Cinderella walked into the bar about a half-hour past midnight.
Phillip Compeau, a 21-year-old Davidson senior, had been wearing the floor-length, powder blue silk gown with puffy white sleeves and white elbow-length gloves all day — to his math class, in the cafeteria and into the Brickhouse Tavern on the edge of Davidson’s campus.
As Friday night turned into Saturday morning, the 7,000 or so residents of the quaint town about 25 miles north of Charlotte still were celebrating hours after the Wildcats had recorded yet another magical victory. Davidson, a 10th seed, bucked its underdog status for the third straight NCAA tournament game, defeating third-seeded Wisconsin to earn a trip to the final eight Sunday against No. 1-seeded Kansas.
Perhaps none was so inspired as the dolled-up Compeau.
“I just thought if we’re the Cinderella team, this is great,” he said. “I need to get in on that.”
The Brickhouse Tavern was jumping until 2 a.m. Heck, Davidson’s mayor didn’t even leave until about 12:45 a.m. as the band played Foghat’s “Slow Ride.”
The Wildcats are on a ride few outside of Davidson expected.
Their first-round victory against seventh-seeded Gonzaga brought a smile to Wildcats fans who had not experienced moving beyond the first round since 1969. The second-round triumph over No. 2-seeded Georgetown, the Big East regular-season champion, produced goose bumps.
And Friday night’s defeat of Wisconsin, the Big Ten champion, provided plenty of reason to party.
This isn’t Chapel Hill, where students hit snooze until the Final Four.
About 300 of Davidson’s 1,700 students witnessed Stephen Curry scoring 33 points against Wisconsin thanks to the school’s board of trustees, which rented buses, paid lodging expenses and bought their tickets to the game in Detroit.
Those not on the trip seemed to be in Davidson’s most popular bar wearing red and black regalia.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a really long time,” said Ben Hooker, a 1993 Davidson graduate.
Holding a gigantic Davidson flag on a long pole, Hooker was ecstatic. He drove about four hours west from Greenville, N.C., to watch the Sweet 16 game with his college roommate Bobby Bowers and Bowers’ wife, Sandy.
A loyal Davidson fan, Bobby Bowers would not say he is surprised by this run. “We didn’t rule it out,” he said.
Before heading to the tavern, Hooker plucked the flag from the front of the Bowerses’ home in Davidson.
“My first year, there were more players and staff at the games than fans,” Hooker said of Bob McKillop’s 4-24 inaugural season as head coach in 1989-90. “Now people finally know where the heck Davidson is and people finally can start talking about stuff other than the fact that they do our laundry.”
As the basketball team’s achievements pique national curiosity, facts about the liberal arts college, such as its strong academics and free laundry service, have been discovered by sports fans.
Wearing a red sweater, Davidson Mayor John Woods said the team’s success has knitted tighter an already intertwined community.
“It has been a really nutty week,” said Woods, a season ticket-holder who has been interviewed by newspapers as far away as San Francisco. “The town has very strong ties with the college. The students are very much a part of the community. This is pretty damn special.”
Only if Curry, the baby-faced guard who has 103 points in three tournament games, had walked into Brickhouse would the attention have been deflected from Compeau, Mr. Cinderella.
Compeau ordered the costume Monday, the day after he watched Davidson upset Georgetown in Raleigh. The princess-pretty outfit arrived Wednesday, but — surprise, surprise — wasn’t made for a lanky male much taller than 6 feet. His mother drove an hour Thursday with her sewing kit to alter it for him so it would fit over his shoulders.
And Friday, he was the belle of Davidson.
Compeau estimated “about 200” people had their picture taken with him and at least five more posed with him at the bar. Some fans shouted at him, “We’re not Cinderellas anymore!”
Sunday, the Wildcats face Kansas, a team loaded with NBA talent and NBA size. A No. 10 seed never has won an NCAA regional.
Some say it’s a fantasy to think Davidson can beat the Jayhawks.
None of that matters to Davidson fans.
“Anything,” Compeau said, “is possible now.”
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sryan@tribune.com
