Mid-Major Basketball Focus: Furman Paladins of the Southern Conference

It is the time of the week where we dive deep into one Mid-Major basketball program. Today, we go to the Southern Conference as we look at the Furman Paladins.

The beauty of the Southern Conference is its consistent competitiveness when it comes to who obtains the NCAA Tournament bid. Diversity could be a word to describe the conference and their tournament champions. While some teams, like Davidson or Wofford, have scored consecutive bids recently, there always seems to be multiple teams in contention.

Take last season as an example. Five teams finished with an over .500 record, three of them tied for the conference’s regular season championship. When it came to the conference tournament, it was East Tennessee State who squeaked out a four-point win in the championship. In the end, the Buccaneers fell to Florida in their NCAA Tournament game.

One team that was tied for that regular season crown was Furman. In relation to the rest of the SoCon, the Paladins are a complete anomaly. Since 1980, the program has only had 12 winning seasons, which is vastly less compared to other teams in the conference. Not only that, Furman has not won the Southern Conference Tournament since the 1979-80 season. Obviously, that is the last time they appeared in the NCAA Tournament as well.

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So when Furman put together a 23-12 record (including 14-4 in conference play) last season, it was certainly a surprising sight. With coach Niko Medved leading the way, the Paladins looked poised to be a staple in the conference.

However, Medved took the head job at Drake in the offseason, leaving the program to assistant Bob Richey. Questions were certainly swirling around where the program was headed with a new coach at the helm. Needless to say, Richey has picked up where Medved left off.

The Paladins head into their conference grind with a record of 12-4. It’s true that they played a relatively manageable non-conference schedule. However, three of their four losses came to Duke, Tennessee, and Butler, three teams inside the KenPom top-40. Those three opponents are certainly daunting and the losses should not be taken negatively.

What should be taken negatively is their 19-point loss to Winthrop. As it stands, the Eagles sport a record of 7-7, good for seventh in the Big South. The Big South is a notch or two below the SoCon, making this a bad loss for the Paladins in an otherwise elementary non-conference slate.

The positive for Furman is that they have begun conference play with an unblemished 3-0 record. Now, those wins did come against possibly the three worst opponents in the SoCon in Mercer, The Citadel, and VMI. Yet, conference wins should be valued and these victories should provide some momentum through the rest of the schedule.

Depth is an asset that the Paladins possess that may prove advantageous as the season wears on. In fact, nine of their 13 players log 10 or more minutes each game. The only other SoCon team in that realm is East Tennessee State. Oddly enough, those are the two teams leading the pack in the conference.

Senior guard and defending SoCon Player of the Year Devin Sibley is still the motor that pushes the Paladins forward. The Knoxville, Tennessee native is averaging 16 points and nearly five rebounds per game. His shooting percentages are also gleaming, as he shoots 50% from the field and almost 42% from three. Although he is a great offensive player, he is not terribly successful from the free throw line and never has been. The 6-foot-2 guard is shooting a career-low 55 percent from the line so far this season.

Equally as impressive this season are their two other senior guards, John Davis III and Daniel Fowler. They combine to average roughly 24 points per game on 45% shooting. Their ability to swipe the basketball on the defensive end does not go unnoticed either. Both players average close to two steals per game.

What is most worrisome for Furman is their lack of rebounding and physicality. They are quite top-heavy at the guard and wing spots and are quite wily at those positions. As for the frontcourt, though, they are relatively feeble outside of forward Matt Rafferty. The 6-foot-8 forward is the tallest player on the roster and leads the team in rebounds per game. Couple his eight rebounds a game with 11 points, and you have a good post presence from a conference perspective. However, the player second on the team in rebounds per game is Sibley, a 6-foot-2 guard, with 4.5 boards per game.

As a team, the Paladins haul in 36 rebounds per game, which is rather paltry. The good thing is that the Southern Conference is weak on the glass as a whole. Rafferty is second in the conference in rebounds per game and first in total rebounds. That tells me that this may not hinder Furman in conference play, but it will hurt if they make any postseason tournaments.

Next: Teams in the running for No. 1 seeds

The Southern Conference will be contentious yet again this season. Furman will not be the only league staple as defending champion East Tennessee State, Wofford, and UNC Greensboro look to be tough outs for the Paladins. It will be those teams that will primarily stand between Furman and their first NCAA Tournament appearance in almost 40 years.

Furman is in the perfect conference for their play style and their weaknesses even fit in with other SoCon teams’ weaknesses. The Paladins may not be a lock for the NCAA Tournament, but they are a veteran team. That fact alone could propel them to some postseason action come March.