The most important thing in building a new program is coaching and Samford has an up and comer Jimmy Tillette. (who is taking over from John Brady who left for the purple and yellow pastures of LSU).  Tillette has already recruited some solid players (supposedly) and the future is bright in the big city of Homewood Alabama.  The Bulldogs have not been a great program since they jumped up to D-1 but they are young and this program does have a huge advantage.  Samford University is smack in the middle of Birmingham (Homewood is a suburb) which is one of the fastest growing cities in the country.  After all it is the Pittsburgh of the South.  So they have that going for them!  They are, however, competing with the beast that is the Crimson Tide for recruits (they won’t get many) and attention but, hey, it is not bad to be second fiddle.  Or third fiddle in their case with the fast-charging Blazers that have made such a huge splash already for UAB.  Especially when some of the recruits trickle down when they don’t pan out for the Tide!  Or other D-1 Universities!  Tillette’s plan is to take full advantage of the transfer portal and get some of the talent on his roster.  He already has three transfers coming into town this year (two from Mississippi State and one from those UAB Blazers) with more to come.  There is hope for the fans of the Bulldogs if the Birminghamians just realize they have a team? 

The best player on the team is Sophomore Steve Barker.  To put it bluntly Barker is just a good, solid guard.  He can hit open shots and gets to the hoop well.  He can hit shots from behind the arc and plays solid defense.  He would be a healthy spark plug off the bench on a bigger program but he is the number one option here.  He is that far above the curve in Alabama.  At six five he is a true wing who gives the Bulldogs a superb offensive weapon.  Barker had to play up at times last year though this year he is set as a two guard with some big-time wings coming to suit up for the Bulldogs.  Barker did not miss a game for Tillette and barely came off the court averaging over 16 points and 33 minutes a game.  He could improve his passing and is not super quick or athletic but he more than makes up with that with his unique understanding of the game and all out hustle.  This Owensboro Kentucky kid is a huge fan favorite who loves to play this game.  He might not be near the talent of some of the kids around these parts but there is no doubt he will be a huge part of this team’s story, success or not, for the next three years.  Senior Bill Lankford was supposed to be the number one scoring option down in Homewood but an early injury cost him last year and Tillette made due with Barker taking his place.  Lankford was one heck of a player his first three years.  It will be interesting to see if he gets another year of eligibility but even if he does he will not be the main man anymore for this team.  This injury was hard but it actually opened the door for several underclassmen to get much more time than expected and cannot hurt the future of this program.  The wings here are good but the other three positions are, well, not as good. 

Junior Dwayne Barnette is a terrific rebounder.  That’s it.  He is great on the boards.  He really has no offensive game and doesn’t block a lot of shots.  But he does grab boards and those are a big commodity in basketball and realistically the Bulldogs do not have anyone else near as good inside.  This 6’7 220 pounder from Columbus Ohio will start at center and will have a hard time against the likes of Gilmore and Parish and Tillette has recruited a trio of seven footers to combat those mammoths but for now Barnette is the 5.  Senior Clyde Frederick played some valuable minutes up front but gave way to the youth movement after a midseason injury.  Frederick actually began his career playing for the Crimosn Tide but is a bit undersized for the post in the SEC and transferred here after 1 year.  Frederick is 6’6 and has had a very good career for the Bulldogs and is penciled in once again as a starter but he must bounce back as they need his scoring up front.  Frederick did come back last year for the conference tourney game and scored ten points off the bench in their near upset of Mercer and showed why he is so loved at Samford.  There is a slew of 1st year guys who got their shot and were moved up from JV when Frederick missed time.  Foremost of these was Robbin Bumbry, a 6’7 kid with a solid all-around game.  He is not as effective or as physical as Frederick but played well.  Ronald Radford and Stanley Wormely are 6’8 kids who are developing but for now are defenders and board guys.  They need to beef up for sure.  Seniors Sherman Hogan (the first black basketball player in Alabama), Jim Moebes and Jerry Thomas as well as junior Daniel Wheeler all got passed up by the freshmen coming in and will battle for leftover minutes as Tillette brings in higher level talent and obviously more size to keep up with the Jones’s of the A-Sun.  

 Junior Al Daniel did most of the work at the point and will do so again.  Daniel is a good player but limited against better athletes.  This 6’2 kid is the best they have (that is true too often here) and was productive and was a good leader on the court.  Daniel can go to the hoop with gusto and can also keep his teammates involved.  He may not be Ennis Whatley as far as passing the ball but he gets the job done and outplayed the Crimson Tide’s point guard in their near upset of their in state rival in the first game of the season.  Fellow Junior Ervin Terry also got some time and showed some promise off the bench.  The 5’11 true point guard is a better passer than Daniel but nowhere near as consistent.  Barker also played here at times early on to get minutes but jumped in with both feet as the primary offensive perimeter option once Lankford went down.  Sophomore Daryl Hagler is a solid player who is better suited for the two guard but got some minutes at the one on the JV.  Hagler can slide over and did get some limited minutes on the varsity but needs to get better at distributing especially since he is probably not beating out Barker or Lamkford at the two.  He is 6’3 so he gives Tillette some size when he is on the court but a big group of freshmen guards who will battle for minutes.  Seniors Jimmy Harrison (once a starter here) and Jim Sullivan are also in the mix but they have been surpassed and are battling to stay on the roster with Tillette’s new kids on board.

The Samford Bulldogs are definitely not one of the class programs in the south.  Heck, they struggle enough in the lowly Atlantic Sun Conference.  Coach Jimmy Tillette has brought in a crew of young players including a whole slew of juco kids and portal transfers to find some talent.  He wants to at least make things competitive in Birmingham.  They may not be winning many games but the few fans that are coming to see them are seeing a group of players battling every night.   These Bulldogs do not have near the talent to compete in most Division One Conferences but the A-Sun is not one of those conferences.  Playing in the 30th rated conference in the country (out of 31) has it’s advantages as the Bulldogs finished a solid fifth in this fledgling league.  Tillette’s boys finished a decent 11 and 18 overall and the best thing is most of his squad is coming back and he got to see many of the new kids play some big minutes last year.  No, this is not a team who has enough talent to jump up and challenge for a league title any time soon but Tillette has a plan and by the time most of his underclassmen develop a little more perhaps the future is not too far away in Homewood.