It’s March Madness and for the University of Houston Cougars that means a continuation of what they started as they head into the NCAA Tournament for a school-record sixth straight season and as a No.1 seed for the second time in as many years.
This season, perhaps more than any, could be a testament to Kelvin Sampson’s greatness as a coach. But the veteran coach isn’t about to take any bows.
“It’s not about me. Who cares?” said Sampson, who this week was awarded the Henry Iba Award, as the National Coach of the Year. “It’s about these guys. This is their time, this is their moment to go experience something that only 68 teams get to experience each year. So it is a big deal. I don’t care what your seed is. It doesn’t matter.
“You’re in the NCAA Tournament. We’re no different than anybody else, as far as we are concerned. It’s a big deal. We are going to ride this train as far as we can go.”
The ride officially begins Friday on TNT (8:20 p.m.) when the Cougars, the top seeds in the South Region, take No.16 seed Longwood in Memphis during the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
UH (30-4) is one of six Texas teams in the Tournament, joining UT, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU and Texas A&M. The Cougars are also one of two teams from Houston taking part in March Madness, with the Rice Owls women back in the Tournament for the first time since 2019 after their improbable run through the American Athletic Conference Tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid.
The 14th-seeded Owls travel to Baton Rouge on Friday at 3 p.m. (ESPN) to face No. 8 seed and defending national champion LSU in an opening-round game.
“It’s every kid’s dream,” said Sampson, whose team was eliminated in the Sweet 16 last year. “If you play basketball at this level, you want to have a chance to play in March Madness, you want to see Greg Gumbel call your name out on Selection Sunday, you want to be sitting with your team with cameras on you and stand up and give a big group cheer with your camera capturing that moment and being able to go through that week of preparation and the exhilaration of winning a game. And there is an exhilaration of losing a game you had the opportunity to play with your brothers who fought with every single day or been with every single day since we got together back in June.”
The Cougars, winners of the Big 12 regular season in their first year in the conference, have been among the elite teams all season. They join defending national champion UConn, Purdue and North Carolina as the four No.1 seeds.
But with the Nebraska/Texas A&M winner awaiting in the second round, should the Cougars make it past Longwood in the first round, arguably gives them the most challenging path of all No.1 seeds.
Sampson says he isn’t concerned about the pressures of being a No.1 seed or who his team could possibly face in the second round.
“There is always a chance, but I prefer to look at it another way,” Sampson said. “Our next game is against Longwood. We are going to kind of stay with what we’ve done all year and prepare for our next game.”
The Longwood Lancers are back in the Tournament for the second time in three years after upsetting the No.1 and No.2 seeds in the Big South Tournament to receive their conference’s automatic bid. Sampson has studied the Lancers extensively and has great respect for the job Griff Aldrich has done in leading his team to three consecutive 20-win seasons.
“What Griff has done there, I think is special,” Sampson said. “They are very well put together.”
The same can be said for the Cougars, who are stocked with veteran players who are accustomed to this time of the year and what to expect. Jamal Shead, a fourth-year senior, has had an outstanding season in which has been named the Big 12 Player of the Year, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and this week was named a First-Team All-American by the Associated Press.
“Jamal is a winner, he’s tough, he’s a hard worker, a terrific leader and a great young man,” Sampson said. “I’m really really proud of him.”
But Sampson really can’t say enough about his entire team, which may be the deepest in the country. Baylor transfer L.J. Cryer along with senior forward J’Wan Roberts and sophomore Emanuel Sharp have also been major contributors.
Now this is their reward for the hard work they’ve put in since last summer.
“There is a brotherhood and a closeness of going through that,” Sampson said. “And now we’ve been by ourselves for nine months. There are no pep rallies, there is nobody waiting for you outside of the hotel, nobody is sending you off a bus. We live in almost anonymity except for conference play. Now you get here and you now you see everybody, everything has changed. But it hasn’t changed for us. We maintain our same routines. We just have more people around.
“These are great memories. The winning, the losing, time cures all of that. If you lose you get over it, but you always have that memory of having the opportunity to try versus being in a place where you never get to experience this. It’s special.”
