Samford Gets 1st NCAA Bid
The most prolific 3-point-shooting team in the country will get to show off its marksmanship on college basketball's biggest stage.
Little-known Samford hit 11 3-pointers Saturday to earn its first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament with an 89-61 victory over Central Florida in the final of the Trans America Athletic Conference tournament.
Freshman Chris Weaver hit five of the 3-pointers and finished with 20 points as the top-seeded Bulldogs (24-5) followed their first TAAC regular-season title with their first tournament championship.
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No. 2 seed Central Florida (19-10) was seeking its third trip to the NCAA in six seasons, but was overmatched by a team that came in averaging a nation-leading 9.5 3-pointers per game.
Weaver hit all four of his first-half attempts and Marc Salyers went 3-for-4 as the Bulldogs jumped to a 49-27 lead.
UCF never got closer than 16 in the second half. Brad Traina led the Knights with 14 points.
The victory surely brought on a celebration at Samford, the 4,500-student Baptist school nestled in the hilly suburbs of Birmingham, Ala.
It might have been best known as the school where Bobby and Terry Bowden, Chan Gailey and others made their mark coaching football before moving on.
Until this week.
A decent-sized student group caravanned to Jacksonville for the final, waving their "Beware of the Dog" signs and another, even more telling, that read "Samford, not Stanford."
But for the next week or so, the identity crisis for second-year coach Jimmy Tillette's program, a charter member of the TAAC, can be put on hold.
The Bulldogs beat Central Florida thanks to a Princeton-style offense, heavy on patient perimeter passing, good outside shooting and well-timed backdoor cuts toward the basket.
It was working so well early, that Salyers, a center, hd two 3-pointers and three assists within the first five minutes as the Bulldogs hurried to a 16-6 lead.
Minutes later, the rout was on.
Salyers finished 7-for-11 from the floor. He led the team with 22 points, eight rebounds eight assists. Weaver, who averages just 4.3 points per game, shot 5-for-6 from 3-point range and Reed Rawlings finished with 14 points.
The Bulldogs -- fifth in the country with a 50.1 shooting percentage from the floor -- shot 63 percent against the Knights and 11-for-21 (52 percent) from 3-point range.
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