The Unofficial Furman Football Page

As a 8 year old I watched Frank Selvy score 100 points against Newberry in the first college basketball game televised in South Carolina. A captivating event that was shared throughout the state. I even remember the next day, Sunday, the preacher was talking about it during his sermon. Pretty big deal. In 1964 as 18 year old I attended the Furman game against 4th rank Davidson game at Memorial Auditorium. It was the 10th Anniversary of Frank Selvy’s 100 point game and he was in attendance. Furman was a huge underdog but we beat them 70-55 in an unbelievable game. One of the stars of the game was Frank Selvy’s younger brother, David. The atmosphere was electric and for sure that night we wereGreenville’s team. Gosh, I must be getting old, but I’m enjoying these back in the day memories but also looking for more landmark games from our present day Paladins! Go FU!

My Dad watched Selvy game on TV--the first such broadcast in the state. He fell asleep on the couch and woke up to learn what he had missed!

My dad was one of the 10,000 present for the game in textile hall.

DungeonRealm wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:47 am

I was a kid playing BB in high school in 1954. If you look at this photo you see Selvy taking a jump shot with a perfect form for today's game. I am amazed by his mechanics. He was absolutely revolutionary at that time. The jump shot was just evolving out of the one hander, which itself evolved from the 2 handed set shot but allowed the shooter to take the shot while on the move. In 1954, there were pros still taking set shots, the one hander was common (Carl Braun) and the jumper was often a 2 handed above the head shot. (Bud Palmer). Selvy's form was light years ahead of anyone I remember from those years. I am certain that he had great range and in this day of the 3 pointer, he might average that century mark.
A good friend of mine guarded him for South Carolina in those years and told me Selvy had all the shots but the jumper was unstoppable. He met Frank last year at a Furman game at Timmons, went up and shook his hand and proudly told him that he had held him to 63 in their game. They had a good laugh over that. I don't think my buddy was kidding.

Has anyone ever gone back and estimated how many points he would've scored in this game if there had been a 3-point line? I know his last shot was near half court, so that's at least 101.

I seem to recall that someone did that and came up with just 9, so it would be 109.

149-95. I'm surprised they didn't have to halt the game to replace the nets.

At what point if you're the other team do you just put 3-4 guys on him to keep him from racking up 100? The game wouldn't be remembered if Furman scored more than 149 points, but FS led the way with "only" like 65-70.

His shooting in that game and his entire career were great, his defense would not cut it in this day and age however

Watching the game film it appears nobody on either side was all that interested in playing hard defense

DungeonRealm wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:40 pm

Way Cool.

These teams sure didn't need a shot clock. They were running and gunning like mad and it looked like no one played defense. That was an unusual style of play for that era. Most highly ranked teams played a more deliberate style.

The film shows the array of shots being used in that transitional time. Some set shots, lots of one handed runners and hooks. Selvy was playing a different game than anyone else. His fall away jumper was ahead of his time. I did not see any other player shoot a real jumper much less a step back or fall away. He was also playing at a different speed than the others, especially around the basket. Great moves.

How did he fair against higher competition ?

Jasper wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:51 am

These teams sure didn't need a shot clock. They were running and gunning like mad and it looked like no one played defense. That was an unusual style of play for that era. Most highly ranked teams played a more deliberate style.

The film shows the array of shots being used in that transitional time. Some set shots, lots of one handed runners and hooks. Selvy was playing a different game than anyone else. His fall away jumper was ahead of his time. I did not see any other player shoot a real jumper much less a step back or fall away. He was also playing at a different speed than the others, especially around the basket. Great moves.

How did he fair against higher competition ?

He had a pretty decent NBA career
https://stats.nba.com/player/78113/career/