By MONTE DUTTON Click here. In a week of moping around, dealing with things that would not work and dreaming impossible dreams, life gets back to normal, or didn’t I write that last week? Notes from watching too many basketball games: Gunfighters shoot from the hip. Politicians shoot from the lip. Basketball players shoot from …
Tag: basketball
Furman falls, but not for want of effort
By MONTE DUTTON Tarris Reed Jr. (UConn photo) Click here. The controversial quotation, from Vince Lombardi, was: “Winning isn’t everything. It is the only thing.” The Green Bay Packers head coach, who lost one postseason game in his career, meant his remark to be aspirational. Winning is the only goal worth seeking. Connecticut (30-5), a …
Anatomy of an upset
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (Furman photo) Click here. Furman must go into Friday night’s game against Connecticut with illogical expectations. A cynic would call it delusions of grandeur. The Paladins must believe they are going to win. Period. There’s no other way. When Furman hits the Xfinity Mobile Arena floor, every corner of the …
Paladins set sights on UConn, Philly
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Furman University is practicing football, competing in numerous spring sports, and dancing. Basketball is not over. Not yet. The Paladins are headed to Philadelphia, Pa., City of Brotherly Love, and where Furman pulled an NCAA first-round upset of South Carolina on March 9, 1974. I’m …
Short-term hoops fatigue
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. “Six Days on the Road (and I’m A-Gonna Make It Home Tonight)” was written by Earl Green and Carl Montgomery. It’s my favorite trucker song. I don’t have a lot. A man who drives pickups doesn’t count as a trucker. I was, however, on the road for six days. I …
Furman closes deal with gusto, 76-61
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (44) changed jerseys after ripping the front of his No. 10 (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- The Southern Conference tournament is a meeting of warring tribes. Most times when a team pulls out a game at the end, fans take a breath, smile and say, Had it …
Wilkins leads Paladins into finals, 81-75
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (10) conjuring up magic (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Winning the Ingles SoCon Men’s Basketball Championship requires hustle and bustle. It requires the touch of a poet and the toughness of a prize fighter. The tournament matches its home. Asheville may have more automobiles papered with bumper …
Some kind of SoCon shootout
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The basketball teams I follow can play with anybody, and anybody can play with them. Man, oh, man, did Furman and Samford ever play with each other. Don’t take that the wrong way. The shooting was out of Pleasantville. The plot was out of …
Blue Hose turn some Big South tables
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – On Saturday morning, too early, I turned on the TV in my room and East Tennessee PBS was raising money by showing a cavalcade of disco hits. I was so happy I enjoyed it. For the first time in a decade Presbyterian College won a …
I barely know where I am, but I know the way
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. This morning brings confusion, upon awakening, over where I am. I’m in Johnson City, Tenn., writing about Asheville, N.C. I really wish I were still in Asheville, where in a little over an hour, the Furman University women’s basketball team – which is seeded higher than the …
Continue reading I barely know where I am, but I know the way
Nightrider's Lament 