Mike Young has coached more than a few good basketball teams during his 14 seasons in charge of Wofford's men's program, including four who have reached the NCAA tournament over the past six years from a one-bid league.
So it's fair to say no current Southern Conference coach may recognize an NCAA tourney-caliber team when he sees one more than Young. Especially after watching his Terriers fall 79-63 to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga inside McKenzie Arena on Thursday night.
Said Young of the Mocs following UTC's 20th win of the season against but three defeats: "I'm a big fan of this Chattanooga team. I really am."
The reasons are multiple.
"I admire their basketball IQ," he said. "They're smart. That's what happens when you've got juniors and seniors. And (Justin) Tuoyo is a game-changer with his length."
As one might expect of a coach with Young's résumé, all his points are spot on, as are the Mocs' performances of late. All that's lacking is a fan base to mirror those who filled both McClellan Gym (in 1981-82) and the Roundhouse (in 1982-83) to see the last UTC teams before this one that started 20-3.
Even former Mocs great Gerald Wilkins - who was in town to watch his daughter Holli play against the UTC women for the last time as a Furman senior in the first game of Thursday's doubleheader - said of this current squad, "I really like this team. I think they can do some great things."
They've already done so many great things in piling up this great record, when Young was asked how he'd feel if the Mocs reached the SoCon tournament title game, lost, then didn't get an NCAA bid as an at-large team, he replied, "Brutally disappointed. My gosh, what do you have to do outside this league?"
He's right, of course. Having now won seven straight games heading into Saturday's 5 p.m. revenge matchup with Furman, UTC remains No. 49 in the NCAA's RPI rankings, which should earn them no worse than a No. 13 seed.
But that would assume they keep winning. A single loss could drop them 10 or more spots, possibly making them a No. 15 seed, though they probably deserve a No. 12.
Unfortunately, Thursday's crowd of 3,340 was more reflective of a team trying to earn its 12th win after 23 games than a No. 12 seed.
Heck, UTC junior accounting major Ibrahim Teshome was worth the price of admission. Pulled from the crowd during a second-half timeout to attempt a layup, free throw, 3-point shot and half-court shot in 30 seconds, Teshome bagged all three to take home $50.
"I was a point guard at Knoxville West," Teshome explained. "I used to practice trick shots. I've actually hit a half-court shot before (in a contest), when I was in middle school."
And his reward for that bit of string music?
"Forty-eight dollars," he said with a grin. "But you have to put in a dollar or two to get in the contest."
Still, $48 in middle school and $50 for entertaining the crowd at a major college game?
And you wonder why they call UTC a mid-major program.
Nevertheless, regardless of the size of the crowds or the financial incentives of their timeout contests, there should be nothing mid-major about these Mocs from this point forward regarding entrance into the NCAA tournament if they continue to play this way. Not when five of their past six wins have come by double figures. Especially not when they own three nonconference road wins against teams in the RPI Top 100, including No. 13 Dayton.
Yet as Young left the building for a long bus ride home to South Carolina, he cautioned against any UTC fan believing anything less than a SoCon tourney title 31 days from today could get the Mocs an invite to March Madness.
"Before we beat Furman in last year's (SoCon) championship game, I'd heard we were in even if we lost," he said. "Later, I asked someone I knew on the (selection) committee if that was true. He said, 'Mike, you certainly would have been in the conversation.'
"In other words, we would have gone to the NIT."
Assuming that same scenario would hold true for this UTC team, there are but two words to describe that gross injustice.
Brutally disappointing.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.