Player in NCAA Tournament guarantees victory

The Samford Bulldogs find themselves as an underdog in their Round of 64 matchup against the Kansas Jayhawks. But despite this, one Samford player boldly called his show, guaranteeing a victory for his team in a pregame interview.

Samford has become a bit of a trendy upset pick for some filling out NCAA Tournament brackets, largely due to the Jayhawks dealing with a number of injuries heading into this game.

Not only will star forward Kevin McCullar, the team’s leading scorer, not be playing in this game. But star big-man Hunter Dickenson is coming into this game dealing with a shoulder injury, which could very well impact his performance on Thursday night.

This could be a recipe for disaster for Kansas heading into this matchup. Especially considering how confident Samford forward Jermaine Marshall appears to be about his team’s chances.

“We don’t think that anybody’s better than us,” Marshall told reporters on Thursday. “We feel like every time we’re on the court, we’re supposed to win. I don’t feel like this is an upset. We’re going to win. When we win, it’s not going to be a surprise to us.”

#Samford forward Jermaine Marshall on playing #Kansas: "When we win, it's not going to be a surprise to us." #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/qEbCgjTQpw

— Rob Collins (@RobCollinsTV) March 20, 2024

You have to love the confidence from Marshall here. But is it wise to poke a sleeping bear of a program like Kansas just hours before you are set to play them?

Only time will tell. But Marshall’s confidence isn’t all that unwarranted, as Samford has indeed been a powerhouse out of the Southern Conference, with an overall record of 29-5 on the year.

However, they have yet to prove that they can compete with a team like Kansas thus far this year. In fact, their lone matchup against a ranked opponent came against Purdue, where they lost by a whopping 53 points.

[Rob Collins on Twitter/X]