Mike DeCourcy

It's Friday afternoon, so all that hammer-banging on the House That Steph Rebuilt has quieted down. On one side of Belk Arena, they're converting all the upper-deck bleachers to chairback seats, which is the least that can be afforded now that Stephen Curry has established Davidson as a player in college basketball.

There also is renovation going on with Curry's game, which is why he is over in the corner of the court with the basketball in his hands. He is a point guard for the moment, probably for the season, although the nature of that assignment still is being negotiated.

Suddenly, he looks every bit the point guard as he jets along the baseline and toward the goal. He could be Chris Paul surging forward with that first hard dribble. He could be Deron Williams turning his shoulder toward a defender to back him off the play. He could be Jason Kidd no-looking an underhand pass between two defenders to a teammate waiting in the middle of the lane.

Davidson coach Bob McKillop does not see any of this. He sees Curry swinging from the heels, an all-or-nothing exercise that does not coincide with the sort of basketball he teaches.

"That looked like Steph Curry going for the home run," McKillop says, as contemptuously as Simon Cowell dismissing an oversung power ballad. "I've got Steph Curry 6 feet from the basket -- and you passed?"

"Steve came over," Curry says, pointing to big Stephen Rossiter, who cut off the path to a layup.

"So did Darrell Arthur," McKillop counters. "Did that stop you then?"

The challenges were different back in March, when Curry elevated himself from charming sophomore novelty to burgeoning college superstar. Davidson was the last team eliminated from the NCAA Tournament short of a trip to its ultimate weekend in San Antonio, and the Wildcats were sent home by the slimmest margin -- a single 3-point jumper that flew inches off line.

Curry did not take that shot. It was one of the few important shots he did not attempt for Davidson as it conquered heavyweights Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin and caused Kansas the sort of palpitations it seems every eventual champion must endure. Playing mostly shooting guard, he averaged 32.0 points in the tournament, the kind of numbers scarcely seen since the gunslinging '70s. He so dominated the event that at least one member of the United States Basketball Writers Association asked, before voting on the Final Four all-tournament team, if a player had to be present to be considered.

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Jason Richards capably handled most of the point guard duties for last year's Wildcats. For Davidson to win big, it was essential Curry launch every available high-quality shot, whether he created it or several teammates sacrificed their bodies by screening for him. Richards is gone now, so Curry is moving to the point, where he frequently will wrestle with whether shooting or passing is more prudent.

There also is an assumption his (lack of) size will force Curry to switch positions in order to make it as a pro, which might be overstated. One NBA scout pictures him as an ideal shooter to complement a bigger playmaker -- either firing corner jumpers out of the triangle offense or feeding off someone such as LeBron James. "I think he's definitely now in the top 20 (in the NBA draft) because he has that one skill a lot of people don't have anymore," the scout says. Given Curry's shooting ability, though, if he can prove he is a capable point guard, the word lottery might start coming up more.

The transition could impact the team's success. Given all the attention and achievement he brought to Davidson, though, doesn't the program owe it to Curry to help him make the move?

"You always entertain that," McKillop says. "You look down the road and see that Steph has a very clear path to a future in this game, and you want to prepare him best.

"He knows we're going to do what's best for Steph Curry. And in the process of doing what's best for Steph Curry, we're going to do what's best for the team."

After he had become the NCAA Tournament's Zac Efron, from nowhere to stardom in the time it takes to sing a song or swish a few jump shots, and after he had gone to California to learn wing play from Paul Pierce and to New Jersey to learn point play from Steve Nash and to Ohio to stick a dagger 3-pointer to beat James in pickup hoops, Curry tried to do the regular college kid thing. He and two buddies made a July road trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

"Every meal we were at, there were three or four or five people coming up to the table trying to talk to him, ask for pictures or autographs," says Bryant Barr, Curry's teammate and roommate.

It was the same a few weeks back, when several Wildcats hit the local bowling alley, which can be a pretty hot time for somebody attending a 1,700-student private college in the Charlotte exurbs. "By the time Steph bowls the first ball, there's 10 kids behind him asking for autographs," says senior guard Max Paulhus Gosselin. "They feel close to him because he's such a good guy."

Then again, Curry does a lousy job of going incognito. "I guess all I have is Davidson shirts, so I get noticed that way," he says.

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He has been a star since arriving at Davidson and scoring 32 points against Michigan in his second game. He has averaged 23.7 points and, if he plays two more years, is on track to become the second-leading scorer in Division I history. Genuine stardom is different from simply scoring points, though. Pistol Pete Maravich is the career scoring leader. We all know him. The current No. 2 is Portland State's Freeman Williams. Was he ever nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete at the ESPYs?

Curry appears taller in person than one might suppose from watching him play on TV, and it's not because his head has grown from the sudden rush of attention. "Stephen has always been very humble," says his father, Dell Curry, a celebrity himself during 16 seasons in the NBA. "I saw the confidence continue to grow in him, but he's the same guy."