This Saturday Virginia Tech hosts No. 1 Duke in Blacksburg for a huge ACC showdown. Playing for the Blue Devils will be Seth Curry, the younger brother of Stephen Curry and a second reminder of what could’ve been for Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg and his program.
This saga really begins in the mid-’80s when Dell Curry was a star at Virginia Tech. When he finished his four-year career, Curry was the school’s all-time leading score. And he would’ve crushed that record had there been a three-point line since Curry was so apt with the outside shot.
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Save for one appearance in 1996, Dell Curry’s teams had been the last to reach the NCAA Tournament before the Hokies went dancing in 2007. And to this day, Curry’s teams (1985 and ’86) are the last Hokie squads to make back-to-back appearances in the Tournament.
So it seems like a no-brainer that any child of Curry’s who grew up playing basketball would be welcomed with open arms by the alma mater with the off-chance he would blossom into a future NBA player like his father. Like horse racing, colleges love good bloodlines. Take USC for instance, who took a chance on a lightly-recruited Clay Matthews in football because his dad was a 19-year NFL pro.
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The Curry brothers, Stephen and Seth, played their high school ball in Charlotte, NC, just a two-hour drive south from Blacksburg.
Stephen would be the first to try and play for the school his dad starred at. He wanted to attend his father’s alma mater and he wanted to be a Hokie. But Stephen was still undersized and unlike so many high-end college recruits, Stephen hadn’t made a name for himself on the AAU circuit.
Coach Greenberg wasn’t going to turn away from Stephen completely, even though he didn’t have a scholarship left. So he offered Stephen a spot on the team as a walk-on. In hindsight it was a colossal mistake, but at the time it could’ve been viewed as a generous offer to the son of a program legend.
We know what happened next. In just his sophomore season, Curry led Davidson to the 2008 Elite Eight with an unbelievable tournament run that included scoring 40 against Gonzaga in the first round and dropping 30 on Georgetown in the second. Greenberg and the rest of the Hokie program had a good view of it from home.
Stephen’s postseason accomplishments were the talk of the college basketball world and by this time, no one was surprised that the son of Dell Curry could be this good. After a junior season in which Davidson didn’t reach the tournament, Stephen was selected 7th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft.
It all seemed to set up Stephen’s younger brother, Seth. Like Stephen, Seth was undersized coming out of high school and wasn’t viewed as a top prospect.
A couple of years after the fact, Seth told the Wall Street Journal that he believed the attention on his brother would push a bigger program to take a chance on him. But again a son of Dell Curry was being ignored.
Said Seth: “I figured I was good enough to play at the highest level regardless. It’s kind of shocking to me, knowing that my brother went out and showed that size doesn’t matter.”
Again Greenberg offered a walk-on spot that Seth later called a “token offer” and again a Curry son went to play for a smaller college. Not surprisingly to the Curry family, Seth exploded during his first season with Liberty by leading all freshman in scoring for the 2008-09 season. And with plenty of major programs now knocking, Seth was ready to transfer.
One of those program was Virginia Tech. Perhaps realizing his second mistake with a would-be prospect, Greenberg went after Seth Curry hard. But he would be no match for Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski, who were now also in the Seth Curry derby.
Another Curry and another lost opportunity to take a program that is perpetually on the NCAA Tournament bubble to new heights.
It should be noted that Greenberg has still made the Hokies very competitive in the ACC. For a program with almost no history, he is on the verge of leading Virginia Tech to its second Big Dance appearance in his tenure. But with Stephen blossoming into a lottery pick at Davidson and Seth now coming into his own – he scored 22 points in February 9th’s victory over North Carolina – the “What if?” questions are always going to linger; especially when you consider just one player can make a world of a difference for a program.
Seth Greenberg can’t be faulted too much for his misses because they’re just part of recruiting. But that probably doesn’t stop him from having nightmares of the Curry brothers dropping threes from all over the court.
Seth Greenberg should be fired. Dell Curry was one of the all time greatest players in Virginia Tech history. Greenberg’s arrogance is the only reason these two kids are not Hokies. We are a community of good people that look out for each other. Unlike other schools, we appreciate those that have come before us. Once Hokie is in your bloodline, everything possible should be done to keep Hokie in the bloodline. Frank Beamer is a master at this. When will Greenberg learn. If these kids played football, there is no doubt Frank would have taken them.
Will Michael Vick’s son get to play football for Hokies?
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