Associated Press

Davidson's Stephen Curry (left) sits at a press conference with coach Bob McKillop.

When Stephen Curry was a little boy, his maternal grandmother had a little ritual she would do when she visited from Radford.

Candy Adams would pretend to be a play-by-play announcer and say over and over, "Stephen Curry has the basketball. Ladies and gentlemen, he's dribbling down the court. Two, three seconds left in the game. Ladies and gentlemen, he puts it up! He makes it!" as he played basketball at his family's Charlotte, N.C., home.

CBS announcers are the ones narrating Curry's exploits now. The sophomore guard has become a national star while leading 10th-seeded Davidson to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

Curry is the son of Sonya Adams Curry, who was a standout on state championship basketball and volleyball teams at Radford High School before becoming a volleyball player at Virginia Tech, and Dell Curry, a former Tech and NBA star.

Davidson plays top-seeded Kansas today in Detroit.

"It's exciting," Sonya Curry said Saturday from Detroit. "I can't believe that's my child on the court because I still see him as a little boy. ... On the other hand, from being an athlete myself and loving sports, I can look and say, 'You know what? He really is good.'

"Some of the things he's doing [are] blowing us away. I sit and watch Dell just kind of shake his head at some of the things he's doing."

Stephen's parents and maternal grandmother were in Raleigh, N.C., last weekend to watch Stephen score a combined 70 points in wins over seventh-seeded Gonzaga and second-seeded Georgetown. They were in Detroit on Friday to see Curry score 33 points against third-seeded Wisconsin.

"We're just in awe," Candy Adams said from Detroit. "We knew he had it in him to do this, but seeing it come to reality is really unbelievable.

"I always thought he was phenomenal, and everybody told me, 'That's because you're his grandmother.' I said, 'No, I'm telling you, this child is special.'"

Sonya was a Radford High School student when she saw Dell's picture on the cover of a Tech basketball program her mother brought home from a game.

"I was like, 'Oh, he's cute. That's the kind of guy I'd like to marry,' " Sonya said.

When Sonya was a freshman volleyball player at Tech, Dell -- then a junior -- watched one of her games and asked her out afterwards.

"I called my mom and said, 'You're not going to believe who I'm getting ready to go out with,'" said Sonya, who married Dell in 1988.

Sonya was the oldest of four children; her parents, Candy and Cleive E. Adams, divorced when she was 13. Candy Adams moved from Radford to a Charlotte suburb in 1994, although two of Candy's siblings still live in Radford. Cleive E. Adams lives in Rocky Mount, as do three of his siblings.

"I'm proud of him," Cleive E. Adams said of his grandson. "Everybody's real excited."

Sonya's brother, Cleive L. Adams, is the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Ferrum College. He had Davidson winning only one game in his bracket.

He has called his nephew before and after each NCAA game, leaving messages of encouragement or congratulations. They spoke last Saturday.

"Our family's a tight-knit group," Cleive L. Adams said. "It's what's made Stephen the type of person he is.

"We always knew he was special. But this level? I didn't see that coming."

Sonya -- whose son Seth will play basketball for Liberty University next season -- sees some of herself in Stephen's basketball exploits.

"He doesn't stop until the buzzer goes off. That was kind of me," she said.

Stephen (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) grew about 4 inches the summer before his senior year at Charlotte Christian, and another inch or two the following summer.

Sonya said she and Dell were disappointed that Virginia Tech only offered Stephen a walk-on opportunity. The summer before his senior year, Stephen opted for Davidson, whose coach, Bob McKillop, not only offered a scholarship but also the chance to play right away. He would have been stuck behind Zabian Dowdell and Jamon Gordon at Tech in 2006-07.

"We knew he was going to grow, and we told that to all the coaches," Sonya said. "McKillop just saw potential in him, and he was willing at that moment to take him the way he was.

"We love Tech, and if God would've wanted him to go to Tech, then that door would've been open. This is what God wanted."

And now Davidson is one win away from the Final Four.

"How blessed we are to be able to experience this," Sonya said.