The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 178 is Wofford basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Wofford basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 6
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 15.9
- Bids per season: 0.19
- AP Polls: 4
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 4
- Conference tournament titles: 6
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Wofford basketball
Wofford is still relatively new to Division I, but it hasn’t seemed to matter for the Terriers. They’ve made six NCAA Tournaments in 31 seasons, which is good for one about every five years.
Amazingly, all six have come in the past 17 years, which makes their current run even more amazing. Head coach Mike Young took them to their first five, and had a 299-244 record in 17 seasons. It’s hard to believe he was only the second coach since the program went DI, taking over from Richard Johnson, who didn’t have a winning record in seven seasons.
It took Young a bit to build Wofford up, but in 2009-10, they dominated SoCon play, going 15-3 in conference, winning the regular season and tournament titles, and only losing by four to 4-seed Wisconsin. They’d dip off a bit the following year, but still made it back to the big dance, losing in the first round as a 14-seed. Both teams were led by Noah Dahlman, who was a 3x All-SoCon player.
Wofford made it back in 2014, but picked up steam in 2015, taking 5-seed Arkansas to the brink. But then, in 2017-18, a player named Fletcher Magee started to get noticed, as he averaged over 22 points per game as a junior. The following year, in 2018-19, Magee would set the all-time record with 509 career threes. He now ranks fourth, but at the time, he was that year’s Jimmer Fredette. Wofford would go 30-5, taking down 10-seed Seton Hall in the round of 64, before losing in a close battle to 2-seed Kentucky.
Young would leave for Virginia Tech, with Jay McAuley taking over. He would leave midseason in 2022-23, reportedly breaking a few NCAA rules, and decided to resign. Dwight Perry would take over and lead them back to the big dance in 2025. However, he was fired due to players receiving improper financial benefits.
However, in year one of Kevin Giltner, Wofford did go 19-13, which is definitely a positive start. And at just 36 years old, he seems to be one of the top up-and-coming minds of the game.
Obviously, the Mike Young years are what helped Wofford get inside the top half of these rankings, but even in the non-tourney years, they’ve usually been competitive in conference and finished with a winning record. Lots of mid-majors would go for that.