College Hoops Top 50

Last Year: 29-6; 15-3, Southern Conference regular season and conference tournament champions, lost in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament

Head Coach: Bucky McMillan (Fifth Year; 77-41 at Samford, with one NCAA Tournament appearance

Projected Starting Lineup

PG Rylan Jones – 6’0″, 175 5th-year Senior

G Julian Brown – 6’1″, 190 Junior

G Trey Fort – 6’4″, 200 Senior

F Collin Holloway – 6’6″, 220 Senior

C Riley Allenspach – 6’11”, 247 Sophomore

Experienced Reserves

G Josh Holloway – 6’2″, 160 Sophomore

G Isaiah West – 6’2″, 190 Sophomore

G Lukas Walls – 6’5″, 200 Sophomore

F Jaden Brownell – 6’9″, 230 Junior

F Hamed ‘Larry’ Olayinka – 6’9″, 215 Sophomore

C Brody Davis – 6’10”, 235 Senior

Freshmen

W Zion Wilburn – 6’5″, 190

F Caleb Harrison – 6’9″, 205

On January 19, 2024, the Samford Bulldogs passed Stanford University – the school that casual fans sometimes confuse them with – in Ken Pomeroy’s college basketball rankings for the first time ever. And, as the saying goes, BuckyBall did not look back. 

Turns out, the guy who used to get clowned for being some flash-in-the-pan high school coach is constructing something really impressive in Birmingham, AL. Head coach Bucky McMillan has helmed the Bulldogs for four seasons now, and over that time his program has done nothing but improve. Since a six-win debut, McMillan has led Samford to 71 wins over the past three years. Included in that run are back-to-back Southern Conference regular season titles, and last March, McMillan guided the Bulldogs to a SoCon tournament crown – as well as the program’s first Big Dance since the turn of the millennium. 

Now comes, in some ways, a bigger challenge: to maintain that level of success at a school without great history in the era of free-wheeling transfers. It must be said, being a private Christian school doesn’t hurt Samford from an NIL angle. What hurts is that McMillan lost star forward Achor Achor – a first-team All-SoCon pick and the MVP of the league’s tournament – to Kansas State, and a host of other key contributors to the portal and graduation. As a salve, the way McMillan and his staff have gone about restocking the roster from all that attrition has been highly impressive. 

In three of his four seasons, McMillan’s Bulldogs have ranked among the nation’s top 50 scoring offenses. Last year, Samford scored 84.5 points per contest, which ranked seventh in all the land. They also handed out 17.2 assists (14th) while pilfering 9.9 steals (seventh) per game. Whether they have the ball or not, the Bulldogs’ playstyle – affectionately termed ‘BuckyBall’ – keeps the pressure on. Best of all, even though much has been lost from last season’s 29-win squad, a couple of the primary architects of all that pressure are back to lead McMillan’s new cast. 

After two years at Utah and two years at Utah State, Rylan Jones is going to get the opportunity to spend two years in Birmingham. The Beehive State native is one of the nation’s most experienced point guards, having been granted a sixth season of eligibility this spring due to an injury which wiped out most of his 2022-23 campaign as an Aggie. Last winter, Jones played some of the best basketball of his career, proving a seamless fit orchestrating McMillan’s attack at both ends of the floor. A former 4-star recruit who sits on 548 assists and 163 steals over his 124 career games, Jones has the unflappable confidence which only effort, repetitions, and a deep understanding of the game can bring. 

Last year, the overall 3.28:1 assist to turnover ratio which Jones posted was the 11th-best ratio among all Division I players. His 3.21:1 ratio in the halfcourt was tenth-best in all the land, per Synergy Sports. When the other team had the ball, Jones took it away 56 times, which ranked third in the SoCon, and his intensity helps to set the tone for Samford. A 35.6% career shooter from the land of trey, Jones made a career-best 57 triples at a 37.7% clip last winter. With a classic, veteran point guard to lead the way, McMillan’s offense will be in great hands – and the veteran scorers he’s brought in will see plenty of quality opportunities. 

A pair of complimentary, proven options, Trey Fort and Collin Holloway should fit right in with BuckyBall. And since the Bulldogs are looking to replace upwards of 70 points per game lost from last year’s crew, the veterans are going to get every opportunity to let it fly. 

Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks)

84.5 – Points Per Game (7th)

50.5% – Opponent Effective FG Percentage (181st)

17.2 – Assists Per Game (14th)

69.7% – Defensive Rebounding Rate (318th)

39.5% – Team 3FG Percentage (4th)

At Tulane the last two seasons, Collin Holloway played in another of the country’s most go-go offenses. Now, he’ll be asked to step into Achor’s role as the team’s top scoring forward. Though smaller than his predecessor, Holloway is tough, strong, and brings some of the same scoring versatility that the Bulldogs came to rely upon last year. After two seasons at Georgetown, Holloway leveled up with the Green Wave and proved a terrific fit running with a group of highly-experienced ball movers last winter in Uptown, New Orleans. McMillan is hoping that Collin Holloway can bring exactly that sort of flow to his reconfigured rotation.

He may have been part of deep ensemble cast in Mississippi State’s backcourt last year, but Trey Fort is ready for his chance to shine at the Division I level. A former JuCo All-American at Howard (TX) College two years ago, Fort averaged 24.9 points on 45.2% shooting from distance. That range has also been on display at Tennessee-Martin (where Fort shot 41.7% as a freshman) and with State, as Fort splashed 34.9% of his three-balls last winter. With Samford in need of go-to scoring, the stage is set for Fort to break out in a big, loud way. 

With his good size and quick, clean stroke from the outside, Fort should have great opportunities to fill it up for Samford. With McMillan’s talent for putting his best players in positions to succeed and on the receiving end of setups from Jones and kick-out’s from Collin Holloway and young center Riley Allenspach, Fort will be locked and loaded this fall. Though he was utilized as a fairly one-dimensional sniper at Mississippi State, Fort showed off a full repertoire at the lower level, including a penchant for getting defenders off-balance and earning trips to the free throw line. He’s a strong and confident driver, and Fort can convert a variety of tough runners and layups inside. In keeping with his trademark aggressiveness, McMillan has seen his teams take great advantage of the charity stripe – the Bulldogs attempted 21.9 freebies per contest last winter. With Fort’s ability to stretch defenses and then attack closeouts, Samford may well have found its new top dog. 

After flashing a tantalizing set of skills last winter as a rookie, Allenspach is poised to step forward as one of Samford’s key pieces. Standing 6’11” with the skills of a guard, Allenspach can score inside and out, and he’s a smart player who reads the floor and passes well. His 12.4% offensive rebounding rate last year was great, and as his strength improves around the basket, Allenspach has the frame to become a genuine force. 

Though he averaged just 12 minutes per game on the season, Allenspach scored in double figures seven times, including 15 in Samford’s NCAA Tournament matchup against Kansas. He went for 18 and nine boards against VMI, and Allenspach had 15 more against Belmont. Best of all, Allenspach isn’t just a threat to shoot the ball; he was also highly efficient converting around the paint last year. That freshman production came, in part, against other team’s second units, and now it’s up to Allenspach to play 20+ minutes against the best bigs on Samford’s schedule. Being that he acquitted himself fairly well against the likes of KU’s Hunter Dickinson, Belmont’s Malik Dia, and UNC Greensboro star Mikael Brown-Jones as a rookie, there’s every reason for Bulldog fans to expect considerable growth from their young pivot this winter. As the biggest guy on the roster, Allenspach will be at the fore of Samford’s biggest need for improvement: rebounding. The Bulldogs just weren’t good enough on the glass last winter, and that was with Achor’s 202 boards. BuckyBall has to be a bit more serious about rebounding to stay as good as they’ve been. 

In Birmingham, everyone gets a chance to score, and that means that a bunch of other new arrivals are going to get their chance to chip in. Helping to coordinate things will be the ‘1-B’ to the ‘1-A’ role that Rylan Jones occupies: sophomore point guard Josh Holloway. In his debut for McMillan, Josh Holloway (no relation to Collin) showed off plenty of confidence driving the ball and terrific energy all over the floor. Though he occasionally got into the weeds – or outright trouble – with all of that exuberance last winter (he coughed up 57 turnovers along with his 73 assists), Holloway can really get downhill to create the action and distribute the ball. He’s exciting in transition, especially after a steal and with the other team disordered. Holloway shot the ball inconsistently as a freshman, but with a year’s experience and polish, he should be even better and more exciting this fall. 

In Vanderbilt transfer Isaiah West, McMillan has brought in another talented young guard who could become a slick and symbiotic running mate alongside Josh Holloway in the years to come. The Commodores may have been a sinking ship last winter, but West gained valuable experience and even made nine starts. Though his minutes fluctuated on a desperate team, West also proved that he’s fully recovered from knee surgery towards the end of his high school career. Considered a Top 50 national prospect prior to his injury, West is preparing to show off all of his skills at Samford. West can handle the ball, make plays, and really heat up as a scorer. 

In Birmingham, everyone gets a chance to score, and that means that a bunch of new arrivals are going to get their chance to chip in.

Arriving from Wagner to add further firepower to the Bulldogs is Julian Brown. A 37.3% shooter from deep across his first two seasons, Brown rattled home 66 triples last winter to rank third in the Northeast Conference. In Wagner’s two NCAA Tournament games, he put on a show, scoring 15 and then 18 points on a combined 7/12 shooting from downtown. No simple chucker, Brown is also a helpful secondary playmaker, and he committed just 33 turnovers in 32 games last year. McMillan’s teams love to shoot the three; they attempted more than 25 of them each game a year ago, and made 351 triples for the season: seventh in the country. Brown will have a green light when he’s on the floor, and if he can provide quick offense and three’s in bunches, he’ll see plenty of minutes. 

McMillan added a pair of seasoned forwards to compete with Allenspach and Collin Holloway, and each of them brings a highly translatable skill. Jaden Brownell, like Jones, hails from Utah, though he spent his first three collegiate seasons at Illinois-Chicago. Now a redshirt junior, Brownell will be expected to provide scoring punch and all the triples he can manage. He made 51 three-ball’s across his two years playing for the Flames, and owns a 37.5% mark from deep. A 3-and-D forward with plenty of length, Brownell blocks shots when he’s not launching, and has a soft touch inside. If Brownell can play with more physicality in the paint, he could become a highly impactful two-way big. Continuing the ascent he’s begun as a floor-stretcher, Brownell should get plenty of chances to show his skills for the Bulldogs as they look to replace more than 250 of the triples that last year’s team sank. 

Also joining the rotation will be Hamed ‘Larry’ Olayinka. A dangerous shot blocker who can really finish inside, Olayinka is a long, athletic, disruptive player. He stuffed home 24 dunks last year at Utah Tech, and Olayinka is assertive when he gets the ball within arm’s reach of the rim. Despite playing just over 16 minutes on average, Olayinka’s 1.6 blocks per contest ranked third in the Western Athletic Conference, and McMillan is looking for that type of defensive impact this year to provide a deterrent at the back of the Bulldogs’ defense. Back to grow his role, Lukas Walls saw action in all but one of the Bulldogs’ games a year ago. He tended to shoot the ball well whenever he was in the game, and offers more size than the majority of Samford’s perimeter players. 

Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on

@ Arizona – December 18

@ Michigan State – November 19

@ Cornell – November 8

vs North Dakota State – November 26

vs Utah Valley – November 27

There are three other new players who will look to establish themselves, as well. Brodie Davis spent the past three seasons at Birmingham Southern, the Division II school where McMillan himself played during the early 2000’s. A stout, strong, experienced pivot, Davis has the size to step right into Samford’s lineup. A post-oriented big who protects the rim and does good work on the glass, Davis began to show a bit more as a shooter last year, and even hit seven triples. He’s not exactly a dangerous offensive player, but Dsvis will finish good looks and play tough around the goal. Caleb Harrison is another lanky shooting forward who may redshirt, but looks like a solid long-term investment. 

Athletic wing Zion Wilburn was a bit of a coup signing for McMillan. After finishing his high school career at powerhouse Compass (AZ) Prep, Wilburn garnered attention from a host of mid-major programs, and the youngster has physical tools that will one day make him a valuable asset. That day may not be too far distant; though his jumper is still coming along, Wilburn guards at a high level and has the size, lateral quickness, and reach to cover up and down the opposing lineup already. 

It’s tough to bet against a guy who’s been named the SoCon Coach of the Year three times running. Especially given how well McMillan and his staff reassembled a talented, rather cohesive roster this spring, Samford has become more than just a well-run program. The Bulldogs are adaptable, diligent, and fun. The talented players they’ve started attracting are proof. And since McMillan, who signed an extension back in March, is sticking around, they’ll keep rising.

“We are building a special program here at Samford,” McMillan declared upon signing his new deal. “And I look forward to continuing to work, along with my staff and players, to compete for championships.” He’s accomplished a lot in a short span of time, and the country is starting to take notice. McMillan & Co are scheduling like an established program, too – they’ll travel to Arizona and Michigan State to test themselves this season. With all of the wins they’ve stacked and the undeniably positive momentum this program has built, Samford is here to stay.