Like most, I haven't paid much attention to Wofford this year. I watched a little bit of their championship game since they had popped up as a possible opponent on a lot of Bracketology predictions. And, a lot of prognosticators had penned them as a possible "Giant Killer" in the tournament. Personally, I came away not impressed by them struggling to put away an 11 win Furman team.
Here's some info I gleaned from looking at their Kenpom.com page:
- They play at a VERY slow pace. Offensively, their average length of possession is 19.2 seconds (ranking 258th in pace). And, defensively, they force teams to use up an average of 19.3 seconds of the shot clock (ranking 310th). So, it's going to be a drastic difference in styles. It'll be important for us to try to speed them up.
- They're a good shooting team, hitting 37.1% of their 3's (61st nationally) and 49.5% of their 2's (93rd). They're an average FT shooting team, shooting 69.0% of their FT's (186th). We need to make sure we don't lose their shooters, which has been an issue for us.
- When they put up a shot they're more worried about getting back on D than going for the offensive rebound. They rebound 29.3% of their own misses (239th nationally). So, hopefully we don't have too many defensive possessions where they get multiple shots.
- They do a good job of taking care of the ball, turning over on 17.3% of their possessions (66th). Speeding them up, and forcing TO's will be key for us.
- Because of their lack of size - their average height is 308th in the nation - they don't block a lot of shots. They only block 7.4% of their opponents 2 pt shots. Portis should have a field day shooting and rebounding against these guys.
- Their best player is Karl Cochran, a 6'1" PG. He does everything for them. He leads their team in scoring, rebounding, steals, assists, and even blocked shots. He's taken 157 more shots than the next closest player. Slow him down and we win.
Personally, this team doesn't scare me too much. These 5 / 12 games can be tricky, so hopefully I'm not underestimating them. I just down see how they beat us unless they're raining a bunch of 3's on us. Weird things do happen in the NCAAT though.
FWIW, Ken Pomeroy gives us a 73% chance of winning and has a predicted score of 72-66.
Here's some info I gleaned from looking at their Kenpom.com page:
- They play at a VERY slow pace. Offensively, their average length of possession is 19.2 seconds (ranking 258th in pace). And, defensively, they force teams to use up an average of 19.3 seconds of the shot clock (ranking 310th). So, it's going to be a drastic difference in styles. It'll be important for us to try to speed them up.
- They're a good shooting team, hitting 37.1% of their 3's (61st nationally) and 49.5% of their 2's (93rd). They're an average FT shooting team, shooting 69.0% of their FT's (186th). We need to make sure we don't lose their shooters, which has been an issue for us.
- When they put up a shot they're more worried about getting back on D than going for the offensive rebound. They rebound 29.3% of their own misses (239th nationally). So, hopefully we don't have too many defensive possessions where they get multiple shots.
- They do a good job of taking care of the ball, turning over on 17.3% of their possessions (66th). Speeding them up, and forcing TO's will be key for us.
- Because of their lack of size - their average height is 308th in the nation - they don't block a lot of shots. They only block 7.4% of their opponents 2 pt shots. Portis should have a field day shooting and rebounding against these guys.
- Their best player is Karl Cochran, a 6'1" PG. He does everything for them. He leads their team in scoring, rebounding, steals, assists, and even blocked shots. He's taken 157 more shots than the next closest player. Slow him down and we win.
Personally, this team doesn't scare me too much. These 5 / 12 games can be tricky, so hopefully I'm not underestimating them. I just down see how they beat us unless they're raining a bunch of 3's on us. Weird things do happen in the NCAAT though.
FWIW, Ken Pomeroy gives us a 73% chance of winning and has a predicted score of 72-66.
