Writer-director Richmond Weaver’s five-part series Better Together: Furman’s Championship Quest drops you inside a program that’s spent years grinding in the Southern Conference, chasing the kind of moment that becomes legend on campus. Furman University’s men’s basketball team has a curse over its head. Despite having been in the Southern Conference Tournament several times, they haven’t “cut down the nets” since 1980, living as the league’s “Almost-Team” for decades. In 2022, Furman came seconds away from taking the championship until Chattanooga hit a last-second three-pointer to steal it.
The Furman Paladins’ 2022–23 season sees the team recovering from the gut punch of last season’s championship loss. Under the leadership of head coach Bob Richey, this documentary follows the Paladins as they regroup, tweak, and focus on returning to the championship spotlight. “Better Together” is the team’s mantra. It’s the only way they can succeed as a team, both on and off the court. Inspired by the Jack Johnson song of the same name, “Better Together” is how Coach Richey wants his team to live, practice, and compete.
A Furman Paladins player gets direction from the coaching staff during a game.
“…follows the Furman Paladins’ 2022-23 season as it recovers from the gut punch that is last season’s championship loss.”
When asked, “Why this story?” filmmaker Richmond Weaver stated that the purpose of the series was to “dig into the emotional and psychological aftermath” of losing the championship in the final game’s last 4.3 seconds. He hits on themes of resilience, redemption, perseverance, unity, and transformation — turning lemons into lemonade. I’m always intrigued by sports documentaries that follow a team or a single person at the start of the season with the goal of winning it all. That’s an investment in a story that you legitimately don’t know how it will turn out in the end. The team could sputter mid-season because of injuries or a total mental meltdown, or they could break the curse and win it in the end. Certainly, sports movies have been built on the story of teams like Furman, but ultimately, the series will succeed or fail based on how the team recovers.
In Better Together: Furman’s Championship Quest, we have a team that tasted victory only to have it snatched away. That’s where the drama of the series begins. Coach Richey’s answer is to stay focused on the primary mission: “Better Together.” The team is a family, and a functional family at that. Richey also spends a lot of time on mindset. “One game at a time,” and the goal is being “invited” back to the finals, as they still have to work on getting there. The series also focuses on the players and how they’ve internalized “Better Together.” I also appreciate that winning is not about race; it’s about working hard and working as a team.
By the end, Better Together: Furman’s Championship Quest makes it clear that Furman’s key to winning isn’t a single hero, but a team that holds the line together when the pressure mounts. Whether it’s “one game at a time” or the desire to get back to the spotlight, the series returns to the same point: the only way through is, well, better together.
"…hits on themes of resilience, redemption, perseverance, unity, and transformation..."
