Why Kansas’ opponent Samford could be a Cinderella in this year’s NCAA Tournament

Samford, a mid-major basketball team from a private Baptist university located in Homewood, Alabama, enters the 2024 NCAA Tournament as a No. 13-seed that’s considered a possible — some say likely — Cinderella story in the field of 68.

In fact, basketball analyst Seth Davis during Sunday’s Selection Show on CBS predicted a Bulldog victory over No. 4-seed Kansas in Thursday’s first-round Midwest Regional clash, set for an 8:55 p.m. Central Time tipoff in Salt Lake City’s Delta Center.

Samford enters with a 29-5 record. The Jayhawks are 22-10.

“This is the part where I light myself on fire,” Davis said during the CBS Selection Sunday show as reported by Al.com. “I got McNeese over Gonzaga (in 12 vs. 5 Midwest Regional first-round game). And, you ready? Samford takes down Kansas. You mentioned the injuries to Kansas. They are already not a deep team. Samford is an up-and-down team. They play 10 guys, and the game is in Salt Lake City where altitude is a factor,” Davis added.

Meanwhile, Maxwell Donaldson of the Tuscaloosa News predicts a score of: Samford 90, Kansas 75.

“Kansas hasn’t been trending in the right direction as of late and ‘Bucky Ball’ seems ready to go from Homewood, Alabama, to the nation. All that means its the Bulldogs pulling off an upset and ending the Jayhawks’ season,” wrote Donaldson.

Bucky Ball is the nickname for Samford basketball. Coach Bucky McMillan had never coached above the high school level. He came to Samford after spending 12 seasons as a highly successful coach at nearby Mountain Brook High School.

He was hired four years ago with a goal of turning Samford into as powerful a mid-major program as Gonzaga. McMillan, 40, is 77-40 with two regular-season Southern Conference titles (including a 15-3 league mark in 2023-24) and this year’s postseason tourney title to his credit.

Donaldson wrote on Sunday night: “Samford comes in winning 10 of its last 12 games since the start of February. More importantly the Bulldogs offense has been on a roll, scoring under 70 once (69 points in its last loss) while the Jayhawks have scored fewer than 70 in seven of their 11 games in that same span, losing six games. Overall, since two losses to 1-seed Purdue and VCU to begin the year, the Bulldogs are 29-3.”

Samford, which at one point this season had a 17-game win streak, is making its first trip to the NCAAs since 2000. It’s the program’s third overall appearance in the Big Dance. The squad also advanced in 1999.

“The Bulldogs’ offense has been high-flying all year, averaging 86 points per game using McMillan’s Bucky Ball system,” Donaldson wrote. “On top of that, they are one of the best shooting teams in the country, shooting 49.25% from the field, 12th-best in the nation. What takes them to the next level is the seventh-best 3-point shooting offense, hitting almost 40% of their attempts while shooting 25 per game.”

The city of Homewood is a suburban community of about 26,000 located near Birmingham, Ala. On Sunday, they celebrated their beloved Bulldogs making the NCAAs.

According to abc3340.com, “(Hundreds of) attendees showed up to show their support not only for Samford, but for the Birmingham-native coach, Bucky McMillan.”

“Bucky ball, that’s what got them there,” attendee Nate Vanderveer told the TV network.

“It’s going to be on a national stage, we’re going to put Samford on the map. People are going to look it up...And see it for the great place that it is.” Samford student Natalie Budd told the TV network.

McMillan said this on Sunday night: “Obviously, I’m very excited for our program to be on the national scene. 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.”