For the third straight season, Davidson will make its way to New York tonight to play an early-winter game at Madison Square Garden.  Two years ago, Base Rich and I watched Stephen Curry bury West Virginia with a barrage of much-needed three pointers in the final minutes.  Last season, Davidson lost a heart-breaker to Cornell in overtime.  Tonight, St. John’s is the opponent — another showdown with the Big East.

We’ve been inconsistently attentive to this blog over the past few weeks.  Perhaps that’s our way of dealing with the team’s inconsistent success this season.  We were excited by wins over Nebraska and WKU, but disheartened by the Andrew Goudelock onslaught at Charleston.  But a recent dominating win against local rival Charlotte has us in high spirits again as the holidays approach.

MSG has been revived as of late, with the Knicks suddenly appearing somewhat formidable for the first time in about a decade.  Obviously, Davidson v. St. John’s is unlikely to draw the sort of crowd that we saw against West Virginia two years ago, but this stage is still big for Davidson’s youngsters.

I can’t say I know much about St. Johns (who does these days?).  They seem, most seasons, to be a forgotten bottom-dweller in the ever-expanding Big East.  I did learn today, however, that St. John’s has the 7th-most NCAA tournament appearances.  In any event, this is a very winnable game for Davidson.  A game that I think we can and will win if we make our threes.

I am traveling to Nashville for New Years weekend to visit Base Rich and, of course, to attend Davidson’s Jan. 2 battle against Vanderbilt.  I suspect that we’ll begin posting at a heightened rate come the new year. 

4th Watts