What didn’t go right for the Bucs this year? The surprise North Division champs won on the strength of their iron defense, which allowed opponents to shoot only 39.8 percent from the field this year.
In addition to defense, the Bucs also specialize in two other categories that coaches, particularly Ed DeChellis, love to watch. Despite their lack of size, the Bucs rank second in rebounding margin behind only App. St., and only Wofford has a better turnover margin.
The Bucs played as a team, with only Dimeco Childress’ 13 points per game good enough to crack the conference’s top 30 scorers. No Buc led any individual category on the SoCon statistical charts, either.
Yet there is one glaring deficiency that may well haunt the Bucs in close games this week. As a team, they shoot only 61.2 percent from the line, dead last in the SoCon, while the major competition, Charleston and UNC-Greensboro, are Nos. 1 and 2 in this category.

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