Wofford - A Brief Primer
So now that we know who our first matchup will be against, I thought it might be helpful to get a general idea of who the Wofford Terriers are and what we can expect from them.
- Wofford went 17-12 this year, finishing 3rd in the Southern Conference by 4 games before winning the conference tournament.
- They have an RPI of 156, BPI of 174, and SOS of 249, going 0-8 vs RPI top 150 teams.
- Their best wins, RPI wise, were over a duo of Big South teams High Point (16-14, RPI 172), Winthrop (20-13, RPI 173) as well as conference foe Elon (18-14, RPI 163).
- Their worst loss, RPI wise, was to UNC Greensboro(14-18, RPI 301).
- According to KenPom, they are the #184 team in the country, the 4th worst team in the field, worst non 16 seed, and ranked lower than a few 16 seeds as well.
- According to KenPom, their adjusted offense and defensive rankings, respectively, are 238th and 131st, compared to Michigan's rankings of 3rd and 104th.
- Also according to KenPom, they play at the 13th slowest tempo of any team in the country, ranking 339 out of 351.
- They have 10 players who average around 9 or more minutes per game (although one of those you may recognize as Aerris Smith, the player who gave a tearful postgame speech after their conference tourney final win saying he was having surgery on his knees and is done for the year.) By comparison, Michigan has 8 averaging around 15 or more minutes per game.
- Their starting lineup is
- 6-1 JR guard Karl Cochran
- 5-11 FR guard Eric Garcia
- 6-4 SO guard Spencer Collins
- 6-7 SO forward CJ Neumann (their tallest player of anyone who plays significant minutes)
- 6-6 JR forward Lee Skinner
- They have 3 players averaging double digits scoring, led by Cochran, who averages 15.7 PPG on 41.7% shooting and 39.7% shooting from 3.
- They shoot 37.1% from behind the arc as a team, led by Garcia at 47.3% and Cochran, although only Cochran has attempted more than 91 3's.
- They shoot 45% as a team from the floor and 66% from the line, compared to 48% and 76% for Michigan.
- Their leading rebounder is Skinner at 8.6 RPG, followed by Cochran at 5.
- Cochran is leading the team in assists with 3 APG, followed by Garcia at 2.6.
- This is Wofford's first NCAA appearance since 2011, when they were a 14 seed and lost to BYU in the first round. No one on that year's team is still playing on this one.
So if you made it through all of that, the takeaways are:
- They play slow. Expect them to dribble the air out of the ball.
- Cochran seems to be their best player, shut him down and they will probably struggle.
- We have a big size/athleticism advantage here, take advantage of it.
- They are not great on either side of the ball, but really struggle offensively. Our defense needs to make sure this continues.
We are obviously big favorites here, and all the numbers back it up. If this team plays to anything close to what they can, we should win fairly easily.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:12 PM ^
I love that we have two in depth scouting reports on Wofford posted within 2 minutes of each other. It's that level of ridiculous obsession that makes this a great community.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^
and I was about to scout them myself but came here and saw this. So I guess I will hold it till tomorrow.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:17 PM ^
your stats based, in-depth look, and my visual on-location scouting skills, we really had this one covered!!!
*Internet high five!*
So, like, we goin into game preview business after this? Beacuse I'm impressed.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:19 PM ^
Lez do it.
I'd much rather obsess over Michigan basketball then do all my engineering HW due tomorrow haha.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:24 PM ^
I have the whole "Second semester senior year in high school" thing goin for me, so this was by far the hardest I've tried on anything not related to my blog.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:22 PM ^
March 16th, 2014 at 11:34 PM ^
They won the conference tournament and he decided to go forth with career ending surgery.
Great interview after the game, it was posted here not long ago. I'd find it, but I'm too lazy.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:39 PM ^
Posted in the OP, but his name is Aerris Smith. I wouldn't call him one of their best players though, he only averaged 8.8 MPG and didn't score double digits all year, and has only done so once in his entire career.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:41 PM ^
Short story Davison (15-1 in conf)looks like it was the class of that conf and got upset in the tourney so in comes Wofford. Davison beat Wofford twice in regular season. So good for us. Should be a confidence builder and roll over for a #2 seed who is building the resume we are over past half decade.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
/sigh
Davidson is moving to the A-10 next year. Davidson would have probably gotten a strong 14 seed like last year. Blew a 9 point lead with 1:10 to play against Marquette. AND NOW IM MAD AGAIN.
/sigh
This team isn't as good or hot as a Florida Gulf Coast in terms of competing, or having 1 amazing player like Norfolk State. Should be a solid win for Michigan.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
Just looked over Davison's non conf - very tough, Duke, Virginia and Wichita State among others. Davison itself would probably be a very tricky 13ish? seed for some 4 seed to deal with I would think from that. 2 pt upset in tourney, bummer.
haha... Davison. Screw the actual Davison. Go Kearsley.
wassup 810.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:40 PM ^
Aerris Smith was the one who was injured and gave that great speech. I didn't realize he was on Wofford and was (previously) looking forward to root for the team that he was one.
March 16th, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
Don't underestimate Wofford.
Their Asst. coach Darris Nichols was one of Beilein's best point guards *ever*; they went to the '07 Tourney together.
Here's Beilein on it: ""Darris was one of the smartest, brightest point guards I have ever had. Now I really wish he didn't understand our offense at all, but he knows everything about us so we have a challenge with a guy on the other bench that knows a lot about what we do" (emphasis added; this from today's mgoblue.com write up).
They paired us up with them for a reason....
Those bracket makers are a wily bunch alright.
I'm not sure it's a coincidence that Wichita State got a stacked region (would you really be surpised to see any of the top 4 seeds or Kentucky make the Final Four, I don't think any other region has 5 plausible options) )...or that both Louisville and UM are playing their mentee's teams
March 16th, 2014 at 11:53 PM ^
... is Appalachian State.
I remember thinking "these guys are all really small, we'll steamroll them." The Horror.
March 17th, 2014 at 12:14 AM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 12:17 AM ^
Good catch, it is 8, but 9 with McGary. I was just going down the minutes without looking at player names.
Can you do the remaining teams in the field, preferably before Thursday at 9 am pacific? That'd be great.
OK, I'll say it. The good thing about getting a two seed and playing Wofford is we can have a mediocre performance in the first round and still advance, unlike a couple of years ago. A greater level of security here.
Here's how TeamRankings would compare us to Wofford:
|
Offense
|
Wofford | Michigan |
| Points/Game | 65.4 | 74.4 |
| Avg Score Margin | +2.3 | +9.0 |
| Assists/Game | 12.1 | 14.2 |
| Total Rebounds/Gm | 32.5 | 31.8 |
| Effective FG % | 49.2% | 55.4% |
| Off Rebound % | 29.4% | 26.5% |
| FTA/FGA | 0.339 | 0.358 |
| Turnover % | 14.1% | 13.0% |
|
Defense
|
Wofford | Michigan |
| Opp Points/Game | 63.1 | 65.4 |
| Opp Effective FG % | 49.3% | 49.6% |
| Off Rebounds/Gm | 9.0 | 7.5 |
| Def Rebounds/Gm | 20.9 | 21.8 |
| Blocks/Game | 1.6 | 2.5 |
| Steals/Game | 6.1 | 5.1 |
| Personal Fouls/Gm | 17.6 | 14.5 |
He coached for a year at Presbyterian College after his stint in the army. Their final game (?) was at Wofford, and the hostility and proximity of the Wofford fans made it very intimidating. PC had goal to go to take the lead and there was a huge scrum. The refs came out of the pile with the ball and said "first down, Wofford!" Bo believed the officials would have been torn to shreds if they'd ruled any other way.
Here's a bit more on the only other meeting between Michigan and Wofford—a 83-49 Wolverine victory in Ann Arbor on December 2, 2006, during Tommy Amaker's final season as head coach. The mgoblue.com recap of the game highlights Dion Harris getting his first career double-double—14 points and 10 assists. Courtney Sims had a game-high 19 points, plus 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 1 assist. Early in his freshman year, DeShawn Sims tied his then career high with 9 points. Contributions from Brent Petway, Ron Coleman, Jerret Smith, Ekpe Udoh, and Lester Abram are also noted in the recap. Wofford finished that season with a 10-20 record.
Regarding possible second-round opponents, Michigan is 1-2 all-time versus Texas (W in 1994; Ls in 1990 and 1996) and 0-3 versus Arizona State (1965, 1967, 1994).
stay healthy, and get some sub time going as early as possible.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:07 AM ^
I'm just glad it's not a team full of plucky seniors with an athletic underclassman or two thrown in. Those seem always to be the kind of teams that play way above their level come tournament time.
March 17th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^