Providence hires new basketball coach Scott Taylor, former Queens University assistant

Providence High athletics director Charles Lansing said he was thrilled to be able to hire new boys basketball coach Scott Taylor.

Taylor, who will teach health and physical education, just finished his fifth season as the top assistant on the Queens University Basketball staff. Taylor, 30, also coached one season at Carson-Newman. Taylor graduated from Florida State, where he was head manager of the men’s basketball team for three years under Steve Robinson and Leonard Hamilton.

 “We had over 50 people apply and he blew us away,” Lansing said of Taylor. “He was very personable and cares about the kids and the school and he will show up at every event. It’s a great, great addition.”

At Providence, he replaces Myron Lowery, who resigned in June. Lansing said Lowery wished to spend more time with his family and has since transferred to N.C. 4A champ Olympic.

The Panthers, who have won nine games in three years, are expected to return several key players, including All-Southwesetern 4A conference star Giovanni Mack, who has recruiting interest from Jacksonville, Santa Clara and Mount Saint Mary’s.

“We’re thrilled to have Scott,” Lansing said. “From talking to him, he’s a teacher of basketball. He’s not going to come in with a system and expect the kids to run it. He’s going to figure out what to do with the kids he has and work for them.”

Hancock named new Mallard Creek basketball coach

Jon Hancock was named the new boys' basketball coach at Mallard Creek, the school's athletic director, Karen McKaig, announced on Tuesday.

Hancock comes to Charlotte from East Burke. During his coaching career, he has gone 283-176 on his way to winning seven conference championships, seven coach-of-the-year honors, two sectional championships and two regional appearances.

Hancock, who was the physical education department chair at East Burke, graduated from Mars Hill, where he scored more than 1,000 career points and served as a captain his junior and senior years.

Hancock takes over the Mavericks' basketball program for David Rutledge, who accepted the Wilmington Ashley job in May. Rutledge was 48-34 at Mallard Creek.

On Steph Curry's home life, his summer camp & ruining our sleep habits

I want to thank Stephen Curry for ruining my sleep.

I've been up late throughout the NBA playoffs watching all of these 10:30 p.m. east coast starts for Curry's Golden State Warriors, and I suspect a few of you reading this have, too. Curry is slowly making the Golden State Warriors a national team.

He's making me stay up to 2 a.m. on weekdays. Golden State played Game 5 against San Antonio Thursday and the Spurs' 109-91 win ended at 12:06 a.m., which is early for a Warriors game. Game 6, where the Spurs can end the series, will tip off sometime after 10:30 p.m. Thursday night on ESPN.

Of course, I'll be watching. This is why:

While the NBA playoffs may've been Chicago Bulls' guard Nate Robinson's at the start, they've definitely become Curry's coming-out party as the pro sports league's annual tournament has moved on.  No question, if there's a singular star of the playoffs so far, it's been the former Charlotte Christian and Davidson star, raining one-legged 3-point shots and making left-handed no-look passes.

In his home market in Northern California, ratings are through the roof. Comcast SportsNet Bay Area posted its highest rated Warriors telecast ever for a Game 6 first round win over Denver. The Sports Business Journal reported that, locally, the Warriors jumped 92 percent in TV viewership this year, giving them a 2.90 per capita TV rating. That's right behind NBA stalwarts New York and Boston in their markets.

Nationally, Golden State is getting ESPN "SportsCenter" and "First Take" run, and it's not because the hosts are taking shots (see Bobcats, Charlotte).  Because of a conflict at the United Center that pushed Heat-Bulls Game 4 to Monday, Golden State even landed on prime time Sunday afternoon national TV Sunday.

Going against Tiger Woods winning the Players Championship, Game 4 of Spurs/Warriors drew a 4.1 overnight rating for ABC, which was down 31 percent from Heat/Pacers Game 4 in 2012. But hey, Tiger was in the hunt Sunday and Golden State just hasn't been on center stage that much (and playing the rather boring Spurs probably didn't help, either).

Still, the fact that Golden State is on prime Sunday afternoon television at all is a shock. When was the last time that happened? Maybe when Chris Mullin-Tim Hardaway-Mitch Richmond -- a trio nicknamed "Run TMC" -- was the NBA's highest scoring trio in the 1990-91 season.

The Warriors can thank Curry for a lot of this attention. He's doing for Golden State what he did for Davidson -- take a sports team that no one knows much about or cares much about and put them in the conversation.

And in doing so, Curry is becoming a bona fide star. You can now make a case that, with the Lakers in decline and the Spurs aging fast, that Golden State is going to be a Western Conference contender for years. And I don't think Curry is going to be taking a vacation during NBA All-Star Weekend anytime soon.

I also suspect his home life is going to change some, too.

I bumped into him at Harris Teeter and Chick-Fil-A last summer and I did an interview with him at Accelerate Basketball, one of the city's best training facilities. Curry was able to be out in public and not get bothered too. I don't think that will quite be the case now.

His basketball camp at Charlotte Christian last year was a roaring success, but I wonder if his two events this year at Christian -- a June 24-27 skill session and a July shooting clinic -- are not going to enjoy a, um, sight increase in participation. Everybody's going to want to be with him this year.

He's become Charlotte's favorite son. And it's been awful fun to watch

Note: Curry will host his annual camp at Charlotte Christian in June. It's open to kids 5-7 years old and from 4th grade to 10th. He'll also host a shooting clinic in July where teams of players will compete in a series of competitive drills. The winning team will compete against Curry's team in a finals' shoot off. For information, visit acceleratebasketball.com or call 704-499-9159