For the first time in 24 years, Samford men’s basketball has climbed the mountaintop and is headed to the Big Dance. The Bulldogs defeated East Tennessee State in the SoCon Championship 76-69 to punch their ticket. It is the first March Madness berth for head coach Bucky McMillan, who broke Samford’s 24-year drought in just four years.
“I’m so happy for this team, I’m so happy for Samford University,” McMillan said in a postgame press conference. “I remember sitting in here our first year and playing as a 10 seed, we won six games and at the end of the year we lost by 35 or 40 poins to Mercer. I remember we had to recruit players for my first recruiting class, and we had to convince them that we could win this league. I said in the press conference that we would win this league and win this tournament, and we did.”
Samford’s current record of 29-5 is the best in program history. Achor Achor netted the SoCon Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award, receiving the award after netting 25 points and nine rebounds. Jermaine Marshall had 23 points and eight rebounds in the win.
With all players healthy heading into March Madness, Samford is looking to make some noise as a 13-seed in the tournament. The Bulldogs will face Kansas in Salt Lake City Thursday evening in the Round of 64. The Jayhawks are led by Bill Self, who has appeared in 24 NCAA Tournaments. He has only lost in two Round of 64s out of those 24 appearances.
This is the first-ever meeting between Samford and Kansas in basketball. Samford currently ranks fifth in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 86 points per game. The Bulldogs also rank in the top 10 in the following categories: bench points per game, turnovers forced per game, effective field goal percentage, three-point percentage, fast break points per game, and winning percentage.
“Obviously, I’m very excited for our program to be on the national scene,” McMillan said. “Those that have been following our program know this is a special team. It’s a special group of guys, the way they represent our university goes hand in hand with our university, how hard they work, how unselfish they are and the confidence in how they approach their business on a day-to-day basis.”
The national spotlight is firmly fixed on Samford. The Bulldogs will look to shock the world on the grandest stage of them all against Kansas.
Sports Editor
