Samford Bulldogs

The Samford Bulldogs have quietly become one of the Southern Conference's most dangerous programs, playing their home games at the Pete Hanna Center in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. Long a respectable mid-major, Samford broke through in the 2020s behind fast-paced, high-scoring basketball that turned heads nationally. The Bulldogs' rise from conference afterthought to SoCon powerhouse has made them one of the league's most-watched programs in recent seasons.

Samford has sponsored men's basketball since 1901, playing for decades as Howard College before the university's 1965 renaming. After joining the Southern Conference in 2008, the Bulldogs built steadily toward a breakthrough, capturing back-to-back SoCon regular-season titles and, in 2024, the program's first-ever SoCon tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth — a 29-5 season that stands as the winningest in school history.