Furman pre-game

Here are some pre-game thoughts before today's semifinal round against Furman.

Davidson will be facing a different beast in today's game. While they had to contend with length and leaping ability yesterday, today's game will about shooting and defending the perimeter. Against UNC-G yesterday, Furman's Robby Bostain scored 18 points, going 5-8 from the field and 3-4 from three-point land. Davidson will have to extend their defense to limit Furman's looks from outside.

The Cats should have a nice home court advantage in this game. Davidson has a lot of fans who made the trip down I-77 today; so many, in fact, that I don't know if anyone will even be reading this blog during the game. Furman will be outmuscled in terms of crowd noise.

Davidson will have to integrate Max Paulhus Gosselin back into their gameplan. He did not have any steals or points yesterday against UTC. Gosselin needs to regain his confidence and create some fastbreak opportunities at the top of Davidson's defense.

The Wildcats have to take advantage of all of their offensive opportunities because Furman, unlike UTC, will make them pay on the other end of the court. Each possession will be very valuable in this game.

In a nice human interest tidbit, former Davidson assistant SID Erica Madden is here at the game today. However, she will be wearing the purple and white as she now works for the Furman SID department. Madden is engaged to former Davidson DBO Will Roberson.