It’s too bad Furman’s blowout win last Friday night against North Greenville was an exhibition game. Wins were often hard to come by last season as the injury-depleted Paladins finished with a dismal seven wins overall and a 3-15 record against conference opponents — good enough for last place in the SoCon. Although projected to finish only 10th out of the 11 teams in the Southern Conference this season, there is a buzz of excitement around the basketball program as new head coach Niko Medved takes over the reins following the resignation of Jeff Jackson after six years at the helm.
Medved, who rejoins the Furman basketball program after a stint as the recruiting coordinator and assistant for Colorado State, inherits a young (11 freshmen/sophomores) but athletic team with a great deal of talent. Charlie Reddick, a 6’5” winger, is the lone senior on the team and will look to lead the Paladins, who averaged almost 10 points per contest in only 23 appearances during a season hampered by injuries.
A new season also marks the return of other players limited by injuries last year, including sophomores Jordan Loyd, Dominic Early, and Keith Belfield, who will look to have an impact this season. Those in Timmons Arena for the game against North Greenville last Friday night had the opportunity to witness exactly what all of the excitement was about for this upcoming season. After a slow first half against the Crusaders, in which the team looked out of sync and whistles seemingly prevented players from playing for more than 20 seconds at a time, the Paladins exploded in the second half on their way to an 85-61 victory.
One Paladin who stood out the most was sophomore point guard Stephen Croone. Croone was one of the few bright spots for the Paladins during a 2012-2013 campaign in which, as a freshman thrust into the starting job after Jordan Loyd went down with a season ending injury in the first game, he led the team in assists (4.0 apg) and was second on the team in points per game (9.9 ppg) behind forward Colin Reddick (12.6 ppg), who recently graduated. In his first action of the 2013-2014 campaign, Croone gave Furman fans a reason to get excited, driving hard to the bucket, challenging big men, and making a number of acrobatic finishes around the rim as he erupted for 32 points.
There were no Paladins elected to any of the preseason all-conference teams, but if Croone can rack up a few more performances like this, we may very well see his name on an all-conference team at the end of the season. The next chance to see Croone and the rest of Niko Medved’s new-look Paladins is when they officially open their season next Friday, Nov. 8, playing host to Sewanee at 7:30 p.m. in Timmons Arena.
