The regular season and Southern Conference Tournament Champions, the 13-seed Samford Bulldogs, will face the 4-seed Kansas Jayhawks in the Midwest Region of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday night with the game taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Delta Center with tip-off scheduled for 9:55 PM ET and will air on TBS.

The Samford Bulldogs earned their 3^rd and first since the 200 automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southern Conference Tournament after defeating the Mercer Bears in the Quarterfinals by a score of 70-57, the Furman Paladins in the Semifinals by a score of 84-77, and the ETSU Buccaneers in the Championship game by a score of 76-69. 

Samford is also on a four-game winning streak and has won six of their last seven games following the championship win against ETSU. Samford is one of the most offensively efficient teams in college basketball this season as they rank 5^th nationally in scoring with an average of 85.97 points per game, however, they have been a below-average team defensively allowing an average of 73.94 points per game which ranks 247^th nationally. Samford ended the regular season as the regular season champions in the Southern Conference with a conference record of 15-3 and an overall record of 29-5 but only played one team during the regular season that is in the NCAA Tournament which came against the Purdue Boilermakers and resulted in a 45-98 loss on the road. 

Samford has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament and will look to get their first NCAA Tournament win when they face a banged-up Kansas Jayhawks Team in the 1^st round of the tournament.

The Kansas Jayhawks enter the 2024 NCAA Tournament banged up and will be without one of their best players, Kevin McCullar Jr., for the entire tournament after McCullar Jr. led the team in scoring with an average of 18.3 points per game and Hunter Dickinson is also less than 100% and missed the Big 12 Conference Tournament. 

Kansas is one of the best programs in college basketball and will be making their 52^nd overall and 34^th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament after receiving an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament after finishing the regular season with an overall record of 22-10 and a conference record of 10-8 which led to a tie with the BYU Cougars for 5^th place in the Big 12 Conference, however, without Kevin McCullar Jr. and Hunter Dickinson Kansas was eliminated early in the Big 12 Conference Tournament with a 52-72 loss against the Cincinnati Bearcats in their first games in the Big 12 Conference tournament and have lost four of their last five games including their last two games in a row. 

Kansas has won in the 1^st round in their last 16 NCAA Tournaments and will look to extend that streak to 17 when they play the Samford Bulldogs in the 1^st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon.

WagerWeb has the Kansas Jayhawks listed as 7-point favorites against the Samford Bulldogs in the 1^st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday night. Samford enters this game on a four-game winning streak while Kansas has lost four of their last five games. This will be the first time in college basketball history that the Samford Bulldogs face the Kansas Jayhawks.

Kansas enters this game banged up and will be without their leading scorer, Kevin McCullar Jr. for the NCAA Tournament while Hunter Dickinson missed the Big 12 Tournament and will be less than 100% in the NCAA Tournament as well. Kansas is the more experienced team and had advanced to the 2^nd round in 16 straight NCAA Tournaments, I don’t expect the Jayhawks to advance to the 2^nd weekend this season but I don’t see them losing to the Samford Bulldogs as Samford doesn’t have NCAA Tournament experience as they will only be making their 3^rd NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. As a result, I am laying the points with the Kansas Jayhawks when they face the Samford Bulldogs in the 1^st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.