“That’s the thing, they have other good players,” Russell Robinson said. “Even if we stop Curry, that’s not going to secure the game for us. We have to guard everyone.”

That’s what makes Davidson such a fun story. Well, that and the fact the school has free laundry and the Board of Trustees are picking up the tab for students who wanted to come to the game.

Ask the Wildcats about their success, and they repeatedly refer to their system. It’s based on patience and balance, finding the open man and working for good shots. They’re infuriatingly persistent, passing the ball back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth again if that’s what it takes to get the shot they want. That kind of grinding eventually wears on opponents, and the Wildcats know it.

They put a premium on teamwork and selflessness, cooperation and chemistry. It’s a simple premise, but implementing it is another thing entirely.

“I’m in a quest for the perfect game, the perfect performance, the perfect season. The Brazilian soccer team, they call it ‘The Beautiful Game.’ That’s what our system is all about, the quest for that,” said coach Bob McKillop, who can get downright philosophical about it, mixing in everything from politics to religion to diversity.

“These guys aren’t all rocket scientists that play for us. They have to really work to achieve academically,” he added. “So I think it takes a combination of a willingness to be coached and a consistent message from the coach. And we’ve stuck to that very simple game plan for quite a few years now.”

When it works, it’s a sight to behold.

Richards — and it is Richards, not Richardson — might have had a stat line more impressive than Curry’s on Friday night. Not only did he score 11 points — nine from 3-point range — he had 13 assists without a single turnover. That’s the kind of ballhandling usually seen from another Jason.

Lovedale, a 6-foot-8 forward who was sweeping up a court the first time McKillop saw him, made all five of his shots. Bryant Barr made only two shots all night, but the second allowed Davidson to go into halftime tied with the Badgers. And Gosselin and Thomas Sander set so many screens, they’re going to be taking a lovely collection of bumps and bruises home as souvenirs.

“Did you guys see Steph smile after he made that backdoor cut?” Sander said when asked why the Wildcats buy into the collective good. “It’s just fun to watch Jason and Steph score. When they do that, we win.”

Added Gosselin, “Giving the other guys opportunities to score the basketball is just an amazing feeling. I always emphasize that my whole life, that what I like most is winning. So we win games. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do.”

One more win will put the Wildcats in very select company. Only two double-digit seeds have reached the Final Four, and George Mason’s run in 2006 captivated the entire country. Davidson’s run has conjured all kinds of comparisons to the Patriots — not to mention Cinderella and every other underdog there is.

That’s all well and good, but the Wildcats will pass on the warm-and-fuzzies. They know who they are, even if everybody else is still learning.

“We feel like we belong here and we feel like we showed that in the past three games,” Sander said. “You know, we’re just Davidson. That’s what we consider ourselves. We think we can go out there and compete. That’s what we try to do.”

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