Lefty in the past

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Lefty Driesell has pretty much seen and done it all during his 76 years. But even the former longtime coach was visibly moved Sunday by Davidson's 74-70 upset victory over Georgetown in the NCAA tournament in Raleigh, N.C.

"I had tears in my eyes at the end of that game," he said. "It was a great win."

The victory sent the 10th-seeded Wildcats to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1969, Driesell's last season as coach at Davidson. It was there that Driesell made a name for himself — lifting to national prominence a tiny North Carolina school located smack in foreign ACC country — before making a bigger name for himself at Maryland.

Davidson that year went to the Elite Eight before losing to North Carolina in College Park on a last-second basket by All-American Charlie Scott. Ironically, Scott once was set to attend Davidson.

Soon after that, Driesell returned to the Maryland campus, this time to stay. He coached the Terrapins for 17 years and put another program on the map. After being forced out following Len Bias' death and other problems, he later was asked to be Mr. Fix-it at James Madison and Georgia State. Only six coaches in Division I have won more games. Driesell retired midway through the 2002-03 season after 41 years, 14 victories short of 800, the only coach to win at least 100 games at four schools.

Before Driesell got there, "people didn't know about Davidson," he said. But not for long. And now, people know about Davidson again. The Wildcats have a chance to pull off another shocker tonight against third-seeded Wisconsin in a Midwest Region semifinal in Detroit. If Davidson wins, Driesell said he might go to Sunday's game.

After the Georgetown game, Driesell chatted with Stephen Curry, the sophomore guard who scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half and helped the Wildcats erase a 17-point deficit against the second-seeded Hoyas. Two days earlier, Curry had 40 points in a win over Gonzaga. He has been the most spectacular player in the tournament so far.

"Having Curry on your team is like having a king in a checkers game," Driesell drawled into the telephone from his Virginia Beach home. "He can go forward, backwards. He's something else, I tell you. I told him, if I had you, I'd have won a couple of national championships."

Driesell's teams never won it all, although they came close a couple of times at Maryland. They came close at Davidson, too, a remarkable feat considering the school's size (enrollment was 1,000, all males), high academic standards and basketball futility. The program averaged seven wins a year during the 10 seasons before Driesell arrived.

"He was a great mentor," said former center Fred Hetzel, one of Driesell's first blue-chip recruits. "I wouldn't trade one minute of my time down there for anything."