Wofford becomes the first Cinderella of this year's March Madness

We may have just found this year's Cinderella.

Wofford, which entered the Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament with a 16-15 record, including 2-3 in its five games before the tourney, defeated Furman (22-10, 12-6 in SoCon), 92-85, to advance to the men's NCAA Tournament for the second time in seven seasons.

Senior guard Jackson Sivills led Wofford with 20 points. He shot 6-of-9, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. The Terriers were 14-of-28 (50%) from long range, their best shooting performance from distance since going 12-of-19 (63.2%) in a 74-62 win over UNC Greensboro (20-12, 13-5 in SoCon) on Feb. 1.

Wofford last reached March Madness under former head coach Mike Young in 2019, when it ended the season ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press poll, going 30-5, including 18-0 in SoCon.

Wofford (19-15, 10-8 in SoCon) had a much more difficult — and unlikely — road to the NCAA Tournament this season. The Terriers were 4-7 in their first 11 games, including a ghastly 86-35 loss at No. 1 Duke (28-3, 19-1 in ACC) on Nov. 13.

Wofford began conference play with a 68-66 home loss to UNC Greensboro and also lost to Virginia Military Institute (15-19, 7-11 in SoCon), ranked No. 289 in KenPom, on Jan. 28. The Terriers needed overtime to defeated KenPom No. 356 The Citadel (5-25, 0-18 in SoCon) a month ago on Feb. 12.

Wofford entered Monday ranked No. 134 in NET Rankings and No. 120 in KenPom. Its 10 Quad 3 losses are the most among teams ranked in the top 150 in NET.

The Terries are unlikely to be any higher than a 15-seed in the NCAA Tournament, giving than a monumental hill to climb to advance past the opening Thursday or Friday. Per NCAA.com, No. 15 seeds are 11-145 all time against 2s. No. 16 seeds have an even worse history, going 2-154 against 1-seeds.

However, seven No. 15s have won a tournament game since 2012, and two No. 16s have won since 2018.

Wofford might join them. As long as midnight doesn't strike first.