Amid the hype and “madness” of the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament, there are those occasional moments when the excitement of a true upset victory or the grace and earnest emotion of a spectacular young player live up to the billing. Such was the case when tiny Davidson College overcame Georgetown, a final four participant from 2007, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen round of the tournament. It is in such games that the mystique of the tournament prevails for many college basketball fans. In a matter of days 10th seeded Davidson upset Gonzaga, a 7 seed, and Georgetown, the number 2 seed in the region.

Big East vs. Rural South

This game rightfully produced lots of David and Goliath metaphors, and while some will find the biblical legend appropriate, others will label Davidson’s rise as the stuff of fairytale. Davidson, an elite liberal arts college located among the forests and farms outside Charlotte, North Carolina, has an undergraduate population of just over 1,700. While Coach Bob McKillop has been building a quality basketball program for nineteen years, advancing the team into the NCAA tournament by winning the Southern Conference for three consecutive years, Davidson is often better known for passing an administrative policy that eliminated student loans, guaranteeing no Davidson student will graduate with outstanding educational loan debt. Georgetown, by contrast, while of course also heralded as an elite academic powerhouse, is home to approximately 7,000 undergraduates and another 7,000 graduate students. Always known for the swarming, stifling defense play of its guards and the intimidating size of its post players, Georgetown basketball teams typically seem to reflect the grit and tenacity of its urban Washington, D.C. setting, not to mention the shear physicality necessary to compete in Big East Conference games.