Sure, the University of Houston men’s basketball team ascended back to being one of the nation’s elite basketball programs as a member of the American Athletic Conference. However, it figured to be a different story this season as the Cougars moved into the far less forgiving Big 12.
But with one game remaining in the regular season, UH finds itself back as the nation’s consensus No.1 team, leading the Big 12 and making a strong argument to be the No.1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Kelvin Sampson’s squad has accomplished this all after losing senior guard Marcus Sasser and star freshman Jarace Walker to last summer’s NBA Draft.
How is that for stepping up your game?
“I never thought much about that (how moving to a tougher conference could affect the postseason). I really didn’t, because I had already coached in the Big 12,” said Sampson, who coached at Oklahoma from 1994-2006. “I was more worried about Marcus Sasser. I had Marcus Sasser for four years. I had to replace him. I had to replace the No.8 pick in the NBA Draft in Jarace Walker. I had to replace him.”
But as Sampson likes to say, his program has a “winning DNA.”
That has certainly been the case as the Cougars have simply reloaded to remain among the elite in a more challenging conference environment.
Different cast, same results
UH added Baylor transfer L.J. Cryer, while senior guard Jamal Shead, senior forward J’Wan Roberts and sophomore guard Emanuel Sharp have elevated their games to the point where the team hasn’t missed a beat with the departures of Tramon Mark to the transfer portal and Sasser and Walker to the NBA.
In a conference where Kansas has ruled, UH has quickly become a challenger for the throne.
But the question now is what will it all mean as the all-important tournament season begins next week? As long as the Cougars can keep Iowa State at bay, they will enter the Big 12 Tournament as the No.1 seed and then the NCAA Tournament is up next.
It will be in the national spotlight of the tournament season that we will find out the true effect of the Cougars’, who are 26-3 overall and 13-3 in conference, more arduous trek through the Big 12. Will it help them or will the more grinding schedule that has already resulted in three season-ending injury losses of Terrance Acreneaux, Ramon Walker and freshman forward Joesph Tugler be a setback during the tournament season?
“The thing that I noticed is how it beats you down a lot,” said Sampson, who has taken the Cougar to four straight Sweet 16 appearances and a Final Four showing in that span. “On one hand, you may say that we are playing better teams every night so that will better help you get ready for the Tournament. I always thought we were prepared for the Tournament before. We were a 40-foot shot away from going to five consecutive Sweet 16s so I’m assuming that’s pretty good.”
In good health
Sampson, who guided the Cougars to a No.1 seed last season, insists that the key is staying healthy.
“You almost want to put guys in a bubble, but you can’t. I wish this team had Terrence Acreneaux because he would have really been able to help us, especially the way he was playing. But we lost him. I think about that every day,” said Sampson said prior to Tugler going down for the season this week with a broken right foot. “Now we’ve lost Ramon. I wake up in the morning thinking about it, I go to bed thinking about it and I come into the office and I’m trying to figure some stuff out.
“So for me, it’s just being able to stay healthy which we have not. So now we are just going to figure out how to keep this thing in the water until the Tournament.”
Making the plays
The Cougars have managed to keep it in the water all season long with spectacular play from their backcourt, Cryer and Shead in particular. Both have proven themselves to be outstanding scorers who make big plays in the clutch.
Shead, who has also evolved into the Cougars floor general and vocal team leader, came up with big plays down the stretch in a recent win over Cincinnati and this past Saturday when he hit the game-winning basket over Oklahoma with 0.1 seconds remaining.
Where the Cougars were often running away with wins in the AAC, they’ve had to win in more of a grinding fashion in Big 12 play. That will likely be the case again when Kansas comes into the Fertitta Center for Saturday’s regular-season finale.
“The beginning of the season, L.J. went through a slump, Emanuel has gone through a slump, and J’Wan, and now it’s me a little bit,” Shead said. “I think our biggest attribute to each other is each other. We’ve overcome each other by continuing playing hard and just taking up for one another.
“Just us continuing to help one another when one is done, I think is our biggest attribute going forward. That’s how we are going to keep going here in March.”
