Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 16 programs after adding Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah
By Joey Loose
3. Houston
Former head coach Guy Lewis led the Cougars to five Final Fours in the 70’s and 80’s, but Houston was a largely dormant program after that. After losing the national title game to Georgetown in 1984, the Cougars would appear in just four NCAA Tournaments over the next thirty seasons, though something important would happen in 2014 that changed their trajectory.
Kelvin Sampson was brought into the program that year and has been a savior for a program that largely drowned in irrelevancy in Conference USA and in their early years in the AAC. Sampson has a pair of 20-win seasons early in his tenure before the massive turnaround and has now led the Cougars into five consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Most importantly, he took Houston to the Final Four in 2021.
The Cougars spent the last half-decade as unquestionably the top program in the AAC, even spending some time at #1 in the AP Top 25 this year. They’ve advanced to at least the Sweet Sixteen in each of their last four trips to the Big Dance, and have proven themselves against national powers along the way. Still, they’re now members of a significantly tougher Big 12; how will that change things for the Cougars?
First, this program should remain elite as long as Sampson is the leader. Second, there will certainly be a transition and they likely won’t have the same kinds of win totals in conference play, but Houston is a championship-contender from day one. It’s amazing the kind of impact Sampson has already had in less than a decade with this school, but can he actually finish the job and bring home a title to the city of Houston?