BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford head men's basketball coach Bucky McMillan has been named a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award, CollegeInsider.com announced earlier this week.
 
The Hugh Durham award is presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball and is named after a coach who built winning programs at three different universities (Jacksonville, Florida State and Georgia). The winner of the award will be announced April 1 in New Orleans, the site of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
 
Coaches of teams in the following conferences are eligible for the award: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast.
 
Samford posted a record of 21-11 overall and 10-8 in Southern Conference play this season, a remarkable turnaround after winning just six games the previous season. The overall record tied for the third most wins since moving to Division I in 1973. This was just the third time in that span that Samford has won at least 20 regular season games. The Bulldogs' 10-8 record in SoCon play marked the most wins in league play since joining the conference for the 2008-09 season, and the third-place finish in the league was the highest Samford has ever finished in the SoCon standings.
 
The Bulldogs accomplished all of that, despite facing the second toughest strength of schedule in program history. Samford finished the season with an RPI of 117, the highest for the program since finishing 107^th in 2006.
 
The Bulldogs earned the No. 3 seed for the SoCon Tournament, and then picked up a 66-64 win over UNC Greensboro in the tournament quarterfinals. The team was eliminated from the tournament in a back-and-forth, 71-68, game with the No. 2 seed Furman in the semifinal round. This marks just the third time since Samford joined the SoCon that the Bulldogs reached the semifinals of the tournament.
 
 
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