Robinson: My frustration is that Galen took at least 5 shots in the last 3 minutes, mostly from deep, and that sums up the entire story for the entire season right there. Not only is he the worst possible shooter in that situation, but he's their damn point guard. He should be running the offense to get the ball to the only two guys who have proven they can deliver all season in that spot, Dotson and Gray. Everything else is essentially a waste of time. But not only in the last 3 minutes, he should be doing that all game long. When Gray was out of the game he should have been force feeding Dotson, but I only recall 2 shots for Dotson during that period of time, and knowing Dotson is passive, you got to push him. I wish there were more contributors for him to get the ball too, but in college ball, this is how it typically is, so it's not unusual. Also, when SMU ran that junk defense at the top of the key he should have been able find Dotson in the corners or get the ball to the big at the foul line. Instead they are tossing the ball back and forth like it was a water balloon. Like his 7 minutes of aggression each game, but should be all game. Gray: Rob was careless at times, but he makes up for it with all that scoring. Galen needs to get him the ball in places he's not in trouble. Gray isn't the best closer either as he seems to miss a lot of closing shots in big games. But as the only aggressive option trying to make it happen, that makes it tough on him. He needs some help from guys like Dotson. Van Beck: Limited athleticism, but he often passes up open shots when the team really needs him to become a primary scoring threat. And tonight, his two out of bounds passes that were stolen were horrendous. Expect more. But he is a walk on so that situation may have been to big for him. He did have options to pass the ball to the big right in front of him, which while scary, was at least open to him and he passed it up for two critical steals. The bigs: All have major weaknesses. Chicken gives zero every other game which is makes no sense. But it's written in stone. We have no real post option at this point, which makes what Pollard did last year a miracle. Outlook: Not good. All that said, if they run the table and win 2 in the tournament, they can still get to the show. This loss burns, but it was not unexpected as they showed they are exactly what they have been all season. A team that just can't close out on the better teams. My fear next year is that with Dotson gone, the team is in real trouble. Someone has to step up in a major way and close that gap.
Its going to be next to impossible because we have no wins against top 50 teams and our OOC was garbage again this year. We needed that game Saturday because I don't see us beating UCinn at their place and it wouldn't be a shock to lose at Memphis too.
Win the AAC Tourney. Only way in and I think it's definitely possible to that. Cinci is hot and cold in Hartford, get a couple stars to align and they might get bounced in the semis/finals. SMU. Think we are showing signs of fatigue recently with our lack of depth. Not sure how we can make it through the tournament. UConn. Home court advantage and anything goes. Might be able to knock off us or Cinci if the dominoes fall correctly.
Good win, definitely getting to 20 regular season wins. Tournament run to the finals should secure a spot. Also winning the final 3 games with 1 of them being at Cincinnati might be enough.
Boy, you look at Connecticut and all you see is NBA bodies and length and athletes and shot blockers, and scorers, and you'd think it near impossible for UH to get the win, but they sure did, again. Dotson playing like he wants an NBA career. Unguardable with 25. Meyers had a great game on the boards. Strong effort all around. Solid execution down the stretch although Davis probably was given too much trust with the post. Still, he got to the free throw line against a bigger dude. We still in this. Think a lot of bubble teams will lose down the stretch because they always do. So just run the table and then get at least two wins in the tournament. And then if the NCAA forces us to win the title game to get in, which is an easy out for them, so be it. It is what it is. But we will have beat at least two ranked teams if we do all of that and will be 24-9 or 25-8 and 3rd in the conference.
Man, I hope the Coogs make the tourney!!! So sitting at 20 wins now....3 games left? If they won 2/3, including a win at Cincy (which will be tough)...that should get it, right? Obviously, they could make noise in the conference tourney to get there....
19 to be exact. We have @Memphis @UCinn and home vs East Carolina left in the regular season. They were comparing our resume to Cal on the Memphis vs UCinn and both teams have feasted on bottom feeders. UH was 1-4 vs RPI Top 50 and Cal was 1-7. The ESPN bracket guy had us out and Cal was a 10 seed. We need a good win vs a top 50 team like Cinn or SMU either next week or in the conference tournament to really have a chance without winning the AAC tournament.
Tremendous block by Robinson at the end to hang on! Hair raising. Bold to go for and get the block inspite of Sampsons instruction to let them shoot. Woo! 20-8. Rare game were I felt like Houston was in control all game despite the close call. A few too many careless turnovers, but overall strong game. Gray in foul trouble again, gotta play a smarter game this time of year. Dotson goes for 31 and 40 minutes! Did. Not. Look. Tired.
ESPN: Last Four Byes Syracuse Seton Hall Providence Marquette Last Four In Xavier California USC Wake Forest First Four Out Vanderbilt Georgia Tech Rhode Island Kansas State Next Four Out Georgia Illinois Houston Clemson
ESPN2 will give us some visibility tonight. Must win. We likely have 2 top 25 games in the next 4. We should be able jump everyone on the bubble ( if we win those 2 ). So just win the next 4 games guys. You can do it.
Vanderbilt (16-14) will lose to Florida - Out. Record is terrible Syracuse plays G.Tech - So one of them will win and one will lose. Kansas St. will play TTech - And they already lost to them once ( barely ) Wake Forest has a meh record, but they did just beat Louisville USC lost 4 of 5. Cal has two winnable road games. Xavier has lost 6 in a row Rhode Island probably will win out. Seton Hall - Should lose to Butler Providence - Should win at least 2 more. Marquette - Should lose to Creighton
On the bright side, after that total cluster ****, the road to the NCAA is actually easier than it was before. Win 3 in a row and beat 2 top 25 teams to get in, lol. Cincinnati did what teams should do to the Rockets. Never leave the shooter and put your feet outside of the 3 point line. Took us completely out of our game. Cougars not yet good enough. Dud in the biggest games. Same story. Dotson was just standing in the corner, no movement, and again Robinson not finding ways to get the scorers the ball and as the worst shooter taking too many shots. Jump passes ( turnovers ), dribbling off their feet, and just overall poor effort on the boards. Clunk.
Disappointing for sure. Seemed that a lot of shots that went in all season long just didn't fall. That probably doesn't describe the entire difference in the game, obviously. Keep hope alive! Go Coogs!
I trust in Sampson's coaching, but we need to get some better recruiting assistants on our staff if we want to win. We're just not talented enough to win bigger games.
We do need better recruiting but we also need some fan support I just don't understand how we can get 40k at football games and can't get close to selling out a 8,000 seat arena on a regular basis.
Like the last episode of Mash, Cheers, or Family ties, it will make u cry. The lights about to go out.
Wit Olajuwon in da House, Houston cruises on Senior night to the 3rd seed. Each Senior taken off the court individually by Sampson. Solid 21 win season. Onto the Tournament.
Part of it is on-court product. The attendance at football games is always dependent on how good we are, and we needed some good Case Keenum teams and wins against good teams to generate fan support. Because the football team is good, the current students graduate with a desire to continue to go to football games and alums. We need moments like that with the basketball team. Our teams over the last decade have been mediocre at best and the one time we made the tournament was with a mediocre CUSA team that got hot during the conference tournament. High profile wins and tournament success would do wonders for the fan support of the basketball program. Having a good out of conference schedule would also help with fan support, but I don't think we have the team yet to compete with a good non-conference schedule. The Fertitta Center might help as well.
Recruit, Recruit, Recruit! I must admit, I've veen disapppinted in the BBall Recruiting Classes since we got Sampson but the program was lower than most expected. If not this yr, we have to get into the NCAA Tournament next yr
