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Another college basketball team from South Carolina has stolen my heart.

Last night, the Wofford Terriers beat Appalachian State to win the Southern Conference Tournament, and they'll make their first ever appearance in NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The Terriers (from Spartanburg, SC) joined the Southern Conference thirteen years ago and finally get to play in the postseason.

That's actually not that long of a drought. Five teams have been part of Division I basketball since 1939 and have never made it to the NCAA Tournament: The Citadel, Northwestern, William & Mary, St. Francis, and Army (despite having Bob Knight as coach and Mike Krzyzewski as a player).
The College of William & Mary, the country's oldest university (1693), came mighty close to ending their run of futility. The Tribe lost yesterday to Old Dominion in the Colonial Conference Tournament Championship, 60-53. Another notable drought: William & Mary* has not produced an American president since John Tyler. I suppose Harvard and Yale are doing a better job of recruiting future politicians these days.

But I'm not writing this post to talk about the poor and downtrodden teams. Let's discuss the real contenders and their resumes. The probable #1 seeds in the tourney are as follows:

Kansas Jayhawks
Record: 29-2, 15-1 Big 12
RPI: 1
Strength of Schedule (SOS): 8
Leading Scorer: Sherron Collins, 15.3 PPG, 4.3 APG
Coach: Bill Self, 405 career wins
Tournament Appearances: 38

Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 29-2, 14-2 SEC
RPI: 3
SOS: 38
Leading Scorer: John Wall, 16.8 PPG, 6.2 APG
Coach: John Calipari, 469 career wins
Tournament Appearances: 50

Syracuse Orange
Record: 28-3, 15-3 Big East
RPI: 4
SOS: 11
Leading Scorer: Wesley Johnson, 15.7 PPG, 18.5 RPG
Coach: Jim Boeheim, 827 career wins
Tournament Appearances: 32

Duke Blue Devils
Record: 26-5, 13-3 ACC
RPI: 2
SOS: 7
Leading Scorer: Jon Scheyer, 18.9 PPG, 5.2 APG
Coach: Mike Krzyzewski, 858 career wins
Tournament Appearances: 33

Ohio State Buckeyes
Record: 24-7, 14-4 Big Ten
RPI: 29
SOS: 65
Leading Scorer: Evan Turner, 19.5 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 5.8 APG
Coach: Thad Matta, 253 career wins
Tournament Appearances: 25

*Other notable William & Mary alumni: Darren Sharper (New Orleans Saints cornerback), Steve Christie (Buffalo Bills placekicker), Patton Oswalt (comedian), Vic Raschi (6X World Series Champion, NY Yankees pitcher), Glenn Close (actress), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers head coach), and some guys named Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe