OPPONENT SPOTLIGHT: Hawks' Curry comes back from big injury

Almost two years have elapsed since Rap Curry lay on the floor writhing in pain during the final minute of the St. Joseph's men's basketball team's game at Fordham. The sophomore point guard had been a fixture in the Hawk backcourt since he beat out the incumbent starter, a senior, as a freshman. National magazines noted him as an up-and-coming player, and one to watch in his final three years. For a moment, that was all in jeopardy as Curry held his left knee. He had torn his anterior cruciate ligament. Although he would probably never be the same, he would likely play again. It could have been much worse. "I was pretty sure he'd play again," St. Joseph's coach John Griffin said. "There's such a good history of rehabbing the ACL it was really just a matter of how long until he'd be back." Curry returned after just eight games but by all accounts wasn't the same. His knee was operated on after the season. He started all 29 games of his junior year, but was clearly not the same player as he was before the injury. But by this season, The 6-3, 195-pound guard out of Lansdowne, Pa., has fully recovered. The media believes in him too, with the Sporting News naming him the fourth-best point guard available in this year's NBA draft. "He's a good point guard and there are times he shows that he's better than that," Griffin said. "We need to have more of those periods of time where he is an exceptional point guard. He needs to show good judgment as well as good ball-handling skills. It's a delicate balance between passing and shooting." Still, it would not be true to say Curry is the same player he was before the injury. The effects still linger even today. "He's not quite as quick as he was before the injury," Griffin said. "He's significantly better this year, particularly his lateral movement. It's hard to measure the change in quickness because he never was a speed demon to begin with." But this season, it seemed for once everything was going right for Curry and the Hawks. That is until his four-year partner in the backcourt and the Hawks' leading scorer, senior Bernard Blunt, broke his kneecap on December 1 in a game at Arizona. That meant Curry would have to pick up a little more of the offensive slack, not only against the Wildcats, but for the rest of the year as Blunt's career is most likely finished. Perhaps he tried too hard against Arizona, though, as he had a dismal 4 for 13 shooting night, scoring only nine points. "He tried to take on too much of the responsibility," said Griffin of Curry's misadventures against the Wildcats. "He forced his shots. When he's not making shots he has to use his better judgement – that suggests that he pass the ball." Griffin did note that since then, Curry has adapted more to his new role in the offense as not only the floor-general, but the leading scorer as well. "It's a judgment call how much of the offense he should take on," Griffin said. "In the second half of our game against Loyola [on December 4] he had a great second half, scoring 18 points. But he can't do that night in and night out. He needs to pick his spots, know what the matchups are." Curry will increasingly be looked to provide more than offense, with seniors Blunt and Bernard Jones (ruptured patellar tendon in his knee) both injured and out for the season. "I'm looking to him to provide many of the intangibles you need to win," Griffin said. "That starts with defense. He has to keep the team motivated to play defense for the entire possession. That also means not turning the ball over. I'm looking for him to be a leader particularly with two key players out." That defense becomes particularly important as he matches up against the highly regarded Penn backcourt. He and Blunt fared well last season at the Palestra, as the duo poured in 37 points en route to a 94-72 Hawk win. But Blunt is gone now, and the job of battling the highly-touted Penn backcourt now rests solely on Curry's shoulders – a daunting task even for a player who has shown the fortitude to battle back from ACL surgery. "He's much improved on defense," Griffin said. "He's able to stay with the offensive player and defend the ball handler. But to defend Jerome Allen or Matt Maloney is a tall task for anybody. Rap Curry can't do it by himself."