Samford on Playing Kansas: ‘When we win, it’s not going to be a surprise to us’
On Thursday night, No. 4-seed Kansas (22-10) will take on No. 13-seed Samford (29-5) in the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
With Kevin McCullar out for the tournament and Hunter Dickinson coming off a shoulder injury suffered in KU’s regular-season finale, Samford has been a very popular 13-over-4 upset pick in many brackets.
After being pitted against the Bulldogs, Kansas head coach Bill Self admitted that it wasn’t an ideal draw for the Jayhawks, who’ve struggled against good three-point shooting teams all season.
“What have we labored with the most this year? It’s teams that shoot a ton of 3s, and then we have a hard time making up the difference,” Self told KUSports’ Henry Greenstein.
Picking upsets in the NCAA Tournament is one of the most difficult parts of the process, but this feels like a game that could swing either way despite the seeding.
If you ask Samford forward Jermaine Marshall, it wouldn’t be an upset at all. In fact, the Bulldogs expect to win.
“We don’t think anybody is better than us,” Marshall told the media. “We feel like every time we on the court we supposed to win and I don’t feel like [beating Kansas] is an upset. I feel like we gonna win, and when we win, it’s not going to be a surprise to us.
“It might be a surprise to all these brackets that are gonna be messed up, but it definitely won’t be a surprise to us.”
A competitive mindset and attitude is part of what it takes to be successful in March, and Jermaine Marshall and the Bulldogs certainly appear to have that box checked.
The Jayhawks and Bulldogs will tip on Thursday night at 8:55 p.m. CT on TBS, with Kansas currently favored to win by 7.5 points.
