Scouting the Furman Paladins

College of Charleston (9-4, 1-0)

Furman (3-9, 0-1)

TD Arena

Tipoff at 5pm on ESPN3

If you read my post from yesterday you already know the unfortunate distinction placed upon Furman. At least according to one metric, Furman is one of the worst teams in Division 1 basketball. Out of their three victories the Paladins have just one against DI competition, but unlike the Cougars, they have yet to lose to a Division II team *muffled grumble*. That, coupled with the fact that Furman beat us at the ThunderDome last year and it's imperative to not overlook this team.

Just about a year ago, Brandon Sebirumbi and company came into TD Arena and promptly outplayed an Anthony Stitt-less College of Charleston squad. It was the end of a nine-game winning streak against the Paladins that dated back to 2008. Sebirumbi is gone now but there are still seniors like Colin Reddick and Bobby Austin who won't lay down for this Cougar team. Hmm...underachieving team playing against hated in-state rival CofC...remind you of any team that shocked the Cougars inside TD Arena this year?

Conference games should never be taken lightly; that was a key component of Bobby Cremins' coaching philosophy and it seems to be of utmost importance to Coach Wojcik as well. The Cougars are going to have a target on their back a lot this SoCon season and teams are going to give us their best effort every game. 

Like most Southern Conference teams the Paladins will likely come out shooting from deep. Furman is one of the worst field goal shooting teams in the country at just 39% on the season. If they want to have a chance to pull off the upset they need to get hot from three point range to offset the Cougar offense. The Paladins could also help their chances if they keep up on the boards and force a few turnovers.

Things I'll be looking for out of the Cougars:

• Where's Matt been? Sunny D has been ice cold shooting these last few games-maybe part of the reason Theo Johnson has been seeing more playing time. He's a great weapon off the bench when his stroke is on, can he get it together with the start of SoCon play?
• Nori Johnson - always plays well against Furman for some reason
• Cougar bigs versus SoCon competition. I've been pushing for a while that the inside players in the SoCon (with the exception of Davidson and maybe Elon) should be a lot less intimidating than our OOC opponents. This is the beginning of testing whether or not my theory has any merit.
• Pace- against Marist the Cougars got caught up in the tempo that the Red Foxes employed. Maybe it was a surprise game plan or the fact that the Foxes were playing at home. Luckily the Cougs were able to respond. Will be interesting to see which team sets the pace in this one.