It’s hard to process just how important Kelvin Sampson has been since arriving at Houston Basketball back in 2014. Before his arrival, the Cougars weren’t exactly known for their basketball prowess, at least in recent memory. The teams of the 70’s and 80’s had made a slew of Final Fours but the program Sampson inherited nearly a decade ago was a shell of its former self.
Things look far different now in Houston, as this program has established itself as a power at the national level in basketball. Initially an afterthought in the AAC, the Cougars are now the league’s best program, winning three of the last four conference titles. Sampson even added to that glorious history by leading the Cougars to the Final Four in 2021. What he did last season was almost more impressive.
The Cougars lost a ton of talent from that Final Four team and were given a double sucker punch last December, losing starters Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark to season-ending injuries. Sampson’s team did not back down from that added challenge and marched to the Elite Eight, upsetting top-seeded Arizona during that postseason run. Sampson never doubted what his Houston team could accomplish, even without some of their top stars, and it leads to increased optimism for this season.
We’ll talk more about this ahead, but Sasser and Mark are both back and ready to perform at a high level. Once again, there’s a lot of talent that left the program, as Kyler Edwards, Fabian White, Josh Carlton, and Taze Moore all averaged double-digit points per game last season. However, Houston still has plenty of talent on this roster and might just boast the best backcourt in the entire nation.
We’re going to take a deep dive into this very talented Houston squad, looking closely at who’s on the roster, who they’ll be playing this season, and what we can expect from these Cougars. Initial expectations are really high for this team, especially with the talent they have returning. There’s been fantastic success at Houston, with a Final Four and Elite Eight in the last two seasons, but could this year’s result top them all?