(9-0) #25 Furman @ USC-Upstate Saturday Dec. 8th

[Affirm]

This is definitely a very tough game for Furman. Upstate is far better than their W-L record indicates. Because of the closeness of the 2 schools, because of their record vs our record, and because of the over-confident (or you might say arrogant) attitude of our fans and possibly of our team, a loss in this game would be a big black eye for our program seeming to be riding so high at the moment. I expect that a win by Upstate would get a lot more media attention state-wide than a win by Furman. One reason for that would be Brandon Martin (son of Frank Martin) being on the Spartans (freshman forward 6-5, 215, forward).

Bah humbug.

Optimism may be good for the soul, but a pessimist is never disappointed.
- Benjamin Franklin

Yes, a pessimist is not disappointed because a pessimist protects himself/herself from some of the pain when bad happens, but feels even better than the optimist when good happens.
Also, from a slightly different angle, this:
When you’ve never been #25 and have not lost a game so far this season, it may be hard to be humble.
I believe that the right amount of self-imposed humility at this point and beyond, may help us to stay as highly-ranked as we can be and can possibly help us stay focused as much as possible to win every game that we can.
If our team, coaches, and fans are far ahead of me in this thought, I am glad to know that.

[DungeonRealm]

[DungeonRealm]

Its way way way to early to take any of this seriously, we could lose every game the rest of the year, nothing can be taken for granted. With that said, just for fun, Andy Katz lists Furman in his projections as of today as a #9 seed playing in Columbia

[youwouldno]

Affirm's inane rantings aside, out of curiosity I looked at how Furman has done recently against teams with poor Pomeroy rankings (below #175 or so - sub D-I omitted):

2017: 13-2 (one loss at home, one away)
2018: 16-1 (one away loss in OT)
2019: 4-0

That 33-3 includes some pretty solid mid-major opponents like UNC-Asheville and Tenn Tech last year, that were good in their conference but a bit below the midway point of Division I overall. Of course, one would expect a pretty good record against the weaker opponents on the schedule, but the actual win rate of 91.7% is higher than would be expected based on the individual game probabilities.

All of which is to say, it's impossible to never suffer an upset, but the Paladins have not been very prone to them.

[DungeonRealm]

Also FYI, two undefeated teams play each other tonight Nevada vs. Arizona St. (in Phoenix)


So when we tip tomorrow there will be 10 total undefeated teams left

[Fessor]

Affirm's inane rantings aside, out of curiosity I looked at how Furman has done recently against teams with poor Pomeroy rankings (below #175 or so - sub D-I omitted):

2017: 13-2 (one loss at home, one away)
2018: 16-1 (one away loss in OT)
2019: 4-0

That 33-3 includes some pretty solid mid-major opponents like UNC-Asheville and Tenn Tech last year, that were good in their conference but a bit below the midway point of Division I overall. Of course, one would expect a pretty good record against the weaker opponents on the schedule, but the actual win rate of 91.7% is higher than would be expected based on the individual game probabilities.

All of which is to say, it's impossible to never suffer an upset, but the Paladins have not been very prone to them.

PC

[PaladinPower]

Also FYI, two undefeated teams play each other tonight Gonzaga vs. Arizona St. (in Phoenix)


So when we tip tomorrow there will be 10 total undefeated teams left

I believe it is Nevada up against ASU. Regardless, we will be one of the last 10 undefeated teams!!

[youwouldno]

PC

PC and SC State were the two from 2017. SC State was actually a worse loss, being at home (both by 2 points).

[DungeonRealm]

Also FYI, two undefeated teams play each other tonight Gonzaga vs. Arizona St. (in Phoenix)


So when we tip tomorrow there will be 10 total undefeated teams left

I believe it is Nevada up against ASU. Regardless, we will be one of the last 10 undefeated teams!!

Correct my bad, the two undefeated teams playing tonight are indeed Nevada vs. ASU

[Paul C]

Some folks will always complain about something. Bringing up a season opening loss from a 23 win season 2 years ago being one of them.

For the sake of consistency, if we are ever at a point where we need to win 10 SoCon games in a row for some reason, I’ll expect them to also cite 2017 as evidence that it can be done.

But I ain’t holding my breath.

[youwouldno]

Some folks will always complain about something. Bringing up a season opening loss from a 23 win season 2 years ago being one of them.

For the sake of consistency, if we are ever at a point where we need to win 10 SoCon games in a row for some reason, I’ll expect them to also cite 2017 as evidence that it can be done.

But I ain’t holding my breath.

It's hard to understand how someone could read a post about how rare upsets have been as a complaint about the few exceptions. On here, some people will create a fake complaint if there isn't a real one to carry on about.

[Paul C]

you tomato I say tomatoe

[DungeonRealm]

About 80 tickets left available for the game tomorrow, if your going better get them now they could possibly be gone by midnight

[youwouldno]

you tomato I say tomatoe

I say tomato, you see tomato, you say grapefruit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[furman88]

I say Bloody Mary with a celery stalk