Bryant Barr and roommate Stephen Curry during an April 2008 rally at Belk Arena. (Tim Cowie photo)
Teammates of Davidson basketball star Stephen Curry were quick to wish him well this week after he announced plans to skip senior year and pursue his dream of playing in the NBA. But question marks lie ahead about what the 2009-10 season will be like without the nation’s leading scorer.
Fellow junior Bryant Barr, who has roomed with Mr. Curry all three years at Davidson, has the most immediate problem: “I’m looking for a new roommate,” he laughed.
Listen to DavidsonNews.net’s audio interviews with players, Davidson President Tom Ross and Athletic Director Jim Murphy below …
Davidson was expecting to lose three seniors next year: Andrew Lovedale, Max Paulhus Gosselin and Can Civi. But several other key underclassmen are back, including Mr. Curry’s classmates, juniors Steven Rossiter, Mr. Barr, Will Archambault, and Dan Nelms.
They’ll now have to play their senior years without him.
Mr. Barr said he supports Mr. Curry’s decision: “I’m really excited for him. He’s got a great opportunity in front of him. Whether he stayed or whether he went, I was gonna be there to support him and be excited for him.”
Mr. Achambault had mixed emotions. “It’s gonna be real tough, but it’s great opportunity for Steph,” he said.
But what about next year?
“Remember three years ago, when they lost 7 seniors? Everybody thought the team wasn’t gonna be good. But we came out and we surprised people,” Mr. Archambault said.
“So look forward to a surprise next year. Davidson basketball, we work hard all the time and we’re never going to give up.”
AUDIO INTERVIEWS
Below are additional audio interviews (MP3s) we collected Thursday. President Tom Ross talks about his recent conversation with Steph Curry as he was making up his mind. And Athletic Director Jim Murphy notes that Thursday was a big day in Davidson history. “We all need to be proud,” he says.
A full audio recording of Mr. Curry’s announcement Thursday, as well as other interviews and coverage, are available on our April 23, 2009, page.
Click the play button to listen to each. Can’t see the audio player or hear the audio? Click on the name/link above each player.
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(MP3 format, 1 min. 20 sec.)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
(MP3 format, 52 sec.)
Davidson President Tom Ross
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(MP3 format, 2 min. 5 sec.)
Athletic Director Jim Murphy
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(MP3 format, 1 min. 27 sec.)
