Furman @ Alabama Dec. 15 (SEC Network)

[El Guapo]

Move on. Take care of business in the SoCon. There will be other teams who are bigger than us in the SoCon too. It’s always the case. Similar rebounding and second chance point issues will emerge in conference games.

[Furmanoid]

Nothing to get too bummed about. For another historical reference, in ‘74 we were only 22-9 and we didn’t have any big ooc wins like ‘75 (except Cornbread Maxwell’s Charlotte). But we only dropped 1 conference game, won the tournament and then humiliated the Gamecocks (with three good NBA players) and Frank. That’s the year people remember more than ‘75.
So let’s do that again.

[Affirm]

96 days to go.
2,303 hours to go. (96 days x 24 hours = 2,304, minus 1 hour on 3/14/2021 for spring forward to DST = 2,303 hours).
Then (hopefully) we can be excited about having won (hopefully) our 2021 NCAA Tournament second round game, at The Well (hopefully) or at wherever else we get sent for our first and second round games; and about heading to the 2021 NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Or we can be excited about having won our 2021 NIT second round game and heading to the 2021 NIT quarterfinals.
And if our coach has already gotten or is under under discussion and negotiation for his next big job, we will make sure to not be surprised and overly disappointed about losing him; but instead will be grateful to him and will be excitedly looking forward to getting our new coach (or, still hoping to actually keep our present coach)to continue, and to advance, our high quality program. Meanwhile, from now through 96 days from now, we enjoy the season and do our best each and every hour and day, staying positive, win or lose. Keep our heads up, looking forward.

[Furmanoid]

We ain’t winning a second round game. But we can go undefeated in the conference and win our tourney. That’s good enough, but maybe not good enough to get Coach the job he wants. To get the optimal deal, he should hang around for at least two SoCon championships. If he jumps to whatever he can get, it shows his level optimism for getting that done.

[RaleighDin]

This team could absolutely win a second round game, have to assume the bench will be more developed by March, and if we make it to the tourney, it's all about the match up.

Not sure I understand the sentiment on coach leaving. I think he's shown that he's committed to being here, and if FU keeps investing in the program, we could end up seeing him stick around a lot longer than expected. At this point, he IS Furman basketball, and might relish the opportunity to make this his dream job rather than chasing a dream job. Personally, I'm hoping he's Furman's Bob McKillop.

[Roundball]

Why worry about Coach Richey leaving? Live and enjoy the moment.

[Furmanoid]

This team could absolutely win a second round game, have to assume the bench will be more developed by March, and if we make it to the tourney, it's all about the match up.

Not sure I understand the sentiment on coach leaving. I think he's shown that he's committed to being here, and if FU keeps investing in the program, we could end up seeing him stick around a lot longer than expected. At this point, he IS Furman basketball, and might relish the opportunity to make this his dream job rather than chasing a dream job. Personally, I'm hoping he's Furman's Bob McKillop.

I hope I’m wrong and we can cruise through the NCAA tournament. But wins over DII teams and a bad CofC aren’t enough to convince me this is our best team ever. There is always speculation on this board that coach will be snapped up by a more big time program. If I were a college coach I think I would do like you say and hang around to become a legend. But most of them jump ship pretty quickly. I hope he’s smart enough to see that his stock will keep rising if he stays a few more years with almost guaranteed 20 win seasons. Then he can jump straight into an SEC or ACC gig.

[ksummerlin]

We have to learn how to rebound against bigger, stronger teams/players. We are never going to be an offensive rebounding juggernaut ourselves, but giving up that many second chance points is killer. I see guys that are attempting to out-jump the opponent for rebounds instead of putting a body on the opponent to get position for a rebound.

We got bullied in the second half by a much stronger team. There was no answer for that on the defensive side of the ball. Guys need to get stronger to come up with those 50/50 balls. On the offensive end, we have to learn to make the mid-range jumpers with the clock winding down. UA took away the three-line in the second half. Then our much smaller guys drive all the way to the basket only to find they are over-matched on the inside. Learn to stop at 10-12 feet against those big guys and hit that mid-range shot. Stop with the one-dribble to nowhere when receiving a pass, that's a JV player move.

Mounce should have been subbed out after the 4-point play. I said it when he made the FT that it was a mistake to leave him in for defense. Sub out defense for offense with 8:00 to go -- play that game with Mounce as long as possible. Coach will learn from that mistake. I also wonder if Covid rules might have had a role to play there. Normally the head coach leans on assistants to help sub out in those situations -- at least as a reminder "Hey coach Mounce has 4 fouls maybe we should sub out for defense here if he makes the free-throw".

Overall a good game that we let slip away. The Paladins just need to use this as motivation to get better on both ends of the floor.

[SU DOG]

Looked like Nagy Harris several times running through the lane as Furman Players went sprawling across the court like bowling pins, but NEVER was it a charge on Bama. About 3 phantom fouls on your guys, and then a decent call is made, but only after the game was secured. Even the announcers had to reverse themselves a couple of times. Over the years I've seen the pattern of FCS vs FBS or mid-major vs P5, and the close calls go to the big school. Some bad calls last night were not even close, but were a big help for Bama. I don't know if this is intentional, but I do know it is reality.

I was so very impressed with the composure and class of both your players and coaches. Furman has a terrific team.

[Furmanoid]

We have to learn how to rebound against bigger, stronger teams/players. We are never going to be an offensive rebounding juggernaut ourselves, but giving up that many second chance points is killer. I see guys that are attempting to out-jump the opponent for rebounds instead of putting a body on the opponent to get position for a rebound.

We got bullied in the second half by a much stronger team. There was no answer for that on the defensive side of the ball. Guys need to get stronger to come up with those 50/50 balls. On the offensive end, we have to learn to make the mid-range jumpers with the clock winding down. UA took away the three-line in the second half. Then our much smaller guys drive all the way to the basket only to find they are over-matched on the inside. Learn to stop at 10-12 feet against those big guys and hit that mid-range shot. Stop with the one-dribble to nowhere when receiving a pass, that's a JV player move.

Mounce should have been subbed out after the 4-point play. I said it when he made the FT that it was a mistake to leave him in for defense. Sub out defense for offense with 8:00 to go -- play that game with Mounce as long as possible. Coach will learn from that mistake. I also wonder if Covid rules might have had a role to play there. Normally the head coach leans on assistants to help sub out in those situations -- at least as a reminder "Hey coach Mounce has 4 fouls maybe we should sub out for defense here if he makes the free-throw".

Overall a good game that we let slip away. The Paladins just need to use this as motivation to get better on both ends of the floor.

I’ve been educated to the fact that midrange jumpers are dumb and nobody should shoot them because of analytics. The thing that matters is effective shooting percentage which we won decidedly last night. Score doesn’t matter.

Offensive rebounds don’t matter either because the putbacks are only 2 points. Worrying about reboundability might discourage 3 attempts.

[apaladin]

Just looked at the box score. I didn’t realize Mounce only played 16 minutes yet had 21 points and 5 fouls. He averaged a foul every 3 minutes. Great job refs! Anyway it came down to poor shooting in the second half. First half FG% was 62%, second half was 33%. 3 point shooting first half was 47%, second half was 26%. The Mounce stats are mind boggling.

[cavedweller2]

Has the traveling rule changed or did they exempt Alabama from it? It sure looked like they were taking 3 and 4 steps at times.

[Furmanoid]

Euro steps I think. Sort of legalish.

[furmandad]

As someone else on the thread pointed out; we were bullied in the 2nd Half. Alabama coach told his guys to drive the lane and aggressively take it to the rim. Their players were flailing, falling, leaning in, out of control, over the back and initiating contact, and we were charged with fouls. Big guy Rojas (30 year old JUCO transfer) was the worst. Like many of you, I have been watching FU basketball since '75 and this ranks near the top of one sided officiating. We DO have work to do on both ends, but sad we get the same treatment most times we play bigger school OOC games.

[Paladin91]

Hopefully this game will be a learning experience for the team. We were definitely outpowered physically in the second half and Mounce fouling out really hurt. This is a game where we could have really utilized another big man on the inside to battle for the boards. I liked Richey's overall game plan, and I like Pugh, but thought maybe we'd see more of Foster or even Beeker to help us play a little taller on the defensive end. I thought Foster had a good first half, but we really didn't see him much in the second. I realize Richey was probably trying to compensate for the loss of Mounce with a hot hand from Pugh, but they obviously got the scouting report on Pugh - shut him down.