Furman Paladins

The Furman Paladins represent the private, liberal-arts side of Southern Conference basketball, playing at Timmons Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The program has built a reputation for disciplined, well-coached basketball, punctuated by a memorable NCAA Tournament run that put the Paladins on the national map. Furman's purple-and-white crowds bring an intimate, small-school energy to SoCon nights. The program remains one of the league's steadiest contenders.

Furman has never won a national championship, but the program's signature moment came in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, upsetting Virginia as a No. 13 seed. The Paladins have won multiple Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles over the decades, including an earlier NCAA Tournament appearance in 1980. Furman remains one of the SoCon's most tradition-rich programs.