NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 teams in running for 5-star Daimion Collins

9. Houston Cougars

The Cougars have been highly successful in the past several years, reaching 20+ wins in each of the past five seasons. Along with Cincinnati, the Cougars have been at the top of the American Athletic Conference and head coach Kelvin Sampson has made this program a legit recruiting threat in the state of Texas.

The on-the-court success has primarily come through the guards, using a ton of small-ball lineups. Players such as Nate Hinton, Armoni Brooks, Corey Davis Jr., and Quentin Grimes have been great guards and have done a little bit of everything. There has been some solid frontcourt help but for the most part, Houston hasn’t truly had a dominant frontcourt player in a while.

In order for the Cougars to take the next step and become viable Final Four contenders, that has to change. Unfortunately for them, they won’t have forward Fabian White Jr. for the upcoming season after suffering a big-time injury. Hopefully, Arkansas transfer Reggie Chaney will get a waiver and have an impact on the court and not have to sit out.

Collins would be the highest-profile recruit and easily the best center Houston has had since joining the AAC. He would be a nice defensive anchor down low and wouldn’t be tasked to score a great amount since the guards can continue doing the heavy lifting.

The biggest issue is conference affiliation. The leagues involved for Collins are the Big 12, SEC, and AAC. There’s a fairly big gap in the conference that Houston is from. And with so many other local options involved, the Cougar would have to be a favorite out the gate to feel as if they have a real shot. Since that’s not the case, that’s why this team is 9th out of 10, despite some real positive points in their favor.