If you’ve been checking out StatGeek Analytics, you’ve seen Wofford near the top all season long. And we’ve gotten a lot of questions about why we love Wofford. Well, here you go:
A great record
They’re 29-4! Those four losses were all to tournament teams – on the road against Oklahoma, Kansas and Mississippi State and at home against North Carolina. (Kansas and North Carolina are in the Midwest bracket with Wofford, by the way). A bad second half doomed them in all three road games and North Carolina was their season opener. Not making excuses for those losses but none of those can be considered bad.
They can shoot the three!
Four guys shoot better than 40% from behind the arc and overall these guys score 83 points per game. While scoring normally trends downward in the tournament, the ability to knock down three-pointers has become a massive difference maker. Last season, Villanova became the first team to win it all with over 40% of their points coming from three-pointers. That’s about where Wofford is this season. Further, their effective field goal percentage is 58.3% better than any of the last ten NCAA champions outside of Villanova last season (59.6%).
Turnovers!
The last ten champs averaged about 14.2% turnover percentage while their opponents averaged 17.2%. Wofford is at 13.8% for themselves and 18.4% for their opponents. So they not only can take care of the ball but they will force some turnovers. In fact, 50% of their opponents’ turnovers are off steals.
A good draw
They are the favorite against Seton Hall. Kentucky has had problems against teams that can shoot the three – in five of their six losses, opponents have shot 35% or better from the three-point arc, something Wofford could easily do.
We actually have Wofford being this year’s Loyola-Chicago and getting all the way to the Final Four. The model has loved them all season long and their stats compare favorably to recent champions. Go Terriers!