Outlook: The College of Wooster men's basketball team is off to South Carolina to take on NCAA Div. I University of South Carolina in an exhibition contest. Tipoff from Colonial Life Arena is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30. South Carolina is led by third-year head coach Lamont Paris, a 1996 Wooster alumnus. This is Wooster's first exhibition contest against a Div. I program since 2022, when the Fighting Scots played at Illinois State University, coached by 2000 Wooster alumnus Ryan Pedon. October 30 marks Wooster's second time playing a Paris-coached team, as the former Scots' star hosted the team for an exhibition in 2021 while serving as head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Series History: The two programs have never met before.
A Look at Lamont Paris' Career at Wooster: As a Fighting Scot, Paris blossomed into a starter as a senior and ranked third on the team with 10.4 points per game. The guard averaged 3.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game as a senior. As a junior, Paris was one of the first Scots off the bench, and averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. Paris played on Wooster teams that went 84-25, advanced to three NCAA Div. III Championship Tournaments, and won two North Coast Athletic Conference titles. Paris was the College's keynote commencement speaker in 2024.
Wooster is the Winningest NCAA Div. III Team of the 2000s: Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, Wooster has Div. III's highest winning percentage at .804 (583-142). In fact, Wooster's winning percentage in the 2000s is higher than every other NCAA Div. I, II, and III men's basketball program except for Gonzaga University (.834; 716-143), the University of Kansas (.807; 720-172), and Duke University (.806; 714-172).
One of the Nation's Elite Programs: Wooster carries a 35-year run of winning at least 18 games into the 2024-25 season. Wooster saw its simply remarkable run of 24 consecutive 20-win seasons snapped in 2021-22 (there are only 25 games in the regular season in Div. III). Wooster's 1,823 wins are the second-most in NCAA Div. III history, trailing archrival Wittenberg University's 1,856.
NCAA Tournament Success: Wooster holds the NCAA Div. III record with 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. The 2021-2022 season marked the first time Wooster did not make the NCAA Tournament since the 2001-2002 season. Wooster's 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is tied for the seventh-longest streak in NCAA men's basketball history, trailing Kansas (34, 1990-present), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (27, 1975-2001), Michigan State University (26, 1998-present), Duke (24, 1996-2019), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (19, 1999-2017). Wooster's run is tied with Indiana University Bloomington, which had an 18-year tournament streak from 1986-2003. Wooster has made 29 NCAA Tournaments since the formation of Div. III, which is second all-time. Longtime nemesis Wittenberg has made a Div. III-leading 30 Div. III Tournaments, and the University of Scranton is tied with Wooster for the second-most all-time trips.
Scots Second in Div. III to Hit This Number: Wooster won its 1,800th all-time game on February 1, 2023, marking the second time a NCAA Div. III institution hit that number. Only archrival Wittenberg has more all-time wins in Div. III history. Overall, Wooster was the 25th NCAA basketball program to hit the 1,800-win milestone.
All-America Success: Wooster is the only Div. III program to have five different players selected as first-team NABC All-Americans in the 2000s. Bryan Nelson (2002-03, NABC Div. III Player of the Year), Tom Port (2006-07), Ian Franks (2009-10), Doug Thorpe (2013-14), and Danyon Hempy (2019-20) are Wooster's first-team NABC All-American selections in the 2000s.
Notable Wooster Alumni in Basketball: Wooster has several notable alumni in prominent coaching and administrative roles in college and professional basketball. L.W. St. John '06 served head men's basketball coach at Ohio State University from 1911-19, and was the Buckeyes' athletic director for over 30 years. Reggie Minton '63, an alternate for the 1964 United States Olympic Team, went on to have a decorated career as a coach and administrator, including a near two-decade tenure as a top administrator for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Minton was selected by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to receive the 2022 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, and the honor is considered to be the top award given out by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame outside of enshrinement. Larry Shyatt '73 was an assistant coach at numerous programs, including the University of Florida, when the Gators won the NCAA Div. I national championship in 2006 and 2007. Shyatt had two stints as head coach at the University of Wyoming, was the man in charge at Clemson University for a five-year stretch, and worked in the Dallas Mavericks organization. Lamont Paris '96 was on staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven seasons, during which the Badgers made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four (2014-15), including the 2015 title game. Paris then became the head coach at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he went 87-72 over five years, including 65-29 over his final three seasons. At present, Paris is in his third season as head coach at the University of South Carolina, where he is excelling. Paris was the 2024 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year honor after leading the Gamecocks to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. South Carolina's 15-win improvement was tied for the second-best mark in the nation, and Paris' program reached as high as No. 11 in the national polls. Ryan Pedon '00 spent five years as the lead assistant at Ohio State, which ranked as high as second in the AP Top-25, before taking the head coaching position at Illinois State University, where he is in year three.
Scots Go Abroad: Wooster's team spent fall break in 2022 in France. The NCAA permits such international trips every three years. The trip to France marked the seventh for the program, which previously traveled to England, Ireland, and Scotland (2017), Spain (2014), Ireland and Scotland (2011), Italy (2008), Germany and Austria (2004), and England and Scotland (2000).
