Some long-shot teams arrive at the NCAA Tournament just happy to be here. Samford didn’t sound like much of an underdog during its Wednesday news conference here in Salt Lake City.

Samford is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years. The 13-seed Bulldogs take on four-seed Kansas at 8:55 p.m. on Thursday at the Delta Center. Samford coach Bucky McMillan was asked about going up against Kansas legend Bill Self in the first round.

“Who?” McMillan said.

Samford’s young coach was only joking, and his reaction to the question from the Kansas City Star elicited a healthy roar of laughter from the reporters who attended Samford’s news conference. McMillan went on to praise Self, a two-national champion at KU, for his legendary career. A former high school coach at Mountain Brook, 40-year-old McMillan is in his fourth season with the Bulldogs.

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“No, I coached some very good high school players that were recruited by everybody across the country,” McMillan said. “Coach Self, I don’t think he recruited some of my guys — some that went on to play in the NBA.”

McMillan coached Trendon Watford (Brooklyn Nets) and Colby Jones (Sacramento Kings) at Mountain Brook. The Spartans won five state championships and played for a championship in eight consecutive seasons. McMillan was then hired to Samford when he was 36.

“To all the coaches that came before me, I’m so respectful to all of them for paving the way to get to the game to this point,” McMillan said. “A lot of people when they got in the businesses — a lot of people get in the business now because there’s tremendous financial incentives in the business. Some of those that started years ago, that wasn’t the case.

“They made this game what it was and paved the way for all of us to be sitting here because it’s such a big deal now. So, more than anything about being a good coach, I just respect what he’s done to help advance the game to where it is today.”