Get to Know Wofford, the 2019 NCAA Tournament's Mid-Major Dark Horse
The No. 7 seed Wofford Terriers may be one of the smallest schools in Division I basketball, but this year has seen them pack a serious punch. Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The school has an undergraduate enrollment of just 1,672, around 33 times smaller than UCF, the largest school in the NCAA Tournament by enrollment.
The Terriers are set to play Seton Hall at 9:40 p.m. on CBS in their first NCAA Tournament game since 2015 (hyperlink to SI bracket and schedule). Wofford plays in the Southern Conference and went undefeated in conference play in 2018-19. Wofford's leading scorer is senior guard Fletcher Magee, who averages 20.7 points per game and shoots 42.7% from three. Wofford has been coached by Mike Young since 2002-03.
To date, Wofford has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament, having lost in the round of 64 four times during Young's tenure. Its most recent March Madness appearance was a 56-53 loss to Arkansas. Wofford's most famous win this decade was a 79-75 triumph over then-defending national champions North Carolina in the Dean Dome in Dec. 2017.
However, this year will be different for the Terriers. Thanks to an undefeated conference season, the Terriers will be a higher seed than their opponents for the first time ever. The Terriers are one of the best bets for a mid-major to follow in the path of Loyola-Chicago and VCU and make the Final Four.
Wofford was founded in 1854 and named after Reverent Benjamin Wofford, a minister from Spartanburg, who left $100,000 in his will to found the school. The city of Spartanburg is in northwestern South Carolina and has a population of 180,786 according to the 2010 census.
