VT Hoops: Catching up with the Currys ...

Have you heard No. 1 Duke is coming to Virginia Tech tomorrow? Didn’t think so. You probably also weren’t aware that the youngest son of arguably the Hokies’ greatest player ever will be wearing a Blue Devils jersey tomorrow in Tech’s Cassell Coliseum, right? Yeah, figured it hadn’t come up.

So let’s catch up: Seth Curry is the 6-foot-2, 180-pound redshirt sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., who is beginning to heat up as a sharpshooter for Duke. He’s also the son of Hokies legend and second-leading all-time scorer Dell Curry. (Fun fact: Dell Curry helped lead Tech to a home win over No. 1 Memphis back in 1983.) His mother is Sonya Curry, who played volleyball for the Hokies.

The recruitment of Dell’s boys to Virginia Tech has long been a favorite debate of Hokies fans. Stephen Curry was asked to walk on with the Hokies and redshirt his first season, then he’d get a scholarship. He instead went to Davidson, became a super-scoring All-American and is now one of the NBA’s bright young stars. Seth was told he’d likely get a scholarship as a freshman, but Virginia Tech slow-played him and also wanted him to redshirt, so he went to Liberty.

There, Seth Curry became the Big South freshman of the year, averaged 20.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.4 steals and hit a school-record 102 3-pointers. His 707 points were sixth most in Big South history. Then he transferred to Duke.

Now the youngest Curry has helped Duke (26-2) climb back to No. 1 in the rankings. He’s be critical to the Devils’ success in the 20 games since star freshman guard Kyrie Irving was lost to a foot injury. Curry has started 10 of those games, including each of the last four.

In his first eight games with Duke, Curry averaged 17.5 minutes, 6.8 points, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals, 1.0 rebounds. He hit 13 of 40 FG (32.5 percent) and 10 of 27 three-pointers (37 percent).

In the 20 games since Irving left the lineup, Curry’s averaged 27.5 minutes, 9.9 points, 2.4 assists, 2.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals. He’s hit 62 of 140 FG (44.3 percent) and 37 of 88 three-pointers (42 percent).

That’s the raw data. Now here’s what Curry and his parents think about coming back to Blacksburg as the enemy, and about how the recruiting process played out. (There’s also a couple of bonus quotes from Coach K and Duke star Nolan Smith about Curry.) Enjoy ...

SETH CURRY

ON PLAYING AT HIS DAD’S ALMA MATER GIVING HIM EXTRA MOTIVATION: “Yeah, it does. Just to go back and play where my dad played, that’s a big thing. Growing up, going to games and camps there, it’s going to mean a lot to go back there and actually play in a big-time ACC game. It’s a prime-time game that everybody’s going to be watching. The crowd’s going to be really into it, and it’s going to be fun.”

ON HOW MANY VT BASKETBALL GAMES HE WENT TO GROWING UP: “Probably five, but I went to a lot more football games. I went pretty much every year to a football game with the family. That was a lot of fun.”

ON WANTING TO GO TO TECH GROWING UP: “Yeah, I did want to be a Hokie. That’s exactly what I wanted. I was a big-time fan of all the Virginia Tech sports. That’s where I wanted to go.”

ON WHETHER THE HOKIES RECRUITED HIM: “Yeah, a little bit. They offered me a scholarship. It just wasn’t the right fit. They had certain players in the position to where there wasn’t an opportunity there right away. It just wasn’t a good fit.”

ON THINKING HIS POSITION WAS TOO CROWDED: “It was a little bit of that, but it just didn’t feel like it was a good fit for me. It’s hard to go too in-depth about it.”

ON TECH NOT OFFERING HIS BROTHER STEPHEN: “My brother’s situation and mine are totally different. He wanted to go there, too, but they didn’t offer him.”

ON BOTH BROTHERS FINDING SUCCESS ELSEWHERE: “Yeah, it looks like we’re both doing pretty well. It all worked out.”

ON HIS DAD’S THOUGHTS ON THIS GAME: “He hasn’t really talked about it too much. He’s just trying to get all the tickets worked out. He’s trying to get all the family into the game, because we’ve got a lot of family in the Virginia area. He’s trying to get about 15 right now. It’s tough. I only get like two.”

ON WHETHER HE EVER WONDERED IF HE WAS IN OVER HIS HEAD AT DUKE: “No, never. I’m always confident in what I can do. I just continue to work. It’s my dream to play in the ACC, to play at a school like Duke, and I knew my opportunity would come. So I just worked toward that. In the last month or so, I’m getting my opportunity, and I’m trying to make the most of it.”

ON THAT OPPORTUNITY FOR MORE TIME HAS FLIPPED A SWITCH: “It definitely did. Before Kyrie went down, me and guys on the bench, we didn’t really have the ball in our hands a lot. Those three guys – Nolan, Kyle and Kyrie – handle it a lot. We just had to get in where we fit in. But when he went down, I know there was going to be more opportunity. I had to step up in that role and be more aggressive. Not just shoot, but make plays and work hard off the ball to be another scoring threat out there. I just continued to work toward that.”

ON WORKING HARDER ON THE LITTLE THINGS WHEN HE KNOWS HE’S GOT TO CONTRIBUTE FOR DUKE TO REPEAT AS CHAMPS: “You have to get back to certain things you were doing early in the season. The only way to get back to doing that is getting in extra work before practice and after practice. Working on ball-handling and stuff like that. It’s paying off.”

ON WHAT IT’LL BE LIKE TO BE THE ‘INTRUDER’ AT VT THIS WEEKEND, WHERE HE’S OFTEN FELT AT HOME: “I don’t know what it’ll be like. I’m sure it’s going to be weird, but it’s going to be fun to say the least. It’s fun going into hostile environments and playing well, and winning. That’s our goal.”

ON HEARING ‘ENTER SANDMAN’ AS A VISITOR: “I’ve envisioned it. It’s run through my head a few times, what it’s going to be like. But I’m sure it’s going to be way more than I imagined.”

ON WHETHER HIS DAD WANTED HIM TO PICK TECH: “Whatever decisions my brother and I made growing up, he’s always been a big part of it. He gave his opinion, but he never really pushed Virginia Tech on (his brother) or me. He never really went to the Virginia Tech coaches and said, ‘I want my son to go here. I want this to happen.’ He just let everything play out.”

ON WHETHER HIS DAD WILL HAVE ANY PIECE OF VT GEAR ON AT THIS GAME: “I doubt it. But my mom said she’s going to have a little Virginia Tech on. She said it’s going to be tough to come back and root against them. It’s just too hard for her to cheer against the Hokies. She played volleyball there, so that’ll be weird for her. It’s just going to be a weird, weird day.”

SONYA CURRY

ON HER SON SAYING SHE’LL WEAR SOME VT GEAR BECAUSE SHE CAN’T FULLY ROOT AGAINST HER SCHOOL: “That’s very true. I proposed a couple things.  I think what it’s come down to is I have a pair of shoes I created on the Nike site that are maroon and orange with my volleyball number on the back. I presented to (Seth) that I was going to get his Duke jersey on the front and Dell’s throwback jersey on the back, and Seth said, ‘No, he doesn’t play anymore.’ So I’ll wear my Hokies shoes and a Duke T-shirt.”

ON COMING BACK TO HER ALMA MATER AS THE ENEMY: “It’s going to be very weird. That’s our home. When I walk in there, I can remember the crowds. I can remember diving on that floor to help Virginia Tech win. And I was born in Radford, so I’m going home. To be there sitting behind the opposing team’s bench and wearing the opposing team’s colors, it’s going to be extremely weird.

“I’m all about my children, so I’m going to be really cheering hard for him. But there’s a part of me, too, that’s like, ‘Oh, gosh, (Virginia Tech people) are going to be mad at me,’ even though I know they understand. It’s a little uneasiness. Just to let everybody know, I love the Hokies. I love them so much.”

ON WHETHER THE FAMILY WAS HURT THAT VT DIDN’T PURSUE EITHER OF THEIR SONS HEAVILY OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL: “Of course at first, your feelings are hurt. Through that whole recruiting process, it’s kind of like, ‘They don’t want me.’ With Virginia Tech joining the ACC and rebuilding the program with Seth Greenberg, it was a feeling of, ‘We’d love our kids to be a part of that.’ When it didn’t work out that way, there was a little sense of rejection. Not hard feelings, just hurt feelings.

“We went through that with Stephen. Then with Seth, they said, ‘We’re recruiting him and we want to offer.’ In August before his senior year, we called Virginia Tech and said, ‘Seth wants to make a decision before the season starts.’ Liberty really wanted him. We asked what they were going to do. Greenberg said, ‘Well, we want to see him one more time.’ And Seth said, ‘Ugh.’ You have one school that really, really wants you and another saying, ‘Let’s wait and see.’ Because of that, he wondered if he’d go to Tech and really get to play. It was a no-brainer with Liberty. He went there right away and played, and they kind of built a team around him.”

ON VT RECRUITING SETH MUCH HARDER AFTER HE SAID HE WANTED TO TRANSFER FROM LIBERTY: “The second time around, yeah, Greenberg called and said, ‘We have a scholarship for him. We want him.’ We didn’t hold the first time against them. All the schools that wanted him at that point got an equal chance. But we visited Duke and before we got out the door, he said, ‘This is where I want to be.’ ”

ON WHETHER DELL STILL SUPPORTS THE BASKETBALL PROGRAM AT VT: “Absolutely. If they ever call and want Dell to come do things, he will and he does. We have really, really moved past all of this. Seth is where God wanted him to be. As parents, we really wanted to see our kids play where we played. But at some point, you have to let go of the past and let your children make their own path.”

DELL CURRY

ON COMING BACK TO ROOT AGAINST HIS ALMA MATER: “It’s going to be a little weird sitting on the visitor’s side and the whole deal. I’m just looking forward to hearing what Seth has to say after the game. I’ve got to be a Duke fan for my son tomorrow, but I’m just excited to have him share the experience that I went through for four years. The crowd should be just like the ones when I played at Cassell.”

ON TELLING HIS SON OVER THE YEARS TO BE HIS OWN MAN, NOT WORRY ABOUT DAD’S AND BROTHER’S STARDOM: “That was a big deal, being the third coming of a basketball guy. It’s tough. A lot of unwarranted pressure would be on Seth, but he’s done a fabulous job of not even realizing it’s there. He could care less about what we do. He’s trying to be his own guy. I think that’s part of the reason he chose Liberty and Duke. He wanted to set his own mark. He’s done a good job of doing that.

“I was worried about that back when he was in high school. Davidson was making a big run, Stephen was all over every newspaper in the country, and I talked to Seth then. We were actually going to miss one of his high school games. He was like, ‘You guys go ahead. Don’t worry about me.’ He termed it as normal teenagers do: ‘I got this, Dad.’ From then on, I haven’t been worried. Seth’s always been his own person.”

ON HIS WIFE MENTIONING ‘HURT FEELINGS’ OVER VT’S RECRUITMENT OF HIS KIDS AND HOW HE FEELS ABOUT IT NOW: “Like she said, that’s water under the bridge. That’s history. If the boys hadn’t gone and done so well, I’d still be saying, ‘What would’ve happened if they’d have been at Virginia Tech?’ But they’re doing great at the schools they’re at (and now the NBA for Stephen). They’re making their own mark, their own roots, which I think will be great for them down the road.

“My wife and I are still Tech fans in every sport. That school that really made us who we are. I’m not that close to the basketball program because I’m traveling and doing everything else, but I watch them whenever I can, look at the box scores. I know they haven’t gotten in the tournament the last couple years, but hopefully this is the year. Certainly no hard or hurt feelings there. We’re past all that.”

ON WHETHER THERE WAS A TIME HE WASN’T OK WITH IT: “Oh, yeah, it stung at the time it all happened. But, hey, time heals everything. It’s all good.”

ON WHAT HE’LL WEAR TO THE GAME AT VT: “I haven’t decided yet. I might wear a white polo with a little Duke sign. Nothing flashy. I’m just going to enjoy the atmosphere in Cassell and watch my son.”

DUKE SENIOR GUARD NOLAN SMITH

ON HOW IMPORTANT SETH CURRY’S PERFORMANCE LATELY HAS KEPT DUKE ROLLING WITHOUT KYRIE IRVING: “He’s been tremendous. Kyle (Singler) and I were looking for that person who was going to step up. We didn’t know who it was going to be, whether it was going to be him, Andre (Dawkins). It could’ve been anybody. But Seth’s drive and what he wanted to accomplish this year started to show more and more each game. He started to listen and buy into what the coaches were saying, and you can see his hunger. He’s started to get more shots up after practice. You start seeing the player that we thought he was going to be. He’s that guy that we’re going to depend on now, for scoring, for defense – he’s playing great defense – and he’s just a player. That’s how we thought he would be.”

ON CURRY SIMPLY RISING TO THE CHALLENGE: “I think with Kyrie, myself and Kyle, everybody else got comfortable with us three guys. Those other guys were just kind of picking their spots, knowing they weren’t going to be in for long. That’s what their heads were saying to them. But there was a turn when Kyrie got hurt. Then we were looking like, ‘Alright, who’s going to step up?’ That’s when Seth started gritting his teeth. He wanted that job.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE VT GAME FOR CURRY: “He’ll be ready for that game. They kind of turned their back on (Dell’s) sons, so he’s going to be ready for that game. And we’re going to give him the ball.”

DUKE COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI

ON SETH CURRY’S MOVE FROM LIBERTY TO THE ACC: “There’s an adjustment from playing at one level of Division I basketball, then the ACC level. And the main thing is the length, the speed and athleticism of the people that you have to play against. And so your strength and speed, the quickness that you have to develop to be successful, it’s a process that you have to go through, just like a high school player has to do it. Some kids don’t have the upside to get it done. Seth does have the upside to get it done and has gotten it done, because he’s worked hard, he’s listened and he’s smart. He understands that what he did before would not be successful in the environment that he’s in now. That’s a huge thing for any player to understand, that they have to change and then be receptive to change. Seth has been. He’s been terrific.”

* For instant updates on the Hokies, follow me at twitter.com/kyletuckerVP

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