A Samford Basketball Summer: Acuff Year Two Loading
It may only be July but preparation for year two under Lennie Acuff is already beginning. Samford held their final summer intersquad scrimmage for Samford donors and season ticket holders last night. As Lennie Acuff put it after, “We’re just getting started. We’re running a marathon, we’re barely a mile into it.”
It is standard setting and culture building time for Samford who have a nice crop of returners led by Cade Norris and Isaiah Campbell-Finch. Both look to take that next step settling into a leadership role purely by being the most experienced returners. Samford looks to build off the momentum from last February where the Bulldogs won nine of their last 11 games.
Gone are the team’s top three leading scorers in SoCon Player of the Year Jadin Booth and Keaton Norris to graduation. C Dylan Faulkner transferred to Clemson for his final seasons of college basketball.
C Will Shaver is in pole position to replace Faulkner in Samford’s starting lineup who played extremely well over the course of the scrimmage. Acuff said that Shaver “is not even the same person.” He continued to rave about his summer as Shaver did not have a full offseason last season, arriving at Samford in early October.
“The last two weeks, he’s been fantastic”, said Acuff. “When you look at the growth of guys, that did play for us last year, I think they all made big strides. And Will’s got a chance to make a huge jump this year. He’s really worked to get in shape, played well in practice and showed up tonight.”
Coastal Carolina transfer Braeden MacVicar and true freshman Lawson Lee also factor into that rotation at the five spot. Acuff had high praise for the freshman in Lee who is an athletic seven-footer who can space the floor.
Two Birmingham boys in Ty Davis and Win Miller returned to Samford as both played well in the scrimmage with Miller making three from beyond the three-point arc.
Look out for Montevallo transfer guard Brandon Fussell who averaged 18.5 points per game last season who scored at all three levels in the scrimmage. New Haven transfer Najimi George who is six-foot, four-inches who also flashed on both ends of the floor.
So with that in mind, it’s never too early for a projected starting five. Why not?
G - Ty Davis
G - Isaiah “Diggie” Campbell-Finch
G Brandon Fussell
G Cade Norris
C Will Shaver
Samford’s non-conference schedule is also starting to take shape as Samford added more buy games to the schedule. The Bulldogs will travel to Las Vegas to play UNLV and will also take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Those two games are in addition to the previously announced UAB and reported Alabama games.
The preseason schedule for Samford is also full as Samford is heading back to the Ballin in Boutwell event in downtown Birmingham with a rematch against Alabama A&M. There will also be a secret scrimmage against an opponent plus another exhibition game at Jacksonville State.
Samford now takes eight weeks off before the fall practice gets underway as Samford looks to navigate life without Jadin Booth. Acuff believes Samford will be a deeper team this upcoming season as we wait and see who officially emerges for the Bulldogs in year two.
