Furman at Mercer, 2/7

[Davemeister]

Things are never as bad - or as good - as they seem. Let not your heart be troubled. We will have Our Day.

[purplehorse123]

Looks to me like a reality check is in order for all Furman hoops fans. We are simply not a good team. We are mired in the middle of the SoCon and trending lower. The fact is that are players are not regressing from last year at all. They were made better by the presence of Slawson and Bothwell who were outstanding players in their extra college year. Teams focused on them and made some of the others look better than they are. Not their fault. They are what they are. We have not recruited very well in the last few years and that is showing. The coach is not a miracle worker who is building a strong program to compete for the league championship and beyond. Last year was great fun but it was unfortunately an outlier. The future is not looking promising at this moment either. College basketball is changing dramatically right now and we need to figure it out if dreams of relevance are to be pursued. I ‘d stop watching what Dabo is doing and pay attention to what Clay Hendrix is doing. His combination of bringing in several transfers/grad students in key positions plus recruiting college level ready freshmen has made Furman a legitimate national presence in the last two years with a bright future as well. Right now our football program appears light years ahead of basketball.

I disagree. Two players have regressed IMHO even if it is just having lost their confidence in shooting!

[jesse174]

Does anyone know if Bronson or Humphries can play..I assume they practice with the team every day..someone here should have an opinion on those 2 players.
Also I expected Vanderwal to be one of our best players and shooters..have no idea why he struggles.
Seems like this team just doesn't fit well.

[apaladin]

Does anyone know if Bronson or Humphries can play..I assume they practice with the team every day..someone here should have an opinion on those 2 players.
Also I expected Vanderwal to be one of our best players and shooters..have no idea why he struggles.
Seems like this team just doesn't fit well.

Both can play just not sure how well, lol. Since 3 point shooting is such a big part of this team below are 2 examples of the problems we are having:
Player 1- last year 27-77 36% this year 6-35 17%
Player 2- last year 16-58 28% this year 5-35 14%
Two combined 11-70.

[MidlandsPaladin]

Mercer scores a grand total of 19 points in the first half against Western today.

[apaladin]

Mercer scores a grand total of 19 points in the first half against Western today.

……and 7 the first ten minutes of the second half. 26 with 10+ to go.

[MidlandsPaladin]

Either we get everyones best effort, our defense is horrendous, or a combination of both.

[MidlandsPaladin]

And Chatt up 25 on UNCG. Our last two opponents are getting totally owned today.

[apaladin]

Looks like UTC and Samford are distancing themselves from the rest. Both are playing very well. We still have UTC at home and SU on the road.

[tya1]

And Chatt up 25 on UNCG. Our last two opponents are getting totally owned today.

The erratic nature of college basketball in the three point shooting era on display. UNCG beat Chattanooga by 16 a month ago - at Chattanooga. In that game UNCG hit about 50% overall and 54% from behind the arc. Chattanooga hit 30% overall and about 21% from three point range. Yesterday UNCG hit 37% overall and a still good 44% from the arc but Chattanooga hit over 55% of their threes and almost 60% overall. Same teams, same players. Very different results.

Anybody can win a stand alone game - whoever has the hot touch that night. Experience shows that to win the SoCon tourny you need versatility in your offense and good defense and ball control (low TOs) because the hot three shooting usually fades the deeper you go in the tourrny.