This is an opinion column.

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Achor Achor of Samford was one of the players singled out by name on Selection Sunday.

Samford and the city of Homewood celebrated the Bulldogs’ first trip to the NCAA Tournament with a block party in the streets of Edgewood. When Samford’s matchup with Kansas was revealed, CBS basketball analyst Seth Davis said to keep an eye on Achor. It was a proud moment for the Bulldogs’ talented small forward, whose remarkable story is one of inspiration, determination and opportunity. Davis then predicted that 13-seed Samford would upset four-seed Kansas in the first round. Cue the drama. The two teams play at 8:55 p.m. (TBS) on Thursday at Salt Lake City’s Delta Center.

This is Samford’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2000. I’ve highlighted the Bulldogs all season in columns and I’m flying with the team to Salt Lake City for the first weekend of the tournament. The rise of Samford under local coaching legend Bucky McMillan is one of the best stories in college basketball. He’s the three-time coach of the year in the Southern Conference. What’s Bucky Ball and why is it so successful? It’s more than on-court strategy. It’s also how McMillan develops talent.

McMillan did it at the high school level with players Trendon Watord (Brooklyn Nets), Lior Berman (Auburn) and Colby Jones (Sacramento Kings). At Samford, Achor is one of McMillan’s latest rising stars.

Achor is the Bulldogs’ 6-9 wingman who is developing into a player with NBA potential. In a quiet moment away from Sunday’s block-party celebration, Achor sat down with me for an interview about his journey to the United States. There isn’t a better story in the NCAA Tournament. If Bucky Ball continues to develop elite talent like Achor, then Samford is going to be good at basketball for a long time.

Achor is South Sudanese, but was born in Cairo, Egypt. His mother fled South Sudan during the country’s savage civil war. She wanted to give her children a life away violence and death. Achor can still speak fluent Arabic despite only living in Cairo until he was five. From there, Achor moved to Melbourne, Australia, with his family.

It’s in Melbourne where he fell in love with sports. Basketball wasn’t his first choice, though. At his heart — and maybe this is what makes him such a great basketball player — Achor is an Australian Rules Football player.

Wait, what?

“That’s a tough sport now,” Achor said. “I played ruck and centre-half forward.”

Australian Rules Football is a mix between American football and rugby. I don’t know much about the sport, but Achor tells me the positions he played were the toughest on the field. That explains his relentless energy on the hardwood. Achor is still an emerging talent, and his versatility should give Samford an edge against the Jayhawks.

“Basketball wasn’t my favorite sport,” Achor said. “Australian Rules Football was my favorite sport, but I got the opportunity in basketball because my best friend came to the U.S. like six months before me and my coach saw that I was good enough.”

Achor didn’t start taking basketball seriously until he was 17 years old. That’s when he moved from Australia to Florida to play at a prep school in Sarasota, Florida. He hasn’t been home in six years. He misses his mom, Ator Ucala. It was tough for Ator to let her youngest son leave home at such a young age, but she’s always made sacrifices to give him the best life possible.

“A lot of people back home, they know me but they don’t know me because I’ve grown so much,” Achor said. “But I’m glad I came to Samford because I feel like I’m a better person with my character and just the environment and the people, everyone is welcoming. Birmingham, it’s a big place but it’s small.”

Achor loves Birmingham. He says the city is a great place to live and grow as a person. I love that. Wherever he goes, Achor says he’ll always have a special place in his heart for the city. Achor is a junior, which means he could be one of the top college prospects in the country next season. McMillan says there are fifth- and sixth-graders in the U.S. who have played in more organized basketball games than Achor.

Achor is a true international man of intrigue. He leads Samford in scoring (15.8 points per game), and his shooting percentages are through the roof (59 percent from the field and over 44 percent from 3-point range). He played at Chipola Junior College before being recruited by McMillan to Samford.

“He plays the game with such joy,” McMillan said. “It’s because he hasn’t played a lot of basketball. The sky is the limit. He didn’t even start for us last year.”

Why did Achor choose Samford? It was all about playing for McMillan.

“Bucky is real. He is very real,” McMillan said. “The whole recruiting process, people call your phone and try to sell you and some people are being truthful and some people aren’t. You got to sit there and decipher who’s lying to you and who’s not.

“And with Bucky, he seemed like he really cared about me as a person before basketball. That’s what I really appreciated. He went to great lengths more than anyone else.”

With Achor, it’s not just about basketball either.

“When I graduate I’m going to be the first graduate of my family, so that’s huge,” Achor said.

From South Sudan to Egypt to Australia to Florida to Alabama to the NCAA Tournament, the national spotlight is here for Samford’s former Australian Rules Football player.

SOUND OFF

Got a question about the changing landscape of college football, spring practice in the SEC or college hoops? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe a question about what’s on your mind for the weekly mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama”.