The REAL. BIG. Blog

If you know the state where every school in the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament is located, then I can safely say you have too much time on your hands. OK, some are pretty easy – North Texas is probably in Texas. South Dakota State is probably not in California. It turns out Oakland is not in California, but Michigan. Go figure. But where in the world is Wofford?

Some of these schools are what TV producers and broadcasters crave – air time filler, the Cinderella story, the little known school with big time hopes. So let’s take the example of Wofford. At under 1500 students it’s about the size of the Division III college I went to as an undergrad. How did they make it to Division I? You might think it was by focusing nearly exclusively on athletics but the school is ranked as one of the top 60 national private, liberal arts colleges in the country and has produced five Rhodes Scholars.  They are one of the smallest schools ever to go to the NCAA tournament but they’re not the 16 seed you might expect – they’ve earned  a 13 seed and are slated to play Wisconsin. If I were the Badgers I’d watch out for these guys. They’re nicknamed the Terriers and it’s always the small dogs with big attitude that end up biting your finger.

Anyway, I figure the Big Dance is always a good time to find out something about a school you’ve never heard of. If your alma mater is playing this week, or you just want to wave the flag about your school, give us a shout and tell us what makes your school special. By the way, Wofford is located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. You can add that to your bracketknowledgey.

Wofford College