I used to be the Memphis beat author for The Business Enchantment newspaper from 2002 to 2006, level being I made a number of journeys to Houston for Convention USA matchups between the Tigers and Cougars. In my 4 full seasons on the beat, that is how Houston completed in C-USA:
- 2003: eleventh
- 2004: thirteenth
- 2005: T-Sixth
- 2006: 4th
Whereas watching the Cougars late Monday safe at the least a share of the Huge 12 title for the second straight 12 months with a 69-62 victory at Texas Tech, I could not assist however take into consideration how inconceivable all of that is given the place this system was earlier than Kelvin Sampson took over in April 2014. Houston made precisely one NCAA Match look within the 21 years earlier than Sampson was employed and had not gained a convention championship — not even a C-USA championship! — since 1992. I keep in mind Hofheinz Pavilion, their out-dated residence on the time, being darkish and empty every recreation I visited. That is the place Phi Slama Jama performed? It was all kinda unhappy to see up shut.
However Sampson has flipped issues utterly.
He guided Houston to an American Athletic Convention championship in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 — and he would’ve additionally performed it in 2021 if not for imbalanced schedules attributable to COVID cancellations. (Undeniably, he had one of the best workforce within the AAC that season too.) Then, upfront of final season, Houston moved to the Huge 12, a convention that had persistently rated as the game’s finest, and instantly began working by it prefer it’s the AAC.
Houston went 15-3 within the Huge 12 final season and gained the convention by a number of video games. Now the Cougars are 16-1 within the Huge 12 this season and in possession of a three-game lead within the loss column of the league standings over second-place Arizona, which means Houston is about to win a second straight outright Huge 12 title by a number of video games. It truly is unimaginable stuff that is helped raise the Cougars to No. 3 in Tuesday morning’s up to date CBS Sports activities Prime 25 And 1 every day school basketball rankings, which precipitated Florida and Alabama to be pushed down one spot every, no fault of their very own.
For what it is price, at 24-4 total, together with 8-4 in Quadrant 1, Houston is now the game’s solely workforce in addition to top-ranked Auburn with at the least eight Q1 wins and fewer than 5 complete losses. The Cougars will enter Saturday’s matchup with Cincinnati on a seven-game profitable streak. A victory there’ll safe Sampson’s fourth consecutive outright convention championship