Houston snatched their 20th win of the season on Thursday night with a monumental home upset of the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Before the 2017-18 season even started, Houston Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson was embroiled in a controversy of his own making…again.
This time, however, he wasn’t trying to commit recruiting violations or run afoul of the NCAA bylaws. He was trying to collect clothing for the Hurricane Harvey relief effort.
Deriving a sports connection from simple humanity in times of tragedy is a foolhardy exercise – a coach helping those in need has no bearing on a team’s success over a season, nor should it.
But it’s impossible to deny that the Cougars are the latest team to step up and represent their city.
On Thursday night, Houston secured one of their biggest victories in recent memory, a home upset over the No. 5 Cincinnati Bearcats. They dominated the boards and shut down Cincinnati’s offense in the second half, holding them without a field goal for over 12 minutes at one point.
The win was the 20th of the season for the Cougars, who drew even for second place in the AAC.
Houston hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2010. Their resume this season is getting harder to ignore, though. They haven’t lost at home all season. Their only loss to a team with a losing record coming against Drexel at the beginning of the season. They’ve now defeated two AP top ten teams in Wichita State and Cincinnati, the two best teams in the AAC.
The Cougars do suffer from a relatively weak SOS (outside of the top 100, according to Sports-Reference); their biggest non-conference wins came against Wake Forest (meh), Arkansas (much better), and Providence (whose win over Villanova will pay immediate dividends for Houston).
But they did have an RPI that ranked in the top 30 before Thursday’s win. Now, they have a 2-2 record against teams with a top 25 RPI, 3-0 against RPI teams ranking from 26-50, and 3-1 against RPI teams ranking from 51-100. Houston beats good teams, plain and simple.
In the latest Bracketology, Houston moved comfortable above the cut line as a No. 9 seed.
Next: Butler's NCAA Tournament case
After Thursday’s big win, the Houston Cougars should feel even more confident that they’ll be headed to the NCAA Tournament, marking the next chapter in Kelvin Sampson’s redemption.