FU vs. ETSU (Semifinals March 4th 6:30pm)

[fufanatic]

I think what hurts the most - besides another year of no NCAA Tourney - is that this phenomenal senior class that completely changed the program around only went to one SoCon Tourney final ... and it was their freshmen year on an awful team that got hot at the right time. Just doesn't seem right. As much as it will be hard to stomach another CIT, I hope the team gives it a go. Would be fun to win a title if their heart is in it.

[Paladin91]

Leaving everything short. We don't look like a team that should be well-rested.

ETSU's defense played a big part in the poor shooting, but we just seemed off our game. ETSU is a much quicker team and it showed. We also have no inside game, so if we are off from 3 point land, there's no coming back.

[apaladin]

I have to face the fact that I am never going to see "Furman" on selection Sunday. Just not in the cards. If you had told me that ETSU would only score 63 I would have thought we would have a good chance to win. Paladins had the worst shooting night of the year, 31 percent. and 4-26 from 3. ETSU shot only 36 percent. Thanks to all the seniors, for turning the program around. Postseason is up in the air, probably be up to the seniors if they want to continue or not.

[Paladin91]

I think Bob Richey had a tremendous year for his first year. It will be interesting to see this team next year without Sibley, Davis, and Fowler. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure why Brown is a starter on the court. You get a lot more athleticism out of Mounce. And whatever happened to Jonathan Jean? He didn't look bad in late minutes against WCU, but never gets playing time.

[purplehorse]

We were terrible tonight. Missed 10 of our first 11 shots. We had so many shots that would not fall and conversely they had so many that rolled around and went in.

Brown scored 2 points in tourney and Sibley 9. Not going to beat many teams with that. Might have lost to anybody in conference tonight when you shoot 4 for 26 on 3’s. We live by the 3 and DIE by the 3. Honestly only Lyons and Mounce showed up tonight. It happens. The ETSU quickness on D ate us up-too much dribbling and individual play.

A pretty solid year by winning 7 in a row at end of season. A nice season for our seniors. Just had a bad night at a bad time.

[purplehorse]

I think Bob Richey had a tremendous year for his first year. It will be interesting to see this team next year without Sibley, Davis, and Fowler. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure why Brown is a starter on the court. You get a lot more athleticism out of Mounce. And whatever happened to Jonathan Jean? He didn't look bad in late minutes against WCU, but never gets playing time.

Brown is one of our best shooters on the team. He was tremendous down the stretch. To ever move to the next level we need a solid big man or two.

[Paladin91]

I think Bob Richey had a tremendous year for his first year. It will be interesting to see this team next year without Sibley, Davis, and Fowler. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure why Brown is a starter on the court. You get a lot more athleticism out of Mounce. And whatever happened to Jonathan Jean? He didn't look bad in late minutes against WCU, but never gets playing time.

Brown is one of our best shooters on the team. He was tremendous down the stretch. To ever move to the next level we need a solid big man or two.

He seems really streaky to me, a bit like Beans, either hot or not. 2 pts as a starter in 53 minutes playing time in the tournament doesn't cut it for me.

[tim]

Before we sign the coach to an extension, it should be considered that when there is a huge game on the line, this team is capable of not just getting beat but stinking the arena up. We have seen it before. He seems to be a great recruiter but the guys weren't prepared tonight. We took a very experienced team that some thought would win the regular season and finished 3rd, a shade away from 4th. Teams who have good coaches don't look lost on the court.

[CharlieFU]

Here we go. For Pete’s sake, Richey was in his first year EVER as a head coach. Gimme a break. He has hired a great staff—and before anyone gets amnesia, the league COACHES picked us to finish 3rd. Exactly where we finished, only one game off last years SoCon record.

Not prepared? You can’t prepare for shooting 24% in a half. If anything, we were fortunate we were not behind by more.

I need a little more time to think on this. I admit my emotions are not exactly straight after watching each of our 4 seniors come out of the locker room, hugging their parents and friends. If you get to know these kids a little and their families, it does give you some perspective.

[purplehorse]

I think Bob Richey had a tremendous year for his first year. It will be interesting to see this team next year without Sibley, Davis, and Fowler. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure why Brown is a starter on the court. You get a lot more athleticism out of Mounce. And whatever happened to Jonathan Jean? He didn't look bad in late minutes against WCU, but never gets playing time.

Brown is one of our best shooters on the team. He was tremendous down the stretch. To ever move to the next level we need a solid big man or two.

He seems really streaky to me, a bit like Beans, either hot or not. 2 pts as a starter in 53 minutes playing time in the tournament doesn't cut it for me.

True he played poorly in the tourney-2 points. BUT in like last 7 games before that he averaged 17 points. I think he was jinxed by article in Greenville News just before tourney talking about how well he was playing (like the cover of Sports Illustrated jinx). He was also player of the week the last week of the season.

As I have always said great pure shooters often play at UNC, Duke etc. They are great most nights. As our level, great shooters are streaky-0 points one night and 20 the next.

I think Brown deserves to start next year and will start but time will tell.

We will need more points out of Alex Hunter.

Possible starters: Rafferty, Mounce, Lyons, Hunter an freshman guard from Kentucky. Again we need a big man.

[Paul C]

We set a school record for wins and folks are down on the coach? Wow.

Tonite stunk, I get it. But cmon.

[Monday]

Before we sign the coach to an extension, it should be considered that when there is a huge game on the line, this team is capable of not just getting beat but stinking the arena up. We have seen it before. He seems to be a great recruiter but the guys weren't prepared tonight. We took a very experienced team that some thought would win the regular season and finished 3rd, a shade away from 4th. Teams who have good coaches don't look lost on the court.

What a ridiculous knee jerk reaction. It was only a week ago that we beat ETSU in their court with the 3rd seed on the line. A huge game where we stepped up. This team has had some unusual hiccups this year but how much of a difference would NM have made against UNCG and ETSU? Those are two teams have us out-sized and are more athletic. BR is in his first year as head coach at any level and with inexperience comes mistakes. Our programs's future is still bright, so don't start slinging mud over one game.

And we finished one game behind ETSU and two above Wofford. So where's the shade?

[fu77fan]

We picked a bad night to play poorly. But it happens . Yes, I am disappointed, but I am proud of the team for their effort and for their accomplishments this season !
I am hopeful that we get another chance in the post season. If not, I will look forward to next year.

Go Paladins!!

[furman86]

Strangely enough, if our 3-point shooting was just average, we would have been very competitive in this game. Going 9 or 10 for 26 rather than 4 for 26.

Hope the team has a post-season to finish out better. Would love to see our 4 seniors good out on a higher note than this.

[FU03times]

Very proud of the Dins. Today and every day. The hardest thing to see was the senior team holding back the tears and the disappointment as they were getting off the court. This game was tough for all of us and I can’t even imagine how emotionally draining it was for them. To the guy blaming BR for this, you obviously have lost count of our W-L this season and you obviously have no idea what BR does for this team, the staff, and the fans, behind the scenes. I only hope you take a second to stay after a Furman game and meet this incredible coach we were blessed with. Even if we disregard all the background work, just in terms of production he gave us our most successful season in his FIRST YEAR so I think you need to re-think this one my friend. I hope the team goes for a post-season run, because all I want is to see some smiles on the seniors’ faces. Tonight was no indication of what they have done for the team and the program, but I would hate for this to be the last time I see them play.

Side note: as one of the few members of the student section in both socon games in Asheville for the dins I wish the older fanbase would have been more supportive down the stretch. We made a point to not give up early on in the second half and we saw the team feeding off of our energy but that was not the case with the rest of the Furman crowd. I will never claim that the Furman students have a loud and supportive student section but tonight we did most of the work. So I think no one is in a position to call our offense “pathetic” when they did equally bad at being a fan at the game.