Wofford vs. Furman (March 7th SoCon Quarterfinals 6pm)

[FUpaladin08]

We could have easily had a double digit lead at halftime if we could have made a few shots but we were tight as a drum. Then we pick the worst possible time to stop playing defense and give up the most points in a half all year in the second half. We had a very good year and Woffy didn’t but again they get the last laugh. I would rather be in their shoes than ours tonight as they have at least one more game to play and we don’t. Just don’t understand why we start shaking in our boots when we see WC. 40 years is a long long time. Again another year without FU being in the media frenzy that is the NCAA tourney. Disappointing and disheartening.

I’m not blaming the refs for the loss, but their sudden decision to call touch fouls with the start of the second half prevented Furman from playing their aggressive defense that has won games all year. You are allowed to touch the player with the ball but can’t pull, reach, push, tug, etc once the defender is beat. I’ve been amazed all year with how “handsy” the defense has been while having the fewest fouls per game in the conference (30th in Division 1). That style of defense fuels the offense, no doubt about it. Not being able to play that style of defense hampered the offense in the second half. No excuse for the awful shooting in the first half. That’s on the team and is why Furman lost, but those 2nd half fouls hurt the team’s ability for a comeback when Wofford was in the bonus for the last 14 minutes of the game.

[Roundball]

If this doesn’t inspire you to appreciate this program on and off the court, nothing will.

[FUPlayer74]

My hat's off to the Furman staff for recruiting not only outstanding athletes but outstanding people!

[fufanatic]

Furman hasn’t beaten Wofford outside of Greenville in 9 years. I don’t understand why they own us, but they do.

http://www.furmansportsreport.com/2020/ ... ref=fb&m=1

[fufanatic]

Really awesome writing by Scott in his postgame story I posted above. Really painted a picture of how the fouls hurt the team. Encouraging words from BR. Really sounds like a guy that wants to finish the mission here before moving on to another school. I really hope so.

[tya1]

From the outset it appeared we were too emotional - I think "playing tight" is the sure sign of that. Airballs, missed layups, too much one-on-one of offense, reaching on defense - all related.

I think teams tend to take on the personalities of their seniors and their top players. Last year, Rafferty and Brown were consistent, calming, and stoic. We reflected that in some big wins. Lyons is more emotional - which lead to the team overachieving overall, but we had some overly emotional games too. Yesterday being a prime example.

[furpop16]

I think teams tend to take on the personalities of their seniors and their top players. Last year, Rafferty and Brown were consistent, calming, and stoic. We reflected that in some big wins. Lyons is more emotional - which lead to the team overachieving overall, but we had some overly emotional games too. Yesterday being a prime example.

Interesting theory. So next year's senior class will be Clark, Hunter, & Mounce. Would you agree that personality profile will parallel Rafferty-Brown?

[tya1]

I think teams tend to take on the personalities of their seniors and their top players. Last year, Rafferty and Brown were consistent, calming, and stoic. We reflected that in some big wins. Lyons is more emotional - which lead to the team overachieving overall, but we had some overly emotional games too. Yesterday being a prime example.

Interesting theory. So next year's senior class will be Clark, Hunter, & Mounce. Would you agree that personality profile will parallel Rafferty-Brown?

I should modify that theory a bit. Teams reflect the personalities of the team leaders. I think Bothwell will definitely be a team leader too. I am not really sure how Clark, Mounce, and Hunter's personalities will be reflected. They are outwardly more reserved. Of course last year Lyons was a team leader too. Fire to blend with the seniors' stoicism. It helps to have a blend of personalities.

[purplehorse]

Wofford is a talented team when hitting their 3’s. We still need a few more pure shooters. Everyone agreed we were the more physical team at the BSWA. Wofford flipped that on us yesterday. I thought we had them after our 16-2 run put us up by 3 but we could not sustain it and it was not meant to be.

Lyons is a very good player but an even better ambassador for Furman. He will he missed.

Tre Clark was not much of a factor yesterday. Have to wonder if his being out hurt him.

CBR said we were timid as a team. I agree. Only Bothwell stood out as fearless.

I can see certain teams out rebounding us but not Wofford and not by 16. And Goodwin was also 8-9 shooting.

[FurmAlum]

I'm prob gonna be in trouble after writing this, so y'all can take me to the woodshed tomorrow. Got to vent some FRUSTRATION!

I checked out the stat line from yesterday's game and it illustrates what a STUPID game we played.

1. How does a team that is not bigger than us outrebound us 40-24? Answer- because our shots came from 25 feet with people in our face with nobody in position to rebound. What was the game plan? Surely not that.

2. Our 5 man played only 16 minutes because he doesn't know how to play without committing idiotic fouls and took himself and us right out of the game. He also has no low post moves and can't make a shot inside except for a dunk. (This is just a bad game from a young, inexperienced player. When he comes back next year, having improved his low post game ala Rafferty and Gurley, he's gonna be a helluva player).

3. They only made 1 more field goal than us and only 1 more 3-pointer, on less shots of course. But they made 6 more free throws, not because we shot bad from the FT line, but because they had 7 more attempts and made 6 more than we did. Was this a result too many stupid fouls or bad reffing? I think both.

4. They had 4 players off the bench that avg. at least 8 or more minutes. We had 2. With all our foul trouble and bad shooting, why leave a pure shooter on the bench? He played some good minutes against Woffy at the Well and also hit a big shot a crunch time. Also had some good min. vs UNCG. I'm a big Coach R fan, but this one I don't understand. Seems like his defense looked like it was better in those two previous games to get some PT.

5. Woffy is not as bad as some think. They know how to win in the tournament and proved it today. We got out-played, out hustled, and yes, out-coached yesterday. Also out-reffed. And they are not going to get any worse. If we want to beat them, we're going to have to get better. And I think we will.

Hope we get a chance in the NIT. I think our guys have learned their lesson and will come out loose and could go deep in that Tourney. Would be great if we could take out some frustration on Clempson or the Shamecocks.

[apaladin]

It's ok to vent. I'm still so mad I could chew nails. We are all very frustrated. We have had a special year so we need to keep that in mind. The only thing that would make us feel a little better is an NIT bid but we will have to wait a week from tonight for that verdict.

[soconjohn]

Rebounding is affected by foul trouble for Slawson and Gurley...Four fouls on both with like a lot of time left messed up substitutions patterns and forced Furman to play only one the rest of the way.

[tim]

And if you feel you are being out reffed just look at your opponent and it is usually Sparkle city's own Woffy. Basketball and Football

[MidlandsPaladin]

And if you feel you are being out reffed just look at your opponent and it is usually Sparkle city's own Woffy. Basketball and Football

Yep - happened last night as well and I’m sure it will happen again tonight. Do they EVER get called for a moving screen?

How great it must be to have the conference offices less than a mile from your campus.

[The Jackal]

I'm glad our program is to a point where we aren't satisfied now with just putting together a great season.

This team probably overachieved with one senior. We will be back, bigger, and stronger next season.

I'm just entirely appreciative of some of these guys that signed on to Medveds/Richey's vision for this program. I think Furman - across many sports - got accustomed to business as usual and being complacent with the idea that what worked in the 80s and 90s was just going to keep working. It took buy in from some visionaries and players willing to be the guinea pigs.

Hats off to them, and especially to Lyons. He helped lay some foundation for what I hope will soon be the gold standard program in the SoCon.