(15-3) Furman @ (14-4) Wofford Jan. 19

[Jasper]

Too bad the game came down to who made the last 3. Lyons missed his - Murphy made his (wide open)
Outcoached on several key set plays by Wofford off time outs or out of bounds plays - unprepared
Great defense and hustle by Furman for most of the game.
Long, banked in 3 pointer by WC at halftime was big and pure luck ( got to call them to count )
Pegram gives them good minutes off the bench - big factor in game. We have the antidote to Pegram buried on the end of our bench
Brown needs to have more minutes and Gurley and Mounce less
FU's 7.1 man rotation is too thin. If Rafferty breaks down as a result of all his PT, the season is effectively over
Lyons is improving his ability to drive to the basket every game - needs to cut back on the 3's and drive more
Fletcher Magee is the biggest flopper in college BB - he falls backwards on virtually every shot
All in all, a good effort by Furman - Wofford is no super team - they are very beatable and there is no doubt in my mind that we will beat the snot out of them at Timmons if we bring the same effort

[DungeonRealm]

Too bad the game came down to who made the last 3. Lyons missed his - Murphy made his (wide open)
Outcoached on several key set plays by Wofford off time outs or out of bounds plays - unprepared
Great defense and hustle by Furman for most of the game.
Long, banked in 3 pointer by WC at halftime was big and pure luck ( got to call them to count )
Pegram gives them good minutes off the bench - big factor in game. We have the antidote to Pegram buried on the end of our bench
Brown needs to have more minutes and Gurley and Mounce less
FU's 7.1 man rotation is too thin. If Rafferty breaks down as a result of all his PT, the season is effectively over
Lyons is improving his ability to drive to the basket every game - needs to cut back on the 3's and drive more
Fletcher Magee is the biggest flopper in college BB - he falls backwards on virtually every shot
All in all, a good effort by Furman - Wofford is no super team - they are very beatable and there is no doubt in my mind that we will beat the snot out of them at Timmons if we bring the same effort

Will be great to not have to witness the ridiculous flopping of both Magee and UNCG's Alonso next year, both those dudes must be drama minors

[soconjohn]

And Fessor, Furman is a well-coached team.

[CharlieFU]

And Fessor, Furman is a well-coached team.
[/quote

I am guesing Fessor would agree with that in general...but there are times when any coach is imperfect.

I think anyone watching this game would have to conclude they were TWO well coached teams that night, even if one got the best of the other (which i am not convinced was the case.)

[DungeonRealm]

If I come away with one thing from this game its this:

TO BE CONTINUED!

[apaladin]

Went back and watched the last minute and man we really broke down on defense. On the Jackson basket, when Jackson received the ball at the 3 point line MR was between him and the basket but for some reason left him to go defend the inbounder some 30 feet from the basket leaving Jackson a clear path to the basket. On the final 3 pointer Lyons got semi-picked and Hunter didn't switch leaving a wide open 3 pointer. These 2 plays costs us at the end but we had so many missed opportunities to establish a lead. We again started slow especially the second half. If we could have scored just 12-15 points the first 8 minutes of the second half we could have been up by 10, instead we had 4 points the first 8+ minutes. I think this game which was very winnable could come back to haunt us just like the ETSU meltdown in football did. Gotta move on now. The 2 games this week are must wins if we are to finish 4th or 5th.

[soconjohn]

Furman can still finish first or second! More likely second.

[tya1]

Went back and watched the last minute and man we really broke down on defense. On the Jackson basket, when Jackson received the ball at the 3 point line MR was between him and the basket but for some reason left him to go defend the inbounder some 30 feet from the basket leaving Jackson a clear path to the basket. On the final 3 pointer Lyons got semi-picked and Hunter didn't switch leaving a wide open 3 pointer.

On the Jackson dunk Lyons was late getting to his man who was running off Jackson's pick. Rafferty hedged out to prevent the guard from getting the pass for an uncontested three. (Hedging to cover the guard is what we do 90-95% of the time in that situation - not a defensive mistake.) Lyons was running under the screen instead of following his man over the top and is actually standing next to Jackson in perfect position to prevent a drive, but continues to follow his man and ignores the guy with the ball in his hand. Jackson sees the defensive error and drives down the lane for the uncontested dunk.

The comments by the announcers were laughable. They acted like a basic player error on a common, vanilla offensive set was some kind of brilliant coaching ploy. Every team runs some variation of the same thing - 40-50 times a game.

On Wofford's three point shot with 17 seconds to go Hunter was guarding Magee. Do you think he should have switched from Magee to Murphy and allowed Magee to shoot an uncontested three pointer? Pick your poison. I would stay with Magee in that situation.

[apaladin]

Went back and watched the last minute and man we really broke down on defense. On the Jackson basket, when Jackson received the ball at the 3 point line MR was between him and the basket but for some reason left him to go defend the inbounder some 30 feet from the basket leaving Jackson a clear path to the basket. On the final 3 pointer Lyons got semi-picked and Hunter didn't switch leaving a wide open 3 pointer.

On the Jackson dunk Lyons was late getting to his man who was running off Jackson's pick. Rafferty hedged out to prevent the guard from getting the pass for an uncontested three. (Hedging to cover the guard is what we do 90-95% of the time in that situation - not a defensive mistake.) Lyons was running under the screen instead of following his man over the top and is actually standing next to Jackson in perfect position to prevent a drive, but continues to follow his man and ignores the guy with the ball in his hand. Jackson sees the defensive error and drives down the lane for the uncontested dunk.

The comments by the announcers were laughable. They acted like a basic player error on a common, vanilla offensive set was some kind of brilliant coaching ploy. Every team runs some variation of the same thing - 40-50 times a game.

On Wofford's three point shot with 17 seconds to go Hunter was guarding Magee. Do you think he should have switched from Magee to Murphy and allowed Magee to shoot an uncontested three pointer? Pick your poison. I would stay with Magee in that situation.

Yes Hunter should have switched and CBR said so on the postgame. "We missed a switch". Murphy was dribbling away from Magee with his back to him, Lyons should have picked him up, It would have difficult for Murphy to get the ball to Magee. MR should not have left the man with the ball to defend someone without the ball 30 feet from the basket. As CBR said on the postgame we made 2 mistakes in the last minute that cost us.

[DungeonRealm]

Magee set an obvious moving screen with 20 seconds left to free up that 3 point shot, Magee's feet were not even on the ground when he set the screen into Lyons

[tya1]

I looked at the video of the plays just a few seconds ago. On Jackson's dunk Rafferty did NOT leave his man to cover someone 30 feet from the basket. The guy (Murphy) was one foot behind the three point line when Rafferty switched to cover him. Perfect position for a three if Rafferty doesn't react. That was the switch we missed.

On the Murphy three that gave them the lead, Magee was setting the screen. Wofford was not using Magee just as a screener. If two players follow Murphy then they leave Magee wide open. That isn't that hard a pass to make for a point guard. Just throw a little hook pass or jump pass back to Magee or a quick bounce pass. After setting the screen Magee spins around into shooting position in case he gets the return pass. Obviously one of the options. Magee would have been in a perfect spot at the top of the key if Hunter didn't stay home.

[apaladin]

Ok, we could argue this forever. I will go with CBR. He said both plays were defensive mistakes.

[soconjohn]

I think you have to give coach Mike Young and Wofford's staff some credit, too, rather than blame Furman for defensive miscues here....That was a well-devised play and I have no problems admitting that.

[apaladin]

I think you have to give coach Mike Young and Wofford's staff some credit, too, rather than blame Furman for defensive miscues here....That was a well-devised play and I have no problems admitting that.

Maybe but I doubt he planned on "lets throw the ball to Jackson and everyone will run away from him". If he did he is a genius.

[MidlandsPaladin]

Say what you want, but after seeing Woffy, ETSU, and UNCG play if I had to pick one to face in the tourney it would be Woffy - even if they are a #1 seed. Plus it would give us a chance to take the season series 2-1.