Southern Conference Basketball

Editor's note: Fletcher MaGee's unbelievable scoring display continued on Wednesday night as he put up 27 points on 10-of-23 shooting to lead Wofford to a huge upset over No. 5 North Carolina 79-75. It's the type of performance and victory that will finally put MaGee into the national spotlight he deserves.

"I've been doing this for 33 years, and I have never seen anything quite like this."

Wofford head coach Mike Young has had the privilege of watching Fletcher Magee play college basketball for the past three seasons. He has seen Magee working his tail off morning, noon and night, drenched in sweat on a daily basis to become the shooter that he is today.

And even Young sometimes can't find the words to describe the play of his junior shooting guard from Orlando, Florida.

"You get in your little fishbowl, and you're kind of oblivious to all things around you except your team and your next game," Young told Bleacher Report. "But our athletic department sent something out on social media the other day about his offensive numbers through 10 games. So help me God, I had to sit down to try to digest what I was looking at."

Join the club, Coach.

These numbers are incomprehensible.

Magee is shooting 54.9 percent from three-point range and has averaged 4.7 made triples per game. No one in the past 25 years has come anywhere close to that combination of efficiency and volume. Even if we decrease those numbers to 46.8 and 3.6, respectively, it has only been done seven times in the past quarter-century—the last of which came in 2007-08.

He is averaging 24.3 points per game and has a true-shooting percentage of 75.2 while attempting 8.5 triples per game. To put that TS% in proper context, Buddy Hield's mark when he won the Wooden Award was 66.5. Doug McDermott's best season in that category was 67.8 percent. And Stephen Curry—whom we'll discuss more later—maxed out at 64.0.

Just for good measure, Magee is also a perfect 32-of-32 from the free-throw line. (His true shooting percentage would be in the 80s if he were getting to the line more than 2.7 times per game.) But 32 straight freebies is nothing close to his personal record in practice.

"So, I've made 144 free throws in a row," Magee told Bleacher Report. "Threes, I've only made 29 in a row. That's the most. I'm normally moving around, though. I think I could probably make more, but I don't really work out like that."

What's the secret to becoming arguably the most lethal shooter in college basketball history?

Hard work.

Repetition.

And YouTube.

"I have watched a lot of J.J. Redick film on YouTube," said Magee. "Seeing how he reads things and seeing how he gets open. LeBron [James] is my favorite player, but I've definitely studied Redick's game the most."

Cue up just about any Wofford possession and it's easy to see the similarities between the little-known Terrier and the former Blue Devil who ranks No. 2 in career made three-pointers in collegiate basketball.

Magee is constantly moving, and his teammates are always ready to set back screens and pindowns to help him get open. He'll often start a possession on one of the low blocks before darting around multiple picks to find an inch of space on the perimeter at the opposite elbow. And just like Redick, that inch of space is all he needs, because Magee can catch, spin (in either direction) and shoot in the blink of an eye.

SAY HELLO TO FLETCHER MAGEE, @MARCHMADNESS!!!! 💯💯💯#SCTop10 #ConquerandPrevail pic.twitter.com/5cvGrQ2fvG

— Wofford Terriers (@WoffordTerriers) December 7, 2017

You practice like you play, and it's readily apparent from his fluidity and accuracy that the hours upon hours Magee spends working on these moves are paying off.

"It's not just standing around and shooting it," Magee said. "I'll practice coming off a screen this way a certain number of times, practice coming off a screen another way a certain number of times. Shots from my left hand, shots dribbling from my right hand. And I'll imagine there's a defender in my face when I'm shooting and I have to change my arc, just to try to make every shot as game-like as I can."

"I have never, one time, discouraged a shot from him," Young said. "Every shot that he takes looks like a quality shot. He's balanced, even when he's off balance, because he practices all of those shots in preparation for those moments."

One of those big moments came on Dec. 6 against Georgia Tech.

Magee had been hot all night. He had drained seven three-pointers and scored 33 of Wofford's 60 points. No teammate had scored more than eight points. So with the game tied in the final seconds, everyone in the building knew who was taking the shot. Curtis Haywood II was aggressively guarding Magee several feet beyond the three-point arc.

It didn't matter. He took one crossover dribble, squared his shoulders and nailed the game-winner, finishing with eight made threes and tying his career high with 36 points.

The best part of that clip isn't the shot, the fans going wild or the dejected look on the face of every Yellow Jacket. It's the fact that the play-by-play announcer didn't even sound surprised. Jason Patterson called that 26-foot, last-second three-pointer like he would have called a layup midway through the first half, because that's just how commonplace Magee's incredible shots have become over the last three years.

"This is not something where he's just playing well and he's had a couple of good weeks," Young said. "He works like a dog to be a great player, and he is being rewarded for the work that he puts in. He is an immensely talented young man."

We've already compared Magee to Redick, but there's another three-point legend who needs to be mentioned.

It was one decade ago that Curry's rise to superstardom began. He had put in countless hours of hard work long before the 2007-08 college basketball season, but that's when the unheralded recruit from a no-name school in the Southern Conference became a must-watch spectacle. With help from a four-game run in the 2008 NCAA tournament, Curry set the NCAA record for made three-pointers in a season, draining 162 of them.

That record is in danger of being broken by another young man from the SoCon.

Curry averaged 4.5 made triples per game when he set that mark, but Magee is averaging 4.6 through his first 10 games. And unlike at a Duke or a Kentucky where you should expect some regression to the mean once conference games begin, SoCon play might actually boost Magee's numbers. Two games each against Samford, The Citadel and VMI would help any scorer's point total, and Western Carolina, East Tennessee State and Mercer have each had a lot of difficulty defending the deep ball this year.

Based on his previous two seasons, it's not that shocking to see Magee on pace to make history. He shot 47.9 percent from three-point range as a freshman. After an offseason with a couple of ankle sprains and groin pulls that kept him from consistently working out, he came back as a sophomore and "only" shot 42.3 percent from downtown.

This summer, there were no injuries. When he went back home to Orlando, Magee played pickup with a lot of professionals. And they always played with the NBA three-point line, which helped improve the range of a shot that was already killer.

"When I came back to college in the fall, the line just felt closer," Magee said. "It felt like I could shoot it off a little bit and it would still go in because I was used to shooting it from a little farther distance."

So, how do you guard a guy who is always moving, who can stroke it from well beyond the three-point line and who is unselfish enough to get his teammates involved if you focus too much attention on him?

His coach is thrilled that's not his problem.

"I'm glad I don't have to consider defending Fletcher," Young said. "That would cause me to lie awake at night."

And while coaches lose sleep over the impossible task of slowing down Magee, he's probably in the gym in the middle of the night, draining another 100 buckets over imaginary defenders.

                                   

All quotes obtained firsthand. Statistics courtesy of Sports Reference.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.

The Wofford Terriers shot three-pointers like they were going out of style Monday night against the VMI Keydets, connecting on 17 of 21 attempts from behind the arc and breaking a Division I record in the process, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Their 80.9 percent mark was the best by any team attempting a minimum of 20 shots from downtown in a single game. Wofford easily won the matchup, 92-60, and has not lost to VMI since 2001.

Freshman Fletcher Magee was responsible for most of the makes, sinking a career-high nine three-pointers on 10 attempts en route to a career-high 34 points. He is 13-of-14 from three-point range over his past two games.

The guard credited his teammates for the hot shooting, per the State. “If I got the ball and got a shot up, I felt like it was going to go in,” he said. “My teammates did a great job getting me the ball. We made a couple early and then we all started to feel it. It was fun.”

SportsCenter shared highlights from the record-breaking shooting performance:

Wofford mens basketball shooting 17-of-21 from behind the arc is @notthefakeSVP's best thing he saw today. https://t.co/bxYTpDXT31

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 9, 2016

Wofford Athletics provided a postgame image of Magee, who was all smiles:

MBB: Man of the hour Fletcher Magee on with @WoffordRadio postgame. #ConquerAndPrevail #DefendTheBen pic.twitter.com/8kV2aMER0V

— Wofford Terriers (@WoffordTerriers) February 9, 2016

The Terriers' three-point field-goal percentage went from 40.1 to 41.8, which puts them in the top 10 in the nation. The sharpshooting has helped the team from Spartanburg, South Carolina, to an 8-4 Southern Conference record after finishing nonconference play just 4-9. The Keydets lost for the 11th time in 12 league games and sit in last place at 6-17.

Even if the season doesn't produce an NCAA tournament berth, the Terriers—and especially Magee—will have a story to share for the rest of their lives—one that involves a lot of scoring.

Mercer University basketball player Jibri Bryan was killed in a shooting Tuesday, according to Joe Kovac Jr. of the Telegraph.

Kovac Jr. reported the shooting occurred in the parking lot of a convenience store in Macon, Georgia. Bryan was killed when he was shot in the head with a pistol, and another man—who Kovac Jr. noted was "possibly the gunman's cohort—was "critically wounded." 

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said the other person who was shot arrived in the same car as the shooter but found himself in the line of fire after walking behind the car Bryan was in at the time.

The incident happened Tuesday afternoon at what Kovac Jr. called "a well-traveled crossroads between the Mercer campus and downtown."

Bryan was a senior guard and a nominee for the 2016 Good Works Team, which recognizes student-athletes who serve their communities.

After Bryan's death, Mercer Basketball shared statements from university officials on Twitter:

Mercer mourns the loss of student-athlete Jibri Bryan. #BearStrong pic.twitter.com/zQoPpg8EN2

— Mercer Men's Basketball (@MercerMBB) February 3, 2016

Bryan appeared in only six games this season because of a knee injury, averaging 3.2 points and 2.7 rebounds a night. As a junior, he started all 35 of the Bears' contests and posted 7.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He also played four minutes in Mercer's upset of No. 3 seed Duke in the 2014 NCAA tournament, recording three rebounds and an assist.

Mercer is 17-6 this season, including 7-3 in the Southern Conference.

Jeremiah Tate, a Wofford College guard who was heading into his junior year, drowned Monday after jumping off a bridge to go for a swim. He was 19.  

"The entire Wofford College family is devastated and saddened today by the loss of Jeremiah Tate," director of athletics Richard Johnson said in a statement released on the school's athletics site. "Jeremiah was such a dedicated, loved and respected member of the men's basketball team. He had a wonderful personality and had many friends on campus extending outside of the athletic department. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with his family. He will truly be missed."

Johnson, who was serving as a counselor at the YMCA's Camp Thunderbird, jumped 30 feet off of the Buster Boyd Bridge in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, and into the water with another counselor at 2 a.m. Monday morning, per Tony Burbeck of WCNC. While the other counselor was fine after the leap, Tate did not resurface and rescue teams were immediately called, Burbeck reported.

Rescuers eventually found Tate's body 120 yards from shore two hours later. 

“We’re heartbroken,” Molly Thompson, senior director of communication at the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, told Erin Bacon of the Charlotte Observer. “We’ve got grief counselors here to support our staff with prayers and love and whatever we can at this point.”

Tate appeared in 13 games across two seasons during his basketball career at Wofford. He scored his only career basket in a Feb. 10, 2014 game against Hiwassee College, playing a high of nine minutes. The Wofford release also notes his accomplishments off the court, which included being a nominee for the Allstate Good Works Team that honors student-athletes who make a difference in their communities.

Tate is survived by his parents, Frank and Carole Tate.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.

March is the time of year the best in college basketball rise and make their case to be a part of the 68-team NCAA tournament field. Not only are the games a crucial part of the tournament, the back stories that highlight the players are as fascinating as some of the games themselves.

This year, one of the most compelling stories comes from a player who won’t play a single minute during the 2014 NCAA tournament, but he did all he could to make sure his team had a spot in the field.

Wofford Terriers senior forward, Aerris Smith, gave one of the most inspiring postgame interviews after his team clinched the Southern Conference tournament title and an automatic berth to the big dance after beating Western Carolina 56-53. The speech has made its round on various websites and sports talk radio shows across the U.S. since then and made Smith an overnight sensation in the process.

Smith came into the 2013-14 season fresh off his junior campaign where he averaged a career best 24.7 minutes per game and was on track to play as much, if not more heading into his senior year.

A knee injury he originally suffered in practice that Smith said he thought nothing of at first turned into something bigger.

“I was at practice, got hit, and originally thought it was just bumped knees, nothing really serious, but later that night it really started to swell, to the point where it was very difficult to bend it or walk on it,” Smith explained about his injury. “That’s when I went to the doctors the next day to get it checked out and get an MRI to see if there was more than just a bruise or swelling.”

After affirming his injury was serious he faced a difficult decision: Get surgery now and maybe miss the entire season or tough it out and make the best of his knee in its current state. He chose the latter.

“Basically when I found out about the injury I had two options. One was to have surgery and sit out more like half the year so I could recover and get back into shape or I could play through it and maintain my strength,” he said. “Immediately, as soon as I heard I could play I wanted to do that and be able to stay on the floor to help my teammates out.”

Staying on the floor was easier said than done for Smith, as for him to play a far more reduced role than in his previous season, Smith would have to put in extra hours of physical labor to ensure his knee was in playing shape.

With his knee condition, Smith’s knee would get weaker faster than normal, so finding ways to work his knee out without hurting it more, Smith turned to a non-conventional method to keep his knee in good enough shape to play.

“One of the other things was when I could practice, some would last 30 minutes while others could last two hours and even longer depending how my knee would act that day," Smith said. "One of the things I had to do every morning at 6-6:30 (a.m.) is go to my local YMCA and go swimming. That put no pressure on my knees at all and it was a great way to maintain my cardio. So if I did have a practice where I could go 30 or 35 minutes, I didn’t feel bad because I still put in the work for that day, I still would be in shape to play for that game.”

Smith’s labor of love paid off, as he was able to play in all but one game for the Terriers this season, averaging 8.8 minutes per contest, something he attributes to all the work he put in outside of the court.

With the uncertainty that came with his injury, he put so much effort into making sure he could play this season was largely in part to him not knowing when he career could come to a sudden halt.

“I’ve been told this for years; you never know when your last game is going to be," Smith said. "I was fortunate enough to have this injury and still play. One of the things that really drove me was going into every game I didn’t know if it was my last game or not.”

Every step of the way his teammates had his back and always made sure that he was in good spirits has he pushed through his injury, something that helped inspire his journey.

“Every day in practice and every day in the locker room they would ask how I was doing and make sure I was OK," he said. "Even my coaches and my family all supported me, so it was very easy with their support.”

As the final seconds of his final game ticked away Smith didn’t think about his college career coming to an end, he thought about just how proud of his team he was.

“Basically what was going through my head was that we finally did it. We’ve earned this. We deserve this,” Smith said. “I have seen what this team has done day in and day out in practice and the way they played and the way these coaches have believed in us from Day 1, and it was the best feeling to know that we finally got something that we really deserved.”

After the game when Smith gave his now infamous speech, where Smith grabbed four rebounds in 10 minutes of action, he said he was speaking in the moment and had no idea the effect it would have in the days to come.

“Honestly I was completely shocked. I want to say the next day I had a few of my fellow peers walk by and say ‘We heard your interview, it was great,’ and I thought that was just going to be the end of it,” Smith stated. “Then I started to receive messages, emails and calls from everywhere, from all over and it was just overwhelming. I was so surprised and so shocked because in my interview I was just expressing how I felt at the time and never expected any of this.”

Smith is scheduled to travel with Wofford to its second-round matchup against the Michigan Wolverines to be held in Milwaukee, Wis., on Thursday to offer the support he has fought so hard to give the team this season.

With all that Smith has been through during the course of the last year the lessons he learned that he can reference later on down the road are the ones that stand out the most.

“The biggest thing I will take away is that this whole injury is that it really has opened my eyes about toughness and never giving up and just perseverance to push me through anything,” Smith said. “This year has definitely been a difficult year for me, basketball and everything, mentally and physically it was very draining."

Mick Akers is an analyst for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand via phone interview.

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Furman basketball will have a new coach charting its course in 2013-14, but it will be a coach who knows the landscape. 

Niko Medved, who served six seasons as an assistant coach under the direction of Larry Davis from 2000-06, becomes the 21st head coach of the Furman basketball program (per Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports), succeeding Jeff Jackson, who stepped down after seven seasons in Greenville after compiling a 85-131 record during that span.

Medved originally served on the Furman coaching staff during the nine-year tenure of Larry Davis and was the Paladins' recruiting coordinator. Davis' tenure at Furman concluded in '06 when he left to join the Cincinnati staff as an assistant under Mick Cronin.

After Davis' departure, Medved was named the Paladins' interim head coach, but then left when Jeff Jackson was hired.

From there, Medved moved on to Minnesota, which is where he started his coaching journey, beginning his career with the Golden Gophers in 1992 as a student manager. Medved would leave Minnesota for two years to become the associate head coach at Division III Macalester College before returning to Furman in 1999.

Medved would first offer an eye for recruiting overseas talent during his initial tenure as a part of the Furman basketball program.

He had a hand in bringing in such foreign talents to the program as Karim Souchu (1999-2003), Guillherme Da Luz (1999-2003), Malaye Ndoye (2004-07) and Moussa Diagne (2004-07).

He helped the Paladins sign what was one of the highest-ranked classes in school history in 2003, which included Minnesota's "Mr. Basketball" and Furman's all-time, three-point field goals made leader, Eric Webb (2004-07).

Webb's classmates also included another highly touted signee Quan Prowell (2004-05), as well as the aforementioned Ndoye and Diagne, helping Furman post the nation's highest-scoring freshman class.

In 2002, he was part of a staff, which helped lead Furman all the way to the championship game of the Southern Conference Tournament for the first time since 1980. The Paladins would lose, 62-57, in the title game, to Davidson. The Paladins were able to reel off wins over Western Carolina (65-61), Georgia Southern (73-70) and the College of Charleston (44-43) to reach the championship game. 

When Medved moved on to Colorado State in '06, he began the task of helping then-head coach Tim Miles put the building blocks together which would eventually lead to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013, as well as postseason appearances in the NIT (2011) and the CBI (2010) in serving as the Rams' recruiting coordinator. 

The at-large selection to the NCAA tournament for the Rams was the first NCAA tournament selection for Colorado State in 22 years.

All told, four of Medved's six seasons in Fort Collins, Colo., saw the Rams make an appearance in the postseason. The Rams posted an 81-47 mark over the past four seasons, and the No. 8 seed ranks as the highest seed ever garnered by a Colorado State team since the field began seeding teams in 1979. 

The Rams finished the season with a program-record 26 wins and were able to get a 84-72 win over Missouri in the opening round, marking the first win for the Rams in the NCAA tournament since defeating Florida, 68-46, in the opening round of the 1989 NCAA tournament.

Medved's Rams would eventually see their season end with a 82-56 loss to eventual national champion Louisville, as the Rams were able to push the Cardinals in the opening half of play before eventually the superior talent of Louisville took over. 

At halftime of the third-round game, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino was interviewed by CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson and called Colorado State one of the most well-coached and talented teams the Cardinals had played all season, citing that his talented Cardinals were in a "fight."

Prior to the matchup in the pregame press conference, Pitino had the following to say about the Rams players Medved was directly responsible for recruiting to Colorado State.

The way I look at a dangerous team and I put that list together, it’s based on how many upperclassmen do they have that have stayed together and how much talent do they have? 

You have a lot of upperclassmen, but they may not be that good. This team is very talented as well as being seniors. I always look at talent and experience coming together, and Colorado State has both." (The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Kyle Grabowski, 3/22/2013)

Medved has had some outstanding talents under his mentorship during the four-year run of success at Colorado State, with senior guard Dorian Green (13.0 PPG, team-leading 124 assists) and Minnesota transfer Colton Iverson (14.2 PPG, 9.8 RPG). Iverson became the first All-America selection for the Rams since 1969, selected as an Honorable Mention First Team selection by The Associated Press. 

Iverson was a first-team All-Mountain West pick and helped the Rams to rank as the nation's top rebounding club. Iverson was top-ranked in the Mountain West and 20th in the nation in rebounding, averaging 9.8 boards per game. His 14 double-doubles were also good enough for 20th in the country in that particular category.

After former head coach Tim Miles left to take the reins of the Nebraska program following last season, Medved was the only coach who remained from Miles' staff in Fort Collins, as he was retained by new head coach Larry Eustachy.

Eustachy, who battled some off-the-court issues over the past few coaching stops, is considered one of the very best in his profession, leading an Iowa State club that featured Marcus Fizer and Jamaal Tinsley to the 2000 Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion Michigan State. 

Interestingly enough, Medved will have a chance to be part of the resurrection of the Furman basketball program, which has not won a regular-season title since 1991-92 and has just one 20-win season in the past 21 years, as the Paladins posted a 22-11 mark back in 2010-11, qualifying for the CollegeInsider.com tournament. 

The newest member of the Furman basketball coaching tree is married to former Erica Nesselroad, who enjoyed a career as an athlete as a pitcher for the Furman softball program from 2003-06.

Medved has a tall order ahead of him, as he will now be asked to "re-brand" and bring excitement back to a Furman basketball program, which has endured three 20-loss seasons since he left for Minnesota some seven years ago. However, few have been given this rare opportunity—returning to a program that he knows very well. 

ASHEVILLE, N.C.—When Colonial Athletic Association Commissioner Tom Yeager contacted Davidson and College of Charleston last spring, he probably didn't anticipate the two being in the Southern Conference championship game in early-March, but that's exactly what transpired. 

The College of Charleston accepted Yeager's offer, which begins in 2014, while Davidson decided to remain in its current affiliation of the Southern Conference rather than jump ship with CofC.

As it would play out, College of Charleston would make it official in late November, meaning the 2012-13 basketball season would be the final for the Cougars as a league member. As fate would have it, Monday night's title game would be decided by the two teams on differing sides of Yeager's offer. One in College of Charleston, who decided to jump at Yeager's offer, while Davidson was the school that decided to remain loyal, at least for the time being, to the tradition-rich conference.

While the backdrop certainly had some interesting drama, Monday night's championship game between No. 1 Davidson and No. 3 seed College of Charleston lacked much drama, with Davidson claiming its 17th win in a row and 12th Southern Conference crown, with a 74-55 win over the Cougars at the US Cellular Center. 

The win by the Wildcats marks the seventh league championship the Cougars have claimed under the direction of 23-year veteran head coach Bob McKillop, including a sixth tournament title since 2002.

The Wildcats, who entered the season as heavy favorites to claim the league's regular season and tournament title after their epic, 93-91, double-overtime win against Western Carolina last season, lived up to both preseason billings with that experienced starting five that returned intact from the 2012 title run last season. 

For the SoCon, it at least seems a victory in what has become a battle for conferences at both the mid-major and major levels to retain members. The Wildcats, a charter member of the SoCon,who left and returned to the nation's fifth-oldest conference in 1992-93, is the program by which to be measured in the Southern Conference, and in many respects, outside Gonzaga and Butler, nationally among mid-major programs. 

The College of Charleston, who contributed plenty to the league durings its 15 years as a member, had a chance to bring things full circle on Monday night with a win over the Wildcats. After all, the Cougars posted one of the best wire-to-wire runs in the history of the Southern Conference in their first season (1998-99) under the direction of legendary head coach John Kresse, finishing 28-3 overall, and a perfect 18-0 (regular-season and tournament) against league foes, looking dominant en route to lifting the SoCon's most-coveted prize on the hardwood. 

Few would have guessed that would be the last time that the Cougars would lift the SoCon's penultimate prize, however, under Kresse, Bobby Cremins, Tom Herrion and Doug Wojcik, the Cougars would go 0-5 in championship games following that first trip.

But the night was about Davidson, and in particular, De'Mon Brooks, who for the second year in a row, who simply spectacular. Brooks poured in 24 points and grabbed eight boards, as he picked right up where he left off against Appalachian State in that classic semifinal matchup last night, which saw him post 16 points and three boards en route to the 65-62, heart-stopping victory over the Mountaineers. With his performances in three games for the Wildcats this weekend, Brooks garnered the tournament's Most Valuable Performer for the second-straight season. 

Brooks was one of four Wildcats in double figures in Monday night's win, as he was joined in double digits by J.P. Kuhlman (14 pts), Jake Cohen (12 pts) and Chris Czerapowicz (10 pts). 

Kuhlman, Cohen and Nik Cochran are a trio of players that had maybe as much pressure on them as any trio of players in the history of mid-major college basketball history. The class asked to follow an act such as the class asked to follow that Tony Skinn-led George Mason club that went all the way to the Final Four in 2006, or the Butler teams that went to back-to-back championships in 2010 and '11, and even the VCU run to the Final Four led by Joey Rodriguez in 2011.

That's exactly what Kuhlman, Cohen and Cochran were asked to do, and after bowing out of the SoConTournament in the opening round in both 2010 and '11, the senior class which followed the great Stephen Curry and that 2008 team that made that epic Elite Eight run in 2008, finished out its final two seasons at Davidson finishing a combined 39-3 two-year run against SoCon competition in the regular-season and tournament, including a pair of two tournament titles and regular season crowns in their junior and senior seasons.

That 39-3 mark over two seasons is just two games off the pace of that 43-1 mark by that Jason Richards' senior class, which included junior Stephen Curry, who went on to be a Lottery Pick in the NBA Draft after that amazing '08 run, in a two-season run. That's not too shabby, considering how talented those teams were. 

College of Charleston was paced in the game by summer Olympian Andrew Lawrence, as the Great Britain national team guard did his thing for his college team on Monday night, with 19 points to lead the club. Forward Adjehi Baru was the only other Cougar player in double figures on the evening, posting 11 points. 

The Cougars were held to season lows of 29.8-percentage (17-for-57) from the field in the title game loss, and 10-percent (1-for-10) from three-point range.

Davidson, meanwhile, knocked down 54.9-percent (28-for-51) from the field, including 68.6 percent (24-for-35) inside the paint, which led to a 42-24 advantage in the points in the paint category.  

The College of Charleston joined Marshall as one of the SoCon teams in the modern era of the league to make the championship game only to bow out lose at the final hurdle. In 1997, the Thundering Herd dropped a 71-70 overtime decision to Chattanooga in the SoCon championship game before joining the Mid-American Conference the very next season, which ironically, would help make room for the Cougars to join the SoCon. 

After Davidson went up by 12 (38-26) early in the second half following a Kuhlman trey to open the scoring for the Wildcats, the Cougars would score six-straight to seemingly get back into the game, cutting the Wildcats' lead in half (38-32) on a Baru bucket with 18:07 remaining, however, that is as close as the game would be for the remainder of the proceedings, as time and time again, the Wildcats would used an inside-out approach, centered around Brooks, which helped the Wildcats maintain a near-double digit lead over the final 11 minutes of the game. 

The Wildcats would maintain an eight-11 point lead over the final 11 minutes of the game, and would eventually charge back to a double-digit lead with a Brooks lay-up at the 7:47 mark of the second half, as the Wildcats went ahead, 61-50. Jake Belford's lay-up with 1:40 to play gave Davidson its largest lead of the evening, at 74-53, before eventually closing out the game with a 74-55 win. 

Davidson's dominance can be proven by the fact that it is just one of four clubs to have won a SoContitle since 2002, joining Wofford (two), East Tennessee State (two) and Chattanooga (two) as winners of the league's postseason tournament. Davidson's fourth SoCon title in the last seven seasons is the best since Chattanooga won four titles in five seasons from 1993-97 under the direction of Mack McCarthy.

College of Charleston finishes the season at 24-10, and now awaits its future postseason tournament fate, while Davidson will have to wait a little less than a week and "Selection Sunday" to find out its first-round opponent for the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Wildcats battled before dropping a hard-fought 69-62 loss to eventual Final Four qualifier Louisville last season. 

The win for Davidson was their 17th-straight win, improving their mark of 26-7 overall on the campaign. 

Davidson (21-7, 15-1 SoCon) at Elon (19-9, 12-4 SoCon)

Feb. 27, 2013, 7:00 p.m. ET

Elon, N.C., Alumni Gym (1,500)

We have had to wait nearly the entire season for the much-anticipated matchup between the Davidson Wildcats and Elon Phoenix. Elon and Davidson are a combined 26-5 against Southern Conference competition this season, and it's no surprise that there's a Davidson influence on both respective sidelines.

Davidson, of course, is the SoCon's most successful program historically, with 12 league crowns, while Elon, which recently claimed its first Southern Conference Divisional title since the 2006 season, is led by Matt Matheny. He is now in his fourth season at the helm of the Elon basketball program and was once Davidson's top assistant under McKillop before moving on to take the reins of the Elon basketball program following the 2009 season.

Now, Matheny has taken what he has learned under the legendary McKillop and applied those same success-proven elements at Elon, and has the Phoenix in line to be a major factor when the 2013 Southern Conference Tournament commences in a couple of weeks in Asheville, N.C.

The Phoenix and Wildcats have two of the SoCon's most experienced clubs in the SoCon, with Davidson starting three seniors and two juniors, while Elon starts four juniors and a freshman. 

Wednesday night's meeting between the two programs will mark the lone meeting of the regular-season between the Wildcats and Phoenix, and the 39th overall meeting between the two programs, with Davidson holding the commanding 35-13 all-time series advantage. 

Elon and Davidson have played each other six times since Matheny took the helm of the Phoenix program prior to the 2009-10 season, with two teams tied 3-3 in the series since Matheny left the Davidson sidelines for his first head coaching job at Elon. 

The last meeting between the two programs came in the semifinals of the 2012 Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville, as the Wildcats were able to pick up an 83-67 win over the Phoenix to move on to the championship game against Western Carolina.

In that meeting between the Wildcats and Phoenix last March, it turned into the Jake Cohen and De'Mon Brooks show, as the duo amassed a combined 44 points and 11 boards in helping the Wildcats dust off Matheny's pesky Phoenix club. 

But it was Davidson's tenacious, physical defense that proved to be too much of an overpowering force in last year's semifinal clash between the two top programs, as the Wildcats held the Phoenix without a field goal for an 11:03 period in the second half, proving to be vital in eventually helping the Wildcats garner the win. 

Davidson enters the mid-week clash of SoCon divisional champs winners of their last three of the Phoenix, and in those three wins over Elon, two of them haven't been close, with the Wildcats winning the last two clashes by 10 or more points, also claiming a 66-45 victory in the regular-season meeting between the Wildcats and Phoenix last season. 

Both clubs enter the Wednesday matchup having been extremely hot on the basketball hardwood as of late, with Davidson having won 12-straight games against, while Elon comes in winners of 11 of its last 13 games this season. 

Elon and Davidson have been mirror images of each other the past four seasons, and this season is no different, as the philosophies of the two clubs have been similar each of the past four seasons, with both clubs two of the most physical clubs in the SoCon, as well as being two of the most proficient three-point shooting clubs.

Elon and Davidson rank as the top two clubs in the SoCon in three-point field goals made and assist/turnover ratio this season, while ranking No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the SoCon statistical data for free-throw shooting this season.

Elon leads the league in three-pointers made, having canned 224 triples this season, while Davidson is just behind the Phoenix with 212 treys on the campaign. In assist/turnover ratio, the Wildcats lead the league, with the Phoenix just behind in No. 2 in the 12-team league. Both have ratios of 1:2, but Davidson has 11 less turnovers on the season, giving the Wildcats the top spot in the league.

As you would expect, both Davidson and Elon rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the SoCon in turnover margin, with Elon leading the SoCon, at +2.64 and Davidson ranking No. 2, at +1.18. Davidson leads the nation in free throw shooting, boasting an impressive 81.8-percent clip as a team, while Elon ranks No. 3 in the SoCon in free throw shooting, posting a 71.2-percent clip as a team. 

Finally, the two clubs are among the best defensive clubs in the SoCon this season, with Davidson entering the matchup at No.2 in the league in field goal percentage defense (41.0-percent), while Davidson is just behind at No. 3 in that same category, holding opponents to a mere 41.7 percent shooting clip from the field this season.

When you begin discussing these two clubs, it starts in the frontcourt, where Wednesday night's mouth-watering SoCon matchup offers the league's two best low-post players, in Davidson's Jake Cohen (15.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG) and Elon's Lucas Troutman (14.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG).

Troutman has been used in a limited capacity over the last three games for the Phoenix, as he suffered a severely sprained ankle in a win at Furman a couple of weeks ago. With Elon having already claimed the Southern Conference North Division crown, expect Matheny to be very cautious in using his junior leader and SoCon Player of the Year candidate over the final two games against Davidson and UNCG. 

In the SoCon semifinal clash between the Phoenix and Wildcats last season, Troutman posted 18 points and four boards. He connected on 8-of-14 shots from the field for the game. Troutman has been a key piece of the Elon offense all season and it will be important for him to get healthy before the commencement of the Southern Conference Tournament. Troutman comes in having recorded three double-doubles on the season for the Phoenix.

Defensively is probably where Elon has missed Troutman the most as of late, and he has led the SoCon in blocked shots all season, and he comes into Wednesday's contest continuing to lead the SoCon in blocked shots, averaging 2.1 BPG and has 55 rejections on the campaign. Troutman's 54.8 field goal percentage coming into Wednesday's game marks the second-best mark in the league.

Cohen was simply sensational during the first half of the Montana game, posting 25 of his game-high 28 points in the opening half of play. It was Cohen's fifth game in which he has scored 20 or more points this season. Cohen's 1,707 career points are the career-active mark leader heading into Wednesday night's game at Elon.

The 6'10'' senior comes into Wednesday's contest ranking second in the SoCon in blocked shots (1.8 BPG/49 blocks this season), while his 49.6 percent shooting clip from the field ranks him eighth in the SoCon in field goal percentage this season. Cohen has also proven to be one of the top perimeter shooters of the low-post in the SoCon, having connected on 31-of-80 from three-point range this season, which converts to a 38.8 percent shooting clip from three-point range this season.

While Elon has had to deal with the injury to Troutman as of late, it has had to get production in the low-post from other players, and those players have been Ryley Beaumont (11.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG) and Egheosa Edomwonyi (1.4 PPG, 1.2 RPG), while Ryan Winters (3.2 PPG, 2.4 RPG) has also played a role in the frontcourt off the bench for the Phoenix this season. 

Beaumont in particular has been one of the players that has been simply sensational as of late in the limited play of Troutman. In fact, Beaumont has scored in double figures in each of the last five games for the Phoenix, leading the Maroon and Gold in scoring in four of those contests. He is coming off a 20 point, seven rebound performance for the Phoenix in the 73-68 setback to Chattanooga last Saturday night. 

Rounding out the Davidson frontcourt on Wednesday night will be the second head of that two-headed monster underneath the basket, in De'Mon Brooks (13.3 PPG, 6.4 RPG ), who shared the SoCon Player of the Year acknowledgements last season. Brooks is one of the top athletes in the Southern Conference, and though his numbers are a bit down this season for the Wildcats, he has still been solid offensively throughout the season.  

Brooks posted 20 points and six boards the last time the Wildcats and Phoenix met on the Southern Conference hard court at last year's Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville. Brooks connected on 8-of-12 shots, including going 2-for-4 from three-point range, in Davidson's 83-67 win. 

The backcourt for the Phoenix will feature one of the league's most clutch perimeter threats, in junior shooting guard Jack Isenbarger (13.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.0 APG). Isenbarger ranks second in the SoCon in made three-point field goals made, having connected on 73 triples so far on the 2012-13 season. Though not the team's point guard, Isenbarger has become the type player that former Mountain State product Chris Long once was for the Phoenix, in terms of possessing the ability to take over a basketball game.

Isenbarger has scored in double figures on 20 occasions this season for the Phoenix, including posting a season-high 25 points in a loss at VMI back in November. He also made seven treys in a win over Chattanooga back in January at Alumni Gym. He posted a team-high 22 points the last time the Phoenix and Wildcats met in the SoCon Tournament last season.

Teaming with Isenbarger in the Elon backcourt on Wednesday night will be Tanner Samson (6.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG) and Sebastian Koch (9.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG). Koch is another part of that experienced junior class for Matheny's Phoenix, and he is a tough matchup on the perimeter, standing at 6'8''. Koch ranks fifth in the SoCon with 61 made triples this season.

Samson is the lone freshman player in the starting lineup for the Phoenix, and he has done a nice job of stepping into the starting lineup since the early-season knee injury to Austin Hamilton.

Davidson counters with one of the most experienced backcourts in the Southern Conference, featuring a tandem of guards, in J.P. Kuhlman (8.0 PPG, 3.7 APG) and Nik Cochran (10.4 PPG, 2.1 RPG), who have started a combined 173 starts between the two of them of them coming into Wednesday's contest. Sharpshooting wing guard Chris Czerapowicz (8.9 PPG, 5.0 RPG) rounds out the talented Wildcats in the backcourt, and he leads Davidson with 50 made triples this season. 

Off the bench for the Phoenix, look for Kevin Blake (1.7 PPG, 1.0 RPG) and Josh Bonney (2.7 PPG, 1.2 APG) to be the top performers off the bench in the backcourt for Elon, while Tony Sabato (1.4 PPG, 1.6 RPG) along with the aforementioned Ryan Winters will be the top players called upon to be the first called upon off the bench in the frontcourt. 

Davidson will be without the services of Clint Mann off the bench, as he is injured. While the Wildcats might be a bit undermanned depth-wise in the frontcourt, the Wildcats have a talented trio coming off the bench in the backcourt, in Jordan Barham (2.4 PPG, 1.3 RPG), Tyler Kalinoski (7.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG) and defensive stalwart Tom Droney (4.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG).

Without Troutman at 100 percent, I think Davidson wins a close one on the road at Alumni Gym on Wednesday night, moving the Wildcats to 16-1 in SoCon play heading into a senior night clash with Georgia Southern this weekend.  

Davidson 82, Elon 78