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Furman (25-10, 11-7/5th in SoCon/NIT Participant)
In many ways, Bob Richey’s Furman Paladins will enter the new season with far less question marks than they encountered a year ago, which is easy to say after the Paladins had to replace 70.8% of their scoring during the off-season a year ago.
However, with that said, head coach Bob Richey and his staff might have done their best to date of replacing that scoring lost, as well as show the rest of the league just how good not only they were at recruiting talent to a system, but also adding lower-level talent and developing that talent in-season.
It wasn’t as if the sharp-shooting Nick Anderson (Barry) or big man with a good a good touch from the arc, Charles Johnston (Cal State Monterrey Bay) were the first NCAA Division II additions the Paladins have made in recent seasons, either, as both Conley Garrison and now, PJay Smith Jr., have also joined Anderson as having made a huge impact of Paladin basketball. Both Anderson and Smith Jr. would close out their careers by teaming to form one of the best shooting guard tandems for one season in Furman basketball history, as the two were among the nation’s best perimeter shooters for the entire basketball season, as the duo finished the season connecting on a combined
Though the Paladins ultimately had what could best be described as a roller-coaster season, the Paladins in the end, would prove to be that team we all saw ball out throughout the non-conference slate, racing out to 13 wins in their first 14 games this season. As one might in a league as tough as the Southern Conference, things would eventually even out, and the Paladins would meet with adversity as the season wore on.
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— Furman Paladins (@FurmanPaladins) June 4, 2025
After all, even good teams do that. In the end, however, the non-conference run by Furman proved not to be a fluke, as the Paladins won six of their final eight games, including four-straight down the stretch of the regular-season to capture the fifth-place spot in the league standings just as they had last season.
When Furman knocked off heavy favorite and regular-season champion Chattanooga, 80-77 OT, in one of the two Southern Conference semifinal matchups, the Paladins looked to be well on their way back to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years after having not made it for 43.
However, facing off against lower-seeded and battle-tested Wofford in the SoCon Tournament Championship game would be ultimately a bridge too far for the Paladins, as the more experienced and less-portal happy Terriers won the title game for the first time in six years, knocking off Furman, 92-85, in what was a banger of a league title game.
Still, the 25 wins for the Paladins were enough to get Furman an at-large invite to a postseason tournament with some prestige attached to it, as the Paladins were one of three mid-major programs from the SoCon chosen to participate, joining regular-season champion and eventual NIT Champion Chattanooga and 2023-24 defending SoCon Champion Samford.
Chattanooga knew it was going to the nation’s oldest college basketball tournament (NIT) before even beginning the Southern Conference Tournament, due to a high enough metric ranking in several categories, which gave the Mocs enough to meet a certain criteria and ultimately they would have somewhere to play if things didn’t go as expected in Asheville, which is exactly what ultimately ended up happening.
Samford, which Furman defeated three times during the season, including once more for good measure by 17 in Asheville, had no idea they might be selected for an invite to the NIT, with some of the Bulldogs’ players having to prematurely return from vacation to board a plane in time to face a good George Mason team in Fairfax.
Furman had a big road test in the opening round as well, taking on 2023 NIT Champion North Texas in Denton. Though the Paladins fought hard and even led the game at the half but ended up falling to the eventual NIT Final Four qualifiers, 75-64. It was a great deal better than Samford, which won an impressive 22 games off its school-record 29-win season a year earlier, as the Bulldogs were soundly beaten at the hands of the George Mason Patriots, 87-69, in Fairfax.
The Paladins will return seven scholarship players for the 2025-26 season, and though those players aren’t really regarded as big offensive threats, or at least they weren’t this past season and also weren’t really called upon to be those types of players. In the past, this same question has been asked multiple times during Bob Richey’s career as head coach, and yet Furman has always seemingly had that “next man up” mentality with each passing season.
This season, Furman will have to have that, “next man up” attitude once again, as the Paladins will have to replace their top two scorers from the 2024-25 and overall, in PJay Smith Jr. (17.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.9 APG) and Nick Anderson (14.6 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 2.3 APG), however, it was far different a situation at this point in the late spring a year ago than it is currently.
The sharp-shooting guard duo connected on 207 of the team’s league-leading 380 triples last season, or just over half the team’s three-point field goals, connecting on a combined 54.4% of Furman’s made three-pointers. The Paladins finished the season ranking sixth in the country in threes made-per-game (10.9) and finished the 2025 SoCon Tournament by making 42 triples in three games, which was just one off of Chattanooga’s tournament record of 43 made threes in the 2023 edition, which it did over the course of four games.
There is far less worry this summer, as there are more answers returning than questions to be asked and glib assumptions of doom and gloom to be made. While there is some question in terms of perimeter scoring, it’s a far cry from losing 70.8% of production like head coach Bob Richey and staff were faced with doing last off-season.
It still is, however, a significant chunk of points the Paladins must replace, as almost 40 PPG of scoring production between three of the four seniors have moved on, in Smith, Anderson and center Garrett Hien, as Anderson and Smith combined to average 32.2 PPG between the two of them alone.
With guys like Cooper Bowser, Ben VanderWal and Charles Johnston returning in the paint, like Chattanooga, Furman should have one of the front courts in the Southern Conference for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
Bowser is Furman’s leading returning scorer coming into the season, and finished the 2024-25 season with some outstanding performances, with a couple of those coming against the league’s defending champion, Samford. In both regular-season games against the Bulldogs this past season, Bowser finished with 21 and 16 points, respectively, against Samford.
In Furman’s 72-70 win over Samford in late January, Bowser finished the game with 21 points on a perfect 8-for-8 in the contest, which also included a solid 5-for-7 effort from the charity stripe in the win and ended up being one of his better performances from the free throw line of the season.
One of the areas that Bowser will likely look to improve during the off-season is being more of a presence in the mid-range game, and if he develops a consistent mid-range jumper, he would easily be the top big man in the Southern Conference heading into the 2025-26 season.
If you’re looking for perhaps Furman’s most important and most well-rounded player heading into the 2025-26 season, then you should look no further than 6-7 forward Ben VanderWal (). VanderWal and Davis Molnar are the lone two remaining holdovers from that team that won the SoCon title three years ago, but VanderWal is the only one that saw minutes returning off that team.
He will be a key leader for the Paladins in the upcoming season. In many ways, the only thing holding VanderWal back from being just a good player to being a great one in this league is his shooting ability. If the senior from Elmhurst, Ill., ever gets that part of his game figured out, he is easily an all-league player.
He was a good shooter from both the mid-range and perimeter in high school but has lost confidence in his shot since beginning his play at the NCAA Division I level. But as head coach Bob Richey has said so many times throughout VanderWal’s time on campus, he has winning DNA. When VanderWal played more than 23 minutes per game last season, the Paladins were nearly unbeatable with something like an 85% winning percentage.
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He does the little things well, and that has been enough to make up for his lack of shooting ability from the perimeter. He’s also not a great foul shooter, finishing the 2024-25 season as just a 52.6% shooter from the charity stripe. He also finished just 4-of-22 (18.2%) from three-point range this past season after connecting a 16-for-58 (27.6%) clip in his very first season with the Paladins.
In the 2024-25 season, VanderWal averaged 5.7 PPG and a career-best 5.5 RPG. VanderWal ended up being most vital on the offensive glass, as well as being a solid defender and is good at cutting to the basket with elite athleticism. VanderWal has a chance to have a big senior season for the Paladins in 2025-26.
He finished his junior campaign posting double figure scoring efforts on four occasions last season, including posting a season career high in a Paladin win over Montreat, as he finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in what was a 100-75 win for the Paladins. VanderWal’s top performance of the season was perhaps in a loss, as he posted 15 points and 12 rebounds in a loss at VMI.
VanderWal is an example of perseverance and after coming to Furman as one of the most highly touted players out of the state of Illinois, it would have been easy to transfer out and look for a new beginning, which seems to be all the craze in this day and age is going to have a chance at winning a title this season, it’s going to have a lot to do with the impact that VanderWal has in his senior season. I expect his offensive numbers will go up this season, and dare I say, he might even be a factor on the perimeter, although at this point, that would just be a bonus as to what he already adds to the mix with that “winning DNA.”
Charles Johnston’s impact as an evolving big man in the paint this season will present even more challenges for the opposition to account for. We found out how good of a shooter the player from down under was last season, and he showed that from the very outset of the season against, delivering a 25-point scoring performance in an early-season win over Jacksonville last season.
In that contest, Johnston finished the contest by connecting on 8-of-9 shots from the field, which included an impressive 4-for-5 effort from three-point range. However, after solid performances at home against Wofford and on the road at VMI, which both were losses for the Paladins, Johnston would hit a bit of a shooting slump. He would miss 19 of his next 22 efforts from three-point land following a 5-for-10 effort in a loss at VMI.
Fortunately for Bob Richey and the Paladins, Johnston would find his shooting touch back just in time for the Southern Conference Tournament, going 5-for-7 from three-point range in games against Chattanooga and Wofford in the tourney.
Johnston has only played basketball for five years, which is remarkable when you really think about how much he already has a good grasp of as a player and how much room he has for improvement over his final two seasons at Furman. One thing you almost hear in unison about the 6-11 forward is that he has a magnetic personality and is a great locker room leader.
Though he will be just a junior next season and has only one year under his belt in the program, he will be looked to as one of the leaders for this team moving forward. He is an emotional leader on the floor as well, which we’ve seen come up big time in a positive fashion, with Jordan Lyons probably coming to mind the most in that respect from recent memory.
Though he’s still learning the sport, it’s easy to see that he has plenty of skill that can be honed and developed over the next couple of seasons by the Paladin staff.
One of the things that hindered him in his first season with the Paladins were nagging knee and foot issues, and that placed him on a bit of a minute’s restriction throughout non-conference play to save him as much as possible for when league play commenced.
Ironically, it was some of those non-conference games that ended up being some of Johnston’s better performances. Like Bowser, coaches will look to develop strength and a more refined game around the basket, and he might even be a little ahead of the game as a mid-range shooter because that is where he has expertise.
Aside from his performance in the early, 78-69, win over Jacksonville last season, Johnston also added a solid eight points off the bench in a key road win over FGCU, and also added six points in 12 minutes off the bench in a big road win over Harvard in Furman’s final non-conference game. He carried that performance over to Southern Conference play, as he posted 17 points and seven rebounds in Furman’s 29-point win at Western Carolina to open Southern Conference play.
Johnston would also add his first double-double performance in Furman’s 91-82 road loss at VMI in late January, as the big Aussie added 18 points and 11 rebounds. There is also the thought that he is skilled enough as a passer to help put him to a similar role as Garrett Hien has been over the past couple of seasons since Jalen Slawson has graduated, but there is still some improvements to be made in terms of fundamentals and overall skill before that might be a reality.
The biggest area that you could really see Johnston affect the season and learn more and more as the season progressed was on the defensive end in of the floor, and he came up big in late-season road wins in that area against Samford and Wofford, affecting the game by using his size and wingspan to get into passing lanes and make ball deflections.
If he could be a somewhat consistent shot-blocker around the basket along with Bowser, it would be an added bonus. It will be interesting to see how much the Paladins might utilize Johnston’s assets in a 1-3-1 zone, much the same as the Paladins did late last season.
This past season, Johnston finished the campaign by averaging 5.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG last season, while shooting 42.7% from the field and 38.8% (33-of-85) from three-point range. The coaching staff will likely hope that Johnston can be more of an impact player on the backboards this coming season after being one of NCAA Division II’s top rebounders in 2023-24, ranking fifth nationally in the nation in rebounding average (10.7) in his lone season at Cal State Monterrey Bay.
Davis Molnar will add another glue guy to the fold, and his experience and know-how were key in some games in conference play last season. When he was in the game, good things seemed to happen. Molnar finished the 2024-25 season by averaging 3.5 PPG and 2.7 RPG, as he saw action 33 of 35 games for the ‘Dins last season. Molnar brings a physical edge off the bench and gives the Paladins some grit and toughness in the paint.
Rounding out the front court for the Paladins heading into the 2024-25 season is Mason Smith–a player that head coach Bob Richey and staff expect to take some big steps in a positive direction this season, and could end up being one of the elite shooters in the Southern Conference before his time is finished with the Paladins.
Smith is a 6-7, 200-lb rising sophomore that came to Furman with some high marks out of Davidson Day School, and the Paladins recruited Smith hard only to see him commit to Greg Gary at Mercer initially. However, when Mercer fired Gary, the Paladins were the beneficiaries of Mercer’s administration deciding to go in a different direction, as Smith decided to commit to Furman.
Smith was given some opportunities to find his way into a regular spot into the rotation early on in the season, however, he couldn’t really find his way into his a regular-spot, and part of that was the adjustment to the collegiate level, as well as for a really good shooter, which I think Smith absolutely is. He is one of the top shooters on Furman’s team, although it might not have shown as much last season. Smith ended up logging action in 17 games this past season for the Paladins, and he would end up showing glimpses as a shooter throughout the season.
He would end up connecting on 18 field goals in his rookie season with the Paladins, with 10 (10-of-39/25.6%) of those coming from long range.
Smith scored in double figures in a pair of games against lower competition, as he would post 11 points in the season opener against Columbia International, while he would post 20 points in a win over Ogelthorpe. In those two games, Smith would connect on 6-of-15 from three-point range and was a combined 12-of-24 from the field in both of those double-figure scoring performances.
In the other 15 games Smith would log action in for the Paladins last season, he would finish a combined 6-of-29 from the field, which included a 4-of-15 mark from long range. Part of the adjustment for Smith will be to get in the weight room and change his body a little, but the good news is the extra bonus is that he is athletic enough to be a versatile player and take the ball to the rack.
For me, I expect Smith to have maybe a progression similar to Marcus Kell at some point in his career when the minutes allow for it and if he ends up sticking around this season, however, I am not really sure if that “Kell-like” progression will come this upcoming season or more likely the 2026-27 season.
While Furman looks to be up there with Chattanooga and maybe Samford in terms of being the best in the SoCon early-season outlook with everything still fluid and portal additions still to be made, the Paladins also appear to be in good shape in the backcourt, depending on how you look at it.
Yes, they lost a great deal of talent and scoring with the graduation of both Nick Anderson and PJay Smith Jr., however, what is also evident that some solid talent has stuck around during the off-season, and as we’ve seen in the past at Furman under Bob Richey, Paladin guards typically take a major jump in year two with the program.
That was true with past players in the Furman program, going all the way back to even a guy like Devin Sibley, who was recruited by Bob Richey as an assistant under Niko Medved, and while he was the SoCon Freshman of the Year in 2014-15, his game would really reach new heights as a sophomore, and by the time he was a junior in the 2016-17 season, when Sibley would become the second Paladin in a row to be named SoCon Player of the Year.
Even Stephen Croone was that way–a player that Richey located and was able to to convince to stay committed to Furman through a coaching transition after Jeff Jackson was fired and Niko Medved was hired–and while Croone was good in year one, which was the 2012-13 season, his progression in year two saw him become an elite scorer in the league, as evidenced by becoming the first Paladin in 41 years to accomplish that feat in a single performance.
The trend would continue with Jordan Lyons, who really came into his own as a player in year three in the program, making a huge leap in his offensive numbers from year two to year three, as he saw his scoring average improve by 8.0 PPG.
Mike Bothwell had two major leaps as a player in his career, with the first coming from year one to year two, increasing his points per game average by almost 7.0 PPG, and then from year two to year three, Bothwell went from averaging 11.0 PPG to almost 16 per outing.
JP Pegues’ over the final month-and-a-half of his sophomore season could be the biggest reason why Furman claimed its first NCAA Tournament berth in 43 years, and now most recently, PJay Smith, who increased his scoring total by nearly 8.0 PPG from year one to year two leaves a vacancy that has to be filled at point guard.
The question isn’t really whether the production will come at this point, but more is how that production will come. Will it come from the transfer portal, where the Paladins remain in talks with at least one recruit that has Furman as one of his final top choices, or will Richey’s trust reside in a Eddrin Bronson and a cast of talented newcomers on the way this coming season.
As we have seen in the past, Richey is big on using that redshirt year to develop players, which is precisely why other players from the past have been able to develop into dynamic players, but there have also been cases when the talent was so evident from the start that they had to learn on the run, which is the case with guards from the past like Sibley, Croone, Lyons, Bothwell and Pegues.
For guys like Bronson, the redshirt year will likely pay off more this year than it was able to last season, and that is due largely to the foot injury suffered by Bronson in the latter portion of the summer, forcing a prolonged rehab to try and get back, allowing less time to focus on some of the other essentials to try and get ready for his first season of mid-major college basketball inside one of its most-competive leagues.
With that said, you could see the product, who hails from Tampa, FL, by way of Tampa Catholic continue to develop as the season progressed, and after shooting the ball well down the stretch in non-conference play and one of the performances that stands out most to those who covered the SoCon and the Paladins throughout the 2024-25 season was the performance that Bronson delivered in Furman’s lopsided loss at Kansas.
It was the one Furman player that the Kansas fans gained an especially respect for throughout the contest, but particularly in the opening half of that game and towards latter portions of the frame when Bronson got on a roll shooting the basketball, which even caused Jayhawks head coach Bill Self to at one point with about six minutes remaining in the half call a timeout with the Jayhawks clinging to a one-point, 27-26, lead with 6:23 remaining in the opening 20 minutes of basketball.
For the game, Bronson would finish the contest with a then career-best 14 points, as he finished 4-for-10 from the field and 4-of-9 from three-point range in the game.
Though the Paladins would drop the contest, in lopsided fashion, 86-51, it was a tremendous confidence boost for the redshirt freshman player to go into an environment like Phog Allen Fieldhouse and delivering a leading performance the way Bronson was able to do. It was one of several performances throughout the course of the season that Bronson needs to bottle and use that as momentum to carry him forward into what has the potential to be an explosive redshirt sophomore season.
Bronson is strong, versatile and athletic, but perhaps most of all and the reason why he will once again be a major part of Furman’s success moving forward in 2025-26 is his defensive capabilities. That alone should ensure he sees a lot of court time heading into the 2025-26 season, and I think he will be a part of the starting rotation for head coach Bob Richey heading into the 2025-26 season.
It may be better to say it this way, and that is that it’s not a question of whether or not Bronson will play or start, but it’s just where that might be being the biggest overall burning question. Bronson improved as the season progressed in taking care of the basketball, and credit has to go to head coach Bob Richey for putting the young man in some high-pressure situations.
One of the first times I can remember there being a real trust from Richey towards Bronson was in the 75-71 loss to Chattanooga at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena last season in a game, which raced out to a 22-6 lead only to see the Mocs’ championship pedigree come up big in the clutch down the stretch in that game.
Ed Bronson
When the game was hanging in the balance in Greenville, and in the final 4:53 of the game, when Chattanooga made their charge, Richey stuck with his freshman guard and trusted him with the game on the line, despite Bronson and Smith both looking visibly exhausted against UTC’s depth.
Against the Mocs in the four-point loss, Bronson had made the second of three starts that he have during the 2024-25 season, posting his second-highest minutes of the season, logging 34:04 against UTC. That came on the heels of playing a season-high 35:10 of court time in Furman’s narrow, 72-70, win over a very good East Tennessee State, which also included chasing around Quimari Peterson and John Buggs III while on the defensive end of the floor in that contest.
In all honesty, it was a game that offered a big learning opportunity for Bronson and it was against a team with the best guard tandem in the league, as well as the most savvy and veteran backcourt duo in the SoCon.
The loss to Chattanooga in the first meeting between the two was also the first time I had noticed that Furman as a team looked like they got run ragged in the second half by the Mocs, and by the end of it, Chattanooga had not only won the game, but exhausted Furman in the process. It seemingly wore as much on Furman’s backcourt as any part of the team, and in particular, PJay Smith Jr. and Bronson.
Overall, Bronson had a solid game overall against the Mocs, contributing nine points and two assists, as he ended the game connecting on 3-of-7 shots from the field, which included going 1-for-3 from long range. He ended up guarding both Honor Huff and Trey Bonham for most of the night and did a solid job, holding them in check, as they are difficult for anyone to completely shut down.
Though he wouldn’t score in 22 minutes of action in Furman’s 80-77 overtime win over top-seeded Chattanooga in the Southern Conference Tournament, it was Bronson that would ultimately make the play that would ultimately go a long way in helping the Paladins all but clinch the upset win, as Bronson was “johnny on the spot” in stealing Garrison Keeslar’s inbounds pass–a player that led the nation in assist-turnover-ratio and set an NCAA Division I single-season record in that category–and gave the Paladins the possession of the basketball and a three-point lead with 12 seconds left, forcing Keeslar to commit the foul.
But not only did Bronson steal the ball, he also made an incredibly quick decision to get the ball out his hands and into the hands of the reliable hands of Nick Anderson–the team’s best free throw shooter. Anderson would make one of two shots, giving the Paladins the all-important two-possession lead.
Bronson finished his first season for the Paladins seeing action in all 35 games, which included making three starts on the season. He finished his first season for the Paladins enjoying a solid campaign, as he ended up averaging 5.5 PPG and 5.7 RPG last season, but shot only 32.7% (66-of-202) from the field and just 29.8% from three (37-of-124).
Bronson has a huge upside, and his shooting numbers aren’t indicative of the type of shooter he can be, but he is mostly a raw athlete, with a lot of Mike Bothwell’s similar attributes as a physical slasher in the paint, while also being a better athlete than Bothwell.
Bronson is a good ball-handler, and it stands to reason that would could see a similar adjustment for him this season, as we did in JP Pegues’ sophomore campaign, as he could exclusively play the point, but I think there will be some mix-and-match, and by playing Bronson some at the two or the three, it will allow him to affect the game in more ways, and that’s a credit to being so versatile to be able to contribute in a number of different ways.
Finally on Bronson: If his final game of the 2024-25 season against North Texas is any indication–a game the Paladins lost 75-64 in Denton last season–then it could be a hint of things to come for the rising redshirt sophomore. He finished out that contest with a career-high 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, including 3-for-3 from three-point land in what was easily his best game of the season. It was the first time since the Kansas game that Bronson looked like he was feeling 100% and let the game come to him.
In many ways, Furman’s hopes to get back to the championship circle will hinge on how well Bronson adjusts in year two; while showcasing the gains he got from the adversity he faced due to a late off-season injury last season, as well as the overall maturity he gained from his redshirt season.
While Anderson and Smith have exited stage right, it’s never as if Bob Richey’s teams are completely barren of shooting talent, but rather if shooters move on, it’s more like “next shooter up” and that’s what made the 2023-24 season so bizarre. It was the only campaign in which Furman lacked a real pure and constant threat from three-point land, yet it wasn’t as if the team lacked for shooters. The chemistry was off, and so was the spacing, leading to Furman’s worst perimeter shooting team under Richey.
In the off-season, Furman almost exclusively added shooters to the mix, with the likes of Anderson, Tom House and Charles Johnston all added to bolster the Paladins’ overall shooting touch from all points on the floor, but mostly from three.
It once again made the Paladins hard to guard, and as a byproduct of adding three shooters you had to account for at all times from the transfer portal, it would allow a player like Smith to see his game soar to new heights in his final season of college basketball after transferring into Furman from Lee University two years earlier.
He had the kind of final college season that ended up being the byproduct of what Richey was able to add out of the portal during the off-season. That is once again the hope as we move forward and towards the 2025-26 season.
The good news for Furman is that though the Paladins do lose two outstanding shooters to graduation, they do bring back an outstanding shooter and a player in, Florida State transfer Tom House, that can score points in a hurry with his ability to get hot from deep.
House’s ability to shoot the basketball was especially evident late in the season, as he posted some big games in the lineup towards the latter portion of the 2024-25 season, particularly against Mercer in mid-February and the Paladins’ SoCon Tournament opener against Samford–games in which Tom House scored 26 and 21 points–and shot the cover off the basketball. He combined to go 12-of-16 from beyond the arc.
For the season, House averaged 7.1 PPG and 2.6 RPG, while shooting 40.6% (54-of-133) from three-point range. House solved his confidence issues with that career-high 26-point effort against Mercer changed House’s season entirely. Early in the season, when a shot or two wouldn’t fall, House was reluctant to keep shooting. That all changed with that late season win over Mercer.
House will be a player that will see a big role increase this coming season, as he will be looked to as one of the Paladins’ main scorers, as well being their primary deep threat. He will also be challenged to be a leader on both ends of the floor, as well as being one off the court. It has the potential to be a big season for House and one that, if things go well, could yield SoCon all-league plaudits at the end of the journey.
Like Wofford last season, Furman didn’t need much from the portal going into the process and could afford to be a little patient with who they wanted to add in a couple of key areas. The prevailing theory is that the Paladin staff went into the off-season looking at two areas in which, if they could get two players at those positions, would end up bolstering one of the league’s most veteran and one its deepest rosters of players heading into the season.
Let’s officially welcome Asa Thomas to the #FurmanFamily! pic.twitter.com/OWKToRYk8G
— Furman Basketball (@FurmanMBB) April 28, 2025
Even head coach Bob Richey in his final post-game press conference of the 2024-25 season, which followed what was a 75-64 loss to North Texas in the NIT, made known that the Paladins would be looking to add an experienced point guard and one small forward or another shooting guard to the mix during the off-season. With seven coming back, and five highly touted recruits on the way in, it left two scholarship spots to be filled.
The Paladins have already achieved one of the two by going out and signing Clemson transfer small forward Asa Thomas. Like VanderWal, Thomas hails from the Land of Lincoln and has a chance to become the latest success story to really shine at Furman in recent years from the state of Illinois. It really started during the past decade with Hinsdale, Ill., native Matt Rafferty, who would eventually go on to have a career worthy of being a Furman Basketball Hall-of-Famer sometime in the future I would imagine.
Thomas is very much a player that fits the Furman profile when it comes to locating a player that can shoot the three, offers scoring versatility and is solid defensively. Thomas is 6-7, 200 lbs and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Thomas originally came to Clemson from Lake Forest, Ill., as a three-star prospect two years ago with what appeared to be a bright future ahead in the Clemson shade of Orange rather than the one worn by his home state institution Illinois, however, Thomas’ 2023-24 season would be cut way short due to having to have shoulder surgery.
During his high school career, Thomas ended setting a record for three-pointers made in both a career (295) and in one season (98), as well as ranking second in Lake Forest High School, finishing his career with an impressive 1,746 career points. Thomas’ shooting ability from long range will be a nice compliment to the skill-set that VanderWal brings to the table.
It will be interesting to see just where Thomas fits in the rotation for Richey’s Paladins during the 2025-26 season, and whether it will be as the first man off the bench behind VanderWal or if he could even play some at the two, especially with his ability as a perimeter threat. Thomas also brings above average athleticism to the mix for the Paladins.
Freshman Additions:
Furman’s freshman class, at least on paper, has the potential to be one of the best in school history, and is certainly one that reserves evaluation in that regard for a later date, especially with the transfer portal readily available, with players ready to transfer out on a whim to the bigger programs that offer the most NIL.
That being said, this freshman class, at least on paper, looks pretty darn impressive. If the Paladins don’t end up picking up a point guard from the transfer portal, it’s quite possible head coach Bob Richey and staff might look to a couple of freshman signees to potentially fill that void and add some depth in the immediate.
Landing four-star recruit Alex Wilkins out of Boston and three-star recruit Abijah Franklin of nearby Wren High School in Powdersville, S.C., is just the tip of the iceberg, and when you add in a third guard Collin O’Neal, who is rated highly out of Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, gives the Paladins another athletic option at wing, but is versatile enough at other positions on the floor.
O’Neal is very much in the same mold of Eddrin Bronson, which means he’s powerful and athletic, with good enough ball-handling skills to penetrate and distribute and create his own shot in traffic. Add to that, that he’s also a perimeter threat and he is a three-level scorer.
Furman’s success of getting guards out of that region of Tennessee is all that much of a new story, as it has been kind of a trend that has been apparent in other eras of Paladin basketball, with that trend even dating back to former standouts like Bubba Smith (Henderson/Furman’98) and others more recent like Devin Sibley (Knoxville/Furman ’18), JP Pegues (Nashville/Furman ’24) and PJay Smith Jr. (LaVergne/Furman ’25).
O’Neal has the potential to be the latest out and out star from the Volunteer State, and he could end up adding depth at either point guard or shooting guard in 2025-26. O’Neal was heavily recruited by both SoCon rivals East Tennessee State and Wofford among other solid mid-major offers like Florida Gulf-Coast in the recruiting process.
Franklin is coming off a strong season for Wren High School in the state of South Carolina and was named the Region 3A State Player of the Year and finished out the 2024-25 season leading the Wren Hurricanes to a 25-5 record, while leading the state in scoring by posting 888 points and averaging 31.5 PPG for the season. He garnered first-team all-state accolades in both his junior and senior seasons.
Franklin is a three-level scorer, but his main strength is his athleticism and ability to get to the basket and create his own shot off the dribble. Franklin, a three-star recruit, chose to attend Furman over South Carolina State, Appalachian State and Jacksonville.
Wilkins is the player that, in my opinion, will have a chance to see the most extensive action on the floor in the 2025-26 season, and while I think all three will be given the opportunity, it’s Wilkins’ cerebral game offensively and length at 6-5, which allows him to play bigger than that on the defensive end, getting into passing lanes, which will allow him to see the biggest role as any of the five signees.
That’s just an opinion though, but it’s no secret as to what he can do and how big of an impact he can have. Wilkins’ recruitment and stock rose significantly during his senior season, and like O’Neal and Franklin, brings a great amount of versatility to the guard spot, but he looks like the guy that, if Furman doesn’t sign a point guard from the transfer portal, could end up providing the key depth at the position behind Ed Bronson as soon as this upcoming 2025-26 season.
During his senior season at the Brooks School in North Andover, MA., Wilkins star shined brightly, as he averaged 25.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG. 3.2 APG and shot 52.4% from the field, which included a solid 37.5% from three-point land. Wilkins also excelled as a foul shooter, connecting at an 88.5% clip from the charity stripe.
Then came HS Playoff Alex Wilkins, and as good as his numbers were during the regular season at Brooks, like most good players do, he stepped it up a notch in the postseason. Wilkins led Brooks to wins in the first two rounds with 28 and 31 points before his buzzer-beating effort in the state title game gave Brooks a memorable way to finish off it season against a talented Rivers School, allowing Brooks to capture the NEPSAC Class B title.
Wilkins need to add some muscle and strength, but his ability as a passer and three-level scorer could see him make an impact far sooner than later. Wilkins ended up with almost 30 NCAA Division offers and ended up choosing Furman in the end. For Wilkins, it was a close battle between Furman and Davidson, but the Paladins program won the recruiting battle in the end. If there is a comparable former Paladin player, look no further than Mike Bothwell.
The final two additions to the latest recruiting class for Furman are 6-6 wing Cole Bowser and 6-9 power forward Owen Riger, that will give the front court some added depth.
It’s my prediction that one of these two players stands the most likely chance to redshirt from this class, but both come into the Furman program with an eye on playing right away and will have the opportunity to do so. In fact, there’s also the chance that all five could play as soon as the 2025-26 season.
Cole Bowser is of course Cooper Bowser’s little brother, and he comes to Furman from DeMatha Catholic, as he will join services with his brother this coming season–6-11 Cooper Bowser–as the duo looks to join some other great brother tandems to have starred in the league in its rich history, including guys like Ramon and Damon Williams at VMI, as well as being the latest tandem of brothers to suit up for the Paladins since Charley Reddick and Colin Redick suited up for the ‘Dins from 2009-14.
Bowser chose Furman among eight offers from others like Bryant, Norfolk State, Old Dominion, Towson and George Washington to name a few of those. The 6-6 small forward is athletic and an outstanding defender, which will give him a chance to play this coming season. He’s also versatile but excels as a long-range threat.
Ritger is another player that is versatile, and the 6-9 power forward gives Furman a true four in the paint, rather than having to develop a five into four, which the Paladins have had to do in recent seasons. His ability as a rebounder as well as a shooter from beyond the arc will give the Paladins plenty of ability to stretch the floor when he’s in the lineup.
He comes to Furman out of the basketball hotbed of Atlanta, GA, playing his prep basketball at Marist High School in Atlanta. He was rated the No. 4 power forward in the Peach State prior to the start of the 2024-25 season.
He’s going to be a player that will likely get a chance to play this coming season because Furman doesn’t really have a true four, and while Johnston can play the four position, as can Bowser, Ritger will give the Paladins an added measure of strength and gives the Paladins a true post presence and one that can also shoot the three.
Ritger ended up choosing Furman among 15 offers he held coming out of high school, as he chose the Paladins over offers from Chattanooga, Bucknell, Mercer, Loyola (MD), Kennesaw State, Ohio, Miami (OH), Indiana State and Wofford to name a few.
Finally, the Paladins added one other recent addition to their 2025-26 freshman signing class, with the addition of 5–11-point guard Gunnar Lewis out of Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville. The Division II-AA Mr. Basketball averaged 20.3 PPG as a senior and scored more than 1,400 career points. He was also a 38% shooter from three-point land, as well as an 88% free throw shooter over the course of his career at CPA. Lewis will be one of only two players on the Furman roster shorter than.
Early 2025-26 Outlook:
As you might expect, Furman returns the second-most players and scoring production on the league behind VMI, who ranks 12th in the nation in terms of scoring production returning from the previous season.
The Paladins will likely be the 2025-26 preseason favorite, or at worst, considered a top three team along with likely Chattanooga and Wofford heading into the season.
I expect the Paladins had many more questions heading into the 2024-25 season, but one thing that has remained constant is that in seven out of his eight seasons as the head coach at Furman, he’s gotten the most out of team almost every season he’s been at the helm.
With the momentum gathered with the wins over Samford (W, 95-78) and No. 1 seed and regular-seed Chattanooga (W, 80-77 OT), the Paladins had gathered so much momentum with those two wins in Asheville, that it seemed almost a foregone conclusion to many that the Paladins would make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.
As things would play out in what was truly a great basketball game, Wofford would end up using its experience and poise down the stretch, with Jackson Sivillis, Kyler Filewich, and Corey Tripp that, for me, were the true difference in the game between a pair of teams that were pretty evenly matched at most every spot on the floor.
The more surprising thing for me about Wofford is not that they won a great title game between two worthy title contenders, is how Wofford ended up sixth in the final regular-season standings. That said, I suppose you could make the same comment on Furman, who finished fifth in the regular-season, but won 25 games for the season, including 22 in the regular-season.
What I mean is, Furman and Wofford were likely two top four teams that finished lower in the regular-season than maybe they should have.
Like Wofford last year, Furman hasn’t approached the portal with wild notions because they don’t need to add much.
Wofford added only point guard Justin Bailey from USC Upstate, and he was the one missing piece that Wofford needed to get over the top, and though it didn’t prove out in the regular-season, it certainly proved that, when it mattered in the tournament in Asheville with an NCAA Tournament bid was on the line, Wofford’s experience and added piece came up big when it needed to. That’s what head coach Bob Richey will hope will be the case this coming into the 2025-26 season.
With what Furman has returning in comparison to what Wofford returned for 2024-25, outside of Corey Tripp, Furman has a more talented group back heading itno 2025-26 than the Terriers had a year ago.
The other big thing that Richey has had to approach the past couple of seasons is losing some assistants, which is never a bad thing when you’ve been as successful as Furman has been. The Paladins lost Jeremy Growe last season to the College of Charleston, as he joined Chris Mack’s staff late during the off-season when Matt McCall did not end up taking the spot in the low country, and so Mack’s next choice was Growe, who had been an assistant for 10 seasons at Xavier prior to coming to Furman prior to the 2019-20 season.
Growe previously worked under Mack from 2009-18 during Mack’s time at Xavier, and they were reunited this past August, when Mack needed to fill the sudden vacancy at Associate Head Coach. His primary responsibility at Furman was as a defensive specialist.
The Paladins also had to replace staff members Tim Johnson, who took an assistant coaching position at Indiana State, upgrading his salary in the process. Like Growe and Chad Warner, Johnson was also a key member of the 2022-23 SoCon title-winning team.
Richey would then hire three assistants to his staff with the departure of Johnson, Growe as well as Jake DeLaney, who left to return to Gardner-Webb to become a top assistant on Jeremy Luther’s staff after Tim Craft left to take the head coaching position at Western Carolina.
During Owens’ time as a player for UAH, he helped the Chargers to three NCAA Division II Tournaments, which included two Gulf South Tournament titles (2015 and ’17) and a pair of regular-season titles (2014-15 and 2015-16).
Khyle Marshall joined the Furman program prior to the 2024-25 season after spending three seasons at South Dakota State. In his first season on staff with the Jackrabbits in 2021-22, he was part of one of the successful seasons in Summit League history, with a 30-5 overall mark and an unblemished 18-0 mark in league action.
The Jackrabbits went on to the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22 and followed up in 2022-23 with a second-place finish in the Summit League. In the 2023-24 campaign, he helped the Jackrabbits compile a 22-13 record, which included a 12-4 mark in the Summit League, as SDSU won both regular-season and tournament titles, returning to the NCAA Tournament for a second time in three seasons.
The third assistant added to the fold was Pat Estepp, who spent 24 seasons at Cedarville University (OH) as an assistant and head coach. He spent 16 years as the head coach, compiling a record of 292-191 and led the Yellow Jackets to three NCAA Division II (NCCAA) national titles in 2012, 2019 and 2024. He will serve as the special assistant to the head coach, occupying essentially the same role that Angell did the previous two seasons.
Finally, a familiar face was called upon to occupy the sidelines in 2024-25 after spending one season as a graduate assistant elsewhere. Rhett Lister returned to Furman after spending the 2023-24 season as a graduate assistant at Kent State. He helped the Golden Flashes finish the 2023-24 season with a 17-17 record, helping Kent State reach the MAC Tournament title game.
Richey didn’t hesitate to then promote top assistant Warner to his Associate Head Coach in 2024-25, and with Warner having head coaching experience at Flagler prior to coming to Furman, the move was almost a no-brainer for Richey. The Paladins would return to being one of the best offensive teams and best shooting teams in the SoCon last season, which was of little surprise to most.
Warner’s experience as a head coach at Flagler would also come in handy, as he would be on the sidelines leading the ‘Dins to an early-season win at Belmont (W, 76-73), as Bob Richey was with his wife for the birth of their fifth child–Emily Francine Richey–as Warner would hold down the head coaching spot for the Paladins to capture one of their biggest wins of the season in Nashville.
However, when former Furman head coach Niko Medved left Colorado State to take the head coaching position at Minnesota, he would call Richey in reference to Warner. Richey and Medved have remained close over the years since he left Furman, so when Niko called to inquire about Warner, it was not only a welcomed call from the Furman head coach, but one that allowed him to help his associate head coach to a better position for more money.
While head coaches always hate to lose guys from their staff, the ultimate goal is to help assistants to achieve their highest potential and help them move on to an upgraded position for more money, which was the case for Warner. He’ll be Niko Medved’s right-hand man in his first season as the head coach of his alma mater.
The one unforeseen change might have been that of Kip Owens, who spent one season on staff with Richey before he had the rare opportunity to return to coach under the coach he played for in college, Lenny Acuff.
As a secondary part of that, Richey is close with Lennie Acuff, and many times in the past in various interviews and podcasts, Richey has talked about how much of an influence Acuff has had on him as a mentor and as a basketball coach.
The Paladins have filled one of the two vacancies on the staff, bringing in Joe Pierre III, who will assume Chad Warner’s post as Associate Head Coach. Pierre has spent the previous seven years on staff with the Flames under head coach Ritchie McKay and it was Pierre that helped hone the Flames’ pack-line defense into almost an artform under McKay during his time with the Flames.
It will be interesting to see if there are some philosophical changes on the defensive end of the floor in the upcoming season for the Paladins. If you’ll remember, last season we saw the Paladins transition to a 1-3-1 zone a lot over the latter half of league play, and that proved to be especially beneficial in March.
Starters Lost: (3)–G-Nick Anderson (Out of Eligibility); PJay Smith Jr. (Out of Eligibility); Garrett Hien (Out of Eligibility)
Others Lost: (3)–F-Tommy Humphries (transfer portal/St Thomas); F-Clyde Mauldin (transfer portal/Francis Marion), F-Tyrese Hughey (out of eligibility)
Potential Breakout Player in 2024-25:
Best Transfer Portal Get: F-Asa Thomas (Clemson)
Best Freshman Addition: G-Alex Wilkins or G-Abijah Franklin
Abijah Franklin
Collin O’Neal
Overall Portal/Recruiting Synopsis and Grade: A+
