Curry joined Clyde Lovellette (1952), Jerry Chambers ('66) and Glenn Robinson ('94) as the only players to score at least 30 points in each of their first three tournament games. AP

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"We didn't have to change our basketball system because we were facing Wisconsin," said Lovedale. "We wanted to do what we did all year."

If it seems like Davidson plays unusually poised in these tourney games for a team that spent the majority of its season facing the likes of Georgia Southern and Western Carolina (during one break in the action Friday, the uber-cool Curry casually chatted up Wisconsin counterpart Michael Flowers about their respective hometowns), one need only look at their early-season schedule.

North Carolina. Duke. UCLA.

The Wildcats played all three of them and took all three to the wire. They didn't come away with any W's -- at one point, in fact, they were 4-6 -- but they came away with the confidence of knowing what the rest of us are only find out now: That they're every bit as good as some of the best teams in the country.

"We were right there 'til the end [against those foes]," said Curry. "That proved we can compete with anyone but we couldn't finish games. Now we have another shot at the big guys, and we've gotten better. We've learned to play 40 minutes."

They needed all 40 minutes to put away previous tourney foes Gonzaga and Georgetown, but Friday night's contest was unofficially over with about eight minutes left. By then, the Davidson band had broken out its favorite tune, Sweet Caroline, and the large swath of fans behind the Wildcats' bench -- nearly all of them wearing red-and-white "Witness" shirts purchased by Curry's NBA-alum father, Dell -- sang along in celebration.

Moments earlier, they'd watched Curry toy with yet another overmatched defender, hanging in the air and shoveling the ball from his knees to the hoop in the aforementioned reverse layup that brought LeBron to his feet. His team's lead had grown to 17 and would soon reach as high as 21.

"They're a great team," said Wisconsin forward Marcus Landry. "They really outworked us and out-scrapped us."

Re-read those previous words from Landry. If there's any major-conference team in the country synonymous with outworking and outscrapping people, it's Wisconsin. Yet when Curry started his now-customary second-half scoring binge (he scored 22 of his 33 after halftime) and the Wildcats rolled off a back-breaking 12-0 run, the Big Ten champs looked as helpless as ... well, a Georgia Southern or Western Carolina.

So it's probably wise at this point for hoops followers to re-think their preconceived notions about Davidson. Cinderella? Only to someone who hasn't actually watched the Wildcats play.

"Last year, you might have been accurate to say we were a Cinderella had we advanced [beyond the first round] because were a surprise," said McKillop. "We brought back five starters, we won 20 conference games, we played the heavyweights early and played them close. This team has expectations you wouldn't normally see a 'Cinderella' have."

Not to mention a pair of guards most major-conference teams can only dream about.