• (19-14) Wichita St. @ (25-7) Furman (March 20th)(NIT First Round)

 #12289  by apaladin
 Sun Mar 17, 2019 10:02 pm
Don't really see why Wichita St is a 6 seed. They have won 11 out of their last 14. Those 3 losses came to Memphis and Cincinnati twice. Their last game was a 3 point loss to Cincy who beat Houston today. They also have wins over NCAA tourney teams Baylor, UCF and Temple. Of course Greg Marshall is a great coach. The NIT didn't do Furman any favors.
Furman by far has the toughest road of any of the 3 seeds.
Last edited by apaladin on Sun Mar 17, 2019 10:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #12295  by tya1
 Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:24 pm
Wichita State had major personnel losses from last year's team and struggled for the first half of the year. On Jan. 26 they were 8-11 after losing to Connecticut by a score of 80-60. After that loss they turned it around and won 11 of 14 before losing to Cincinnati by 3 in the semi-finals of the AAC. Most of their games have been fairly close, win or lose. Their best non-conference win was by 8 over Baylor. In their next game, though, they were hammered by Oklahoma 80-48. Their best AAC win was 75-67 over UCF. Other games of interest - a loss to Davidson 57-53, a narrow 6 point win over 11-21 Appalachian State, a 3 point win over 4-27 Tulane in the last regular season game, and a 6 point win over Temple in the AAC tournament. They were significantly better at home than on the road - 11-4 at home, 8-10 in neutral court or true road games. They had 1 road win over a team with a winning record - Tulsa (18-14.)

Their top player is 6'8" 218 lb. senior Markis McDuffie, who averaged 18.3 ppg and 5 rpg. Samajae Haynes-Jones , a 6'0" senior, is second in scoring at 12.1 ppg. They play 10 players in most games. Jaime Echenique, 6'11" 258 junior, leads their rebounding with 5.8 per game and is third leading scorer with 8.8 ppg. Size off the bench includes 7'0" 270 Asbjorn Midtgaard, and 6'9" 265 Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler.

Their strengths include good rebounding and relatively low turnover numbers and good defense, especially around the basket. The weakest part of their game has been their shooting percentages. That is especially true of their three point shooting. They hit 31% of their threes for the year, which is in the bottom 30 of all teams in D1.
 #12299  by apaladin
 Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:36 pm
MNORM wrote:
Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:17 pm
gman wrote:
Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:14 pm
apaladin wrote:
Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:10 pm
Funny, Clempson is on espn3
Clemson is already selling tickets. All seats are general admission. I hope it’s not that way for our game. If it is general admission, I’ll need to arrive a few hours early to get my courtside seats!
Just got mine on One Furman Tix
I went on the ticket website and no seats were available and I know that is not right. Maybe they have locked it up in order for season ticket holders to get their seats. Hope so.
 #12312  by DungeonRealm
 Mon Mar 18, 2019 6:15 am
FU release:
http://www.furmanpaladins.com/sports/m- ... 0317wk07ui

The Furman men's basketball team has earned an at-large bid to the National Invitation Tournament as a No. 3 seed and will play host to 6th-seeded Wichita State in first round action on Wednesday night at Timmons Arena. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

Tickets for Wednesday's game are $15 each and can be purchased at FurmanPaladins.com. Season ticket holders have until Tuesday, March 19, at 12 p.m. to reserve their seats and are encouraged to use their season ticket log-in to do so. Furman students will receive free admission with a valid Furman ID.

The winner of Wednesday's matchup between the Paladins and Shockers will advance to face the winner of No. 2 seed Clemson and No. 7 seed Wright State.

The Paladins, 25-7 on the season and ranked No. 41 in the latest NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), will be making their 11th postseason appearance and third in the last four seasons. Wednesday's game will represent just the second appearance in the NIT for the Paladins, who dropped an 86-67 decision at West Virginia in their only previous trip to the NIT in 1991.

Included among Furman's school-record 25 wins this season were victories at Big East champion and defending national champion Villanova and a win at Missouri Valley Conference champion Loyola Chicago. The Paladins earned a spot in the Associated Press Top 25 for three straight weeks during December after becoming the first Southern Conference team to begin a season with 12 consecutive wins since the 1964-65 campaign.

First team All-SoCon forward Matt Rafferty, a candidate for the Lou Henson Award as mid-major player of the year, has paced the Paladins by averaging 17.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 61.7% from the field. The senior is the only player in NCAA Division I basketball history to produce that stat line with AP Player of the Year and NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird coming the closest in 1978-79. This past week, Rafferty was ranked as the 34th best player in college basketball this season by Sports Illustrated.

Junior Jordan Lyons, a third team All-SoCon selection, has contributed 16.1 points per game and established a new school record with 101 made three-point baskets, while sophomore Clay Mounce has added 10.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. The Paladins rank among the country's top 45 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Furman also paced the SoCon this season in field goal percentage defense (41.7%), three-point field goal percentage defense (31.7%), assists (15.9/game) and blocked shots (4.2/game).

Wichita State enters postseason play at 19-14 overall and posted a 10-8 mark in the American Athletic Conference. Wednesday's game will mark the first meeting between the Paladins and Shockers on the hardwood.

The 2019 NIT will feature several experimental rules, including moving the three-point line back one foot, eight inches, widening the lane to 16 feet and resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds after offensive rebounds. Team fouls will also be reset at the 10-minute mark of each half and there will be no "one-and-one" free throw situations.
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