Curry supplies Flames’ firepower

LYNCHBURG One night last fall, Seth Curry and two of his teammates walked back to their dorm at Liberty University after going to see a movie. Suddenly, a man popped out of the darkness and asked Curry for his autograph. The guy held an oversized action shot of Curry. "My cousin loves you," he said.

An autograph seeker? This never happened to him before. To his dad? Sure. To his brother? All the time now. But Curry was just a few games into his freshman season and didn't expect this type of attention.

"It kind of scared me," he said. "I didn't know what was going on. It was real shocking."

He gathered his thoughts and signed the photo, then headed to his dorm room as his teammates teased him. Lightly recruited out of high school, he came to Liberty not to become a celebrity but to own his identity as a basketball player. As a kid, everyone knew him as Dell's son because Dad played 16 seasons in the NBA. Last year he got another title: Stephen's little brother -- the result of big bro carrying Davidson to the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight.

Appropriately enough, Liberty itself is unique, a Christian institution that has nightly curfews and shuts down three times a week for an hour-long, school-wide worship service in its basketball arena. Students who live on campus must attend. Coach Ritchie McKay, relying on youth to build his program, offered the opportunity to start immediately -- and, as a result, the chance to just be Seth Curry.

Curry embraced it, leading the Flames to their best regular season in 12 years: 21-10, 12-6 in the Big South and the third seed in the conference tournament, which begins tomorrow. He is the nation's top freshman scorer, with 20.7 points per game.

McKay coached Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers when he was at New Mexico, and he believes Curry also will play in the NBA. "He's made as big of an impact on a team or program as any freshman in the country," McKay said.

It started with a simple lesson: shoot over the hooks. Dell Curry earned a reputation as a prolific shooter at Virginia Tech and is the school's second all-time leading scorer. Years later, when he taught his sons to shoot, he told them that wherever you are on the court, look straight ahead at the rim and see three hooks from which the net hangs. Focus on the middle of those three and shoot over it.

Stephen and Seth spent hundreds of nights practicing technique behind their house in Charlotte, N.C., on a concrete, college-length court -- complete with an NBA 3-point line and lights. But neither was blessed with an intimidating physique that scored high on the "eye test." In high school, each stood about six feet, with skinny arms and baby faces. When Seth visited Liberty on a recruiting trip, at least one person there thought he was a recruit's younger brother.

"Some schools look at kids based on how high they can jump, how athletic they may look," said Shonn Brown, the Currys' coach at Charlotte Christian High. "They don't necessarily all the time look for the IQ and having a great feel for the game."

So Stephen ended up at Davidson, where he is a junior and the nation's leading scorer. Seth's recruitment also suffered because he injured his hamstring in 2007 and couldn't showcase all his skills during AAU games that summer.

By that point, McKay already saw him at full speed. Shortly after Liberty hired McKay in March, he drove to Charlotte Christian to watch Curry for the first time, in a scrimmage. McKay marveled at three plays he made. He nailed a 35-footer, glided to the rim for a finger roll and penetrated again, stopping and popping a mid-range jumper.

McKay immediately told Brown he was offering a scholarship. Tech coach Seth Greenberg later offered, but he wanted to redshirt Curry because his current guards are young.

"I put a lot of thought into it, but that's really not what I wanted to do," Curry said. "I just felt like I could play right away and make a big impact. Why sit out a year?"

As he prepared to leave for Liberty last summer, carrying those big goals, he got some advice from Stephen: Be yourself. Don't try to live up to expectations people heap on you because of your last name. But privately, Stephen knew how tough that would be.

"I had to live up to my dad's name and hearing I'm not as good as him," Stephen said. "And now my brother has to hear from both angles. He's got it a little tougher than I did."

The freedom McKay gives him on the court helped him while opponents made him the focus of their defense. Curry takes 17 shots a game, ninth-most in the country and almost five more than any other Liberty player.

Curry's non-basketball routine felt less familiar. He grew up in a religious family but knew nothing about Liberty before McKay showed up at his school. Few college-aged kids these days are used to having a curfew of at least 12:30 a.m. every night. Or to formal worship every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, when Liberty holds its convocation services.

On a Monday morning in late January, Curry and his teammates sat in an upper corner of the Vines Center, nearly full. Along the arena's far wall, a large sign read: "One Way. Christ: God's Way to Heaven." A band played Christian rock songs from a stage on the floor. The lyrics flashed across four giant video boards hanging from the ceiling. Some students sang along, raising their hands and swaying. Others, like Curry and his teammates, stood quietly, absorbing it all.

Curry usually is that reserved. Teammates sometimes tell him to speak up on the court because they can't hear him. He seems as unlikely to expect an autograph hound as he does to declare things like this about himself and his recruitment:

"Can he play in the ACC? Yes," said Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis, who coached 10 seasons at Clemson.

"I think they kind of missed the ball again," Stephen said of schools who passed on his brother. "I was surprised, but that's the way it goes."

No, Curry will leave such analysis and expectations to others. He wrote his purposes -- his way to creating his own identity -- on his sneakers for a game earlier this season. On one: "BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS." On the other: "Colossians 3:23" -- a verse that says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

Pairings, Page C5