Stephen Curry has been one of the greatest success stories in the world of sports. A 6ft 2-inch guard, he overcame all odds to achieve the highest honors in the NBA. It wasn’t an easy path for the marksman, who had to work extremely hard to reach this stage.
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Coming out of high school, Curry was not considered a high prospect and did not receive any offers from the top colleges in the country. There were a lot of concerns regarding his lack of size and ability to perform against college athletes. Eventually, he decided to join a small liberal arts school called Davidson College.
In Davidson, Curry earned the respect of the college basketball fraternity and led the college team to unprecedented success. He attended the college from 2006-2009 and willed his team to the Elite Eight stage of the tournament in 2008 for the first time in forty years.
Stephen Curry gets mocked in the 2008 NCAA tournament
During his sophomore year, Steph established himself in the 2008 NCAA tournament by leading his team to the Elite Eight. He averaged 32 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7.8 assists, and 4.5 steals per game and shot 46.5% from the field, 43.5% from three-point range, and 91.7% from the free-throw line.
Curry had to face a lot of hardships during the team’s run in the tournament and was constantly mocked by the opposing fans. While appearing on the talk show ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’, he spoke about fans mocking his lack of size and facial hair. Here is what he said:
“Opposing fans, they come up with all kinds of tags to kind of make fun of me. I got one 7 o’ clock game, one guy was like – It’s past your bed time, why are you out here?”
Besides the lack of size, Steph also had a young face and lacked facial hair. The facial feature combined with a lethal shooting ability earned him the title – ‘Baby Faced Assassin’. A title that would carry on to the NBA, where he would become the greatest shooter of all time.
Stephen Curry’s Road to the NBA Draft
Stephen Curry was selected as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. Though he ended up being a high draft pick, there were a lot of concerns about his lack of size and the game translating to the professional stage.
Curry was a small guard, lacked a muscular build, and his ankles were prone to injuries. The NBA scouts believed he would be a liability on defense. Though the concerns were valid, the elite scoring displayed in the NCAA tournament trumped all doubts.
It has been fourteen years since he played his first game in the league, and Stephen Curry has changed the game as we know it. A four-time champion and two-time league MVP, he has taken the league by storm and shows no sign of slowing down.
