Curry finished the campaign ranked fourth nationally in scoring, averaging 25.9 points a game, and set an NCAA?record with 162 made 3-pointers. He led Davidson in scoring in 31 of its 36 games, scored 30 or more points 11 times and 40 or more twice.