For certain, thankfully, the traditional top 25 polls-the Associated Press and the coaches-in college basketball don’t mean much. But sometimes they do.
Furman snuck into the AP top 25 for the first time in school history on Monday, finishing exactly one vote ahead of unofficial No. 26 Purdue (101 points to the Boilermakers’ 100). The Paladins’ 8-0 start has notably included road wins against defending national champion Villanova plus another Final Four team in Loyola (Ill.).
No matter how little it will mean to hardcore fans now or in March come NCAA Tournament selection time, you better believe this is a big deal for Furman and the Southern Conference. There is always a benefit to being in the rankings and showing up in newspapers or on the score tickers, and its further validation of just what improvement the SoCon has made in recent years. Not since Davidson in 2008 has a team from the Southern appeared in the rankings.
Some will nitpick the Paladins’ place in the poll, but there’s not a thing wrong with Furman being in the top 25. Undefeated teams are fewer and further between as November turns to December (just 11 remain as of Tuesday). There are plenty of teams in the polls early in the season that may prove a month or two later that they didn’t deserve it. Few put together two better true road court wins in November than the Paladins, and that’s even figuring in that Loyola is reloading and hasn’t been playing to capability, so why not Furman?
And while some might point out the Paladins have three non-Division I wins, two of those were the cost of taking on the Villanova game. The three games total-against the Wildcats, plus a pair of NCAA Division II games-were technically part of the AdvoCare Invitational, the product of the NCAA’s nonsensical rules allowing all sorts of gaming the system by exempted tournaments, and also show yet again just what ridiculous lengths a team like Furman sometimes has to go to just to get a chance against top competition.
Furman has a budding scoring machine in Jordan Lyons-who averages 21.1 points per game and scored 54 in one contest earlier this year-and a double-double near-lock in Matt Rafferty, who has been nothing short of superb as the ‘one’ in Furman’s four-out, one-in offense. The irony is that the Paladins are by no means guaranteed to be the best team in the SoCon, or even the second-best, or even third-best, not with defending champion UNC Greensboro, East Tennessee State and Wofford all with very real designs on winning the league.
Of course, there have been plenty of schools to make brief cameos in the poll, only to lose right away in the first week and not return again anytime soon. Old Dominion (2014-15), Portland (2009-10), Kent State (2007-08) and Bucknell (2005-06) all made surprise climbs into the top 25 in recent years, only to lose later that week, including Portland and Kent State in their first game. Middle Tennessee State (last year), Louisiana Tech (2012-13) and Winthrop (2006-07) made two-week stays before losing, and have not been back since.
Furman now wears the target, which it will find out quickly when it travels to face former Southern Conference rival Elon for its debut as a ranked team tonight. The Paladins should enjoy the honor because it could pass quickly.
Side Dishes
- Wisconsin continued its excellent start, edging Rutgers 69-65 in Madison. Ethan Happ was his usual reliable self (20 points), but it’s time to start talking about D’Mitrik Trice being one of the most valuable additions to a team this season. Trice has been huge, averaging over 17 points per game early this season, and he again provided support and big shot-making behind Happ with 14 here. Also in the Big Ten: Michigan State blew away Iowa 90-68, with Nick Ward a perfect 10-for-10 from the field (though just 6 of 11 at the line) on his way to 26 points and Kenny Goins also adding 19 points and 14 boards. The high-octane Hawkeyes, meanwhile, shot just 32.8% for the game and missed 19 of 20 shots to start the second half.
- Niagara put a major damper on Pittsburgh’s encouraging start, stunning the Panthers 71-70. What a win for the Purple Eagles of the Metro Atlantic, who had lost their previous three games to Grambling State, St. Francis (N.Y.) and St. Francis (Pa.) and are just 3-4 now (though also with wins over St. Bonaventure and Wyoming). Pitt was reminded that it still has a long way to go in its rebuild.
- Georgetown as an offensive machine? It’s still almost haunting seeing the Hoyas running up point totals in the Patrick Ewing era, including an 88-78 win over Liberty. Georgetown shredded the Flames’ UVA-inspired packline defense, shooting 52.7% and 11 of 18 from three-point range. Jessie Govan finished with 17 and 10 and led a huge rebounding advantage for the Hoyas.
- Vermont improved to 6-3 against a difficult schedule with a 72-67 win at George Mason. Make it three straight wins on the road and four already this season for the Catamounts. Anthony Lamb and Ernie Duncan scored 19 each, and the three Duncan brothers-Ernie, Everett and Robin-combined for 34 for UVM.
- Iowa State rolled past North Dakota State 81-59, holding the young Bison to 36.5% shooting. Cameron Lard and Zoran Talley both returned from seven-game suspensions for the Cyclones, who next face rival Iowa on Friday.
- No. 11-ranked Florida State handled Troy 82-67, getting a push for a while from the Trojans. Phil Savoy scored 16 and hit four three-pointers.
- Georgia made sure not to be the latest victimized by Texas Southern, jumping out to a 17-point halftime lead and winning 92-75. Tyree Crump scored a career-high 25 points off the bench to lead five Bulldogs in double figures.
Today’s Menu:
- The first TV offering of the night is New Hampshire on the road at Seton Hall (6:30 p.m. Eastern, FS1).
- Hobbled Northeastern continues to face a difficult non-league slate when it travels to Syracuse.
- The Jimmy V Classic starts with a matchup made for the gridiron as Oklahoma led by Bud Wilkinson-wait, that’s Lon Kruger-takes on Lou Holtz, er, Mike Brey and Notre Dame (7 p.m., ESPN). The second game from Madison Square Garden sounds more like a Sugar Bowl matchup with Florida taking on West Virginia (9:30 p.m., ESPN).
- Miami (Fla.) just lost at home to a quality Ivy League team, and now has to face one on the road when it goes to the Palestra to face Pennsylvania. Games like this deserve to be on national TV during this slow month of games; alas, this one is not.
- There’s more early-season Big Ten play when Indiana goes to Penn State (7 p.m., Big Ten Network) and Michigan faces a road test at Northwestern (9 p.m., Big Ten Network).
- It always feels like it should be a Big East (or Hockey East) game when Providence takes on Boston College (7 p.m., ESPN2).
- Radford deservingly received votes in national polls this week, and the Highlanders now get to wear a bit of a target too when they go to James Madison.
- Cincinnati played at Northern Kentucky all of last season; now the Norse travel across the Ohio River to play at the Bearcats’ Fifth-Third Arena.
- Wofford continues a very tough non-conference schedule as it goes to Allen Fieldhouse to take a shot at Kansas.
- The second half of the Battle of the Boulevard takes place with Lipscomb now taking to the road to face Belmont, a pairing of two one-loss teams. The Bruins look for the sweep. Those two play an annual early-season home-and-home; so do New Mexico and New Mexico State, and the Aggies host the back half of their series looking for a season sweep.
- A very interesting matchup: Georgia State plays at Alabama, looking for its second win against an SEC team already.
- South Dakota State and Mike Dahm take the show on the road to face Memphis.
Enjoy your Tuesday. Only 20 shopping days left until Christmas.
