NBA MVP Candidates' Greatest NCAA Tournament Moments
Before the Splash Brothers joined forces to unleash a torrent of three-point destruction upon the NBA; before fake beards and unibrows became best sellers at concession stands in Houston and New Orleans; before a man in a mask hijacked the NBA season with a violent cascade of triple-doubles and physics-defying antics, all of the players currently in the running for NBA's Most Valuable Player—with the exception of The Chosen One—were college teenagers with dreams of navigating their schools through the unforgiving terrain of the NCAA tournament.
With March Madness officially upon us, I thought it would be appropriate to take a brief look back at the defining NCAA tournament moments of the men currently jostling for position on everyone’s MVP ballot: Steph Curry, James Harden, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. LeBron will have to sit this one out; though, there may be an alternate universe where The Buckeye King cut down a championship net or two.
(Note: The slides are in descending order according to how I would rank their defining NCAA tournament moment.)
1. Steph Curry: Davidson College, 2008 NCAA Tournament
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Like an American folk tale passed down through generations, the legend of Steph Curry's 2008 NCAA tournament run grows in reverence and mystique with each passing year. And, as with most folk tales we tell, it began with humble origins.
Long before “Chef Curry” found his way into Drake lyrics and All-Star Game starting lineups, Wardell Stephen Curry was just a 6’2”, 165-pound, 3-star point guard prospect with zero scholarship offers from major-conference programs. It all worked out for the son of Dell though, as Curry’s decision to take his vastly underrated talents to Davidson College birthed one of the most memorable runs in NCAA tournament history.
The No. 10-seeded Wildcats’ Curry-fueled run to the Elite Eight in 2008 featured one of the most transcendent extended performances by an individual player in NCAA tournament history. Curry lifted a squad of unknowns onto his slender frame and left just enough room for every coach, towel boy, student and alumnus to latch on for the most ambitious athletic ride in Davidson history.
He hung 40 points on No. 7 seed Gonzaga in the first round, with 30 coming in the second half. He dropped 30 against No. 2 seed Georgetown in the second, then 33 against No. 3 seed Wisconsin in the Sweet 16. Dogged by a slew of unrelenting defenders against top-seeded Kansas in the Elite Eight, Curry still threw up 25 points in a gut-wrenching 59-57 loss to the eventual national champions.
In the span of just two weekends, Curry became America’s David—an entire nation pulled for the underdog who took to vanquishing hardwood Goliaths with little more than a boyish smirk and a sweet shooting stroke. For a brief, magical window in the middle of March 2008, Steph Curry and the Davidson Wildcats became appointment television for millions.
The journey didn’t end the way Davidson and most of America wanted it to, but Curry's preposterous averages (32.0 PTS, 5.75 3PM, 3.25 STL), coupled with a slew of moments worthy of gasps and childlike giddiness from onlookers, will never be forgotten.
That tournament allowed Steph Curry to step out from under his father's shadow and take on a persona all his own. March Madness gave Curry the platform he needed to transform into The Baby-Faced Assassin, and the basketball world has been all the better for it ever since.
2. Anthony Davis: University of Kentucky, 2012 NCAA Tournament
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An entirely different beast from Steph Curry, this 6’10”, 220-pound power forward from Chicago had already wowed scouts before his size-17 feet had ever graced John Calipari’s court in Lexington. Anthony Davis was one of four 5-star recruits Coach Cal had lured to Kentucky for the 2011-2012 college basketball season, but the scouting report for the impossibly long teenager with the uniquely endearing unibrow was the one every NBA scout was drooling over.
With Davis and an absurd bounty of talent, Kentucky rolled to a 30-1 record during the regular season. Even a loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament championship game prior to the NCAA tournament wasn’t enough to derail this basketball juggernaut.
Equipped with lanky limbs capable of making arachnids envious, Davis tore through the tournament like a cyclone. The 19-year-old averaged 13.7 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4.8 blocks and 3.0 assists per game as the Wildcats won each game by an average of 11.8 points.
Despite scoring just six points in the national championship against the Kansas Jayhawks, Calipari’s trump card was the most dominant player on the court. Davis finished the game with 16 rebounds, six blocks, five assists, three steals and a ridiculous defensive rating of 66. During his 36 minutes on the court, the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player swatted 13.1 percent of all shots and grabbed 24.4 percent of all rebounds. Davis and his atypical brand of dominance completely stifled Thomas Robinson and the rest of the Jayhawks throughout the entire game.
No one remembers the 1-of-10 shooting performance. They remember—with a bit of embellishment— Davis and his 7’4” wingspan guarding all five Kansas players at once. They remember the wiry teenager flying around in ways no one had truly seen before. They remember witnessing the birth of an athletic phenomenon.
AD's run wasn't the nationally transcendent, stop everything you're doing and watch this kid play type of performance that Curry's was, but Davis walked away with the hardware and a place in NCAA history. Davis might not be a college hoops folk hero, but he's a hero to the Bluegrass State (sans Louisville fans, of course) and the legions of basketball-worshiping Kentucky fans scattered across the country—not a bad list of accomplishments for a guy who only hung around for a year.
Russell Westbrook: UCLA, 2008 NCAA Tournament
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While Curry was single-handedly dragging Davidson through the Midwest Regional, a sophomore guard from the sun-soaked city of Long Beach, California was leading a No. 1-seeded college basketball blue blood through the West Regional.
Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Darren Collison and the rest of the Bruins tore through the 2007-2008 season, losing only three games while collecting Pac-10 regular season and conference tournament titles.
Westbrook, despite his prolific stats in the NBA, is a game of Russian roulette every time he laces up—in college, it was much the same. In UCLA’s first two games, Westbrook totaled just 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds while shooting 5-of-17 from the floor. Even before his days of eyeing down MVP trophies and unleashing soul-crushing dunks on everyone in the NBA, Westbrook believed he was the best player on the floor regardless of his in-game play. Russ has always had that perfect quality every baseball manager needs in his pitcher: the ability to shrug off a bad start.
Westbrook's mind never lingered long on those shoddy performances—instead, he chose to forget, fight and lead. In the following three games against No. 12 seed Western Kentucky, No. 3 seed Xavier and top-seeded Memphis, Westbrook averaged 17.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
UCLA’s Final Four meeting with Memphis featured a gripping matchup between a new breed of hyper-athletic guard poised to one day conquer the NBA: Westbrook and future No. 1 overall pick Derrick Rose. Westbrook and Rose each dropped 11 points in the first half of their duel, though Memphis carried a three-point lead into halftime.
Westbrook finished with 22 points to Rose’s 25, but the rest of the Bruins just couldn’t sustain an extended run in the second half. Memphis took the game 78-63, but Westbrook had delivered on a national stage and solidified himself as one of the top amateur basketball prospects in the world.
Just over three months later, Westbrook would be taken with the No. 4 pick in the NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. Pretty soon, he’d find himself sharing locker rooms, chartered flights and deep playoff runs with the last player on this list.
James Harden: Arizona State, 2009 NCAA Tournament
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Unfortunately for James Harden, not everyone is allowed to embark upon an unforgettable run in the NCAA tournament. Harden is the best shooting guard in the NBA right now and a front-runner for MVP in the minds of many, but the former All-American is hardly the first superstar to succumb to the madness of the NCAA tournament. Arizona State missed the Big Dance in Harden’s first year and was eliminated in the round of 32 during Harden’s sophomore year.
In his two NCAA tournament games against No. 11 seed Temple and No. 3 seed Syracuse in 2009, a 19-year-old Harden combined to shoot a miserable 3-of-18 from the field while totaling just 19 points. But even at his worst, Harden has always been capable of providing some timely buckets—this fledgling version of The Beard was no different.
In the Sun Devils’ first-round meeting with Temple and a locked-in Dionte Christmas (29 PTS, 5-11 3PT), Harden and his burgeoning beard were soundly outplayed for the first 35 minutes. Despite a 0-of-6 start from the field, Harden dug out just enough March magic to spark Arizona State to victory.
With the Sun Devils clinging to a three-point lead with just under five minutes to play, Harden scored seven points in a row to help quell the Owls’ uprising once and for all.
Arizona State's tournament hopes were swiftly dashed just two days later as Syracuse handled the Sun Devils, 78-67, ending the collegiate career of James Harden in a most unceremonious fashion.
Harden’s brief, fruitless foray into the unforgiving realm of NCAA tournament basketball was more than enough for the future All-Star, as the sophomore declared for the NBA draft shortly after the loss. Perhaps the No. 3 overall selection in the 2009 NBA draft was all the better for those initial shortcomings—it now seems like Harden provides miraculous moments and legendary performances on a nightly basis.
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