We shot ourselves in the foot with TO and some bad shots. Despite that we were right there. It was a good ride and Sampson is certainly building something special. Praying he sticks around.
The ref was bad in the first half and the last 2 minutes. It made a difference. But we couldn't grab a rebound. Too small. It's so frustrating when you see the guys play great defense only to let the opponent get the ball back off the miss. And Herro was their hero.
In watching UH throughout this past year I have been as vocal as anyone on this forum about the way the referees have been calling these games. It seems over and over again in particular our front line players, Brady the most noticeable, have been getting into early foul trouble. I cannot recall the last time one of our opponents was called for more fouls than us. Having looked at all this it's easy to blame all this on the referees. But when there is such an underlying pattern of getting into foul trouble early I am considering the possibility that the reason that this is happening is because of something we can improve on. It stands to reason that if only one or two refs are out to get us, then someone like Brady should be able to go through the season getting into early foul trouble only occasionally. But it seems to happen every single game no matter who the referees are, This leads me to conclude that we need to do something about this going forward. Our front line is either not quick enough with their footwork or they are not thinking fast enough as they defend so they get themselves into bad position defensively. Because maybe they are a half step slower than they should be, next thing you know they are getting a foul called on them. Even if they are 7 feet tall if they are slow and not athletic enough they are going to get into bad defensive position and pick up fouls. Our back court players that are coming back next year, Brooks, Jarreau, and Hinton are all athletic and big enough to compete with anything thrown at us. Can't say the same with confidence going into next year regarding our front court. White, Gresham, and Harris all have potential but I think they have a lot of work to do so that when we compete during the year and hopefully get into the NCAA tournament next year we will be more effective with our front line players.
Loss is a little easier to take because I wrongly assumed Kentucky or Houston would have a relatively easy game against Auburn after they suffered that big injury.
For me, losing to a team that can't shoot, just let me know who they really were. So I was not disappointed. I felt like for 35 minutes they deserved to lose, and for 5 minutes they deserved to win and lost. We've consistently lost to poor shooting teams that are athletic and somewhat talented because we can't stop fouling. It's been a weakness. That frustrated me. But that is who they were.This actually is a final 4 they could win, however, I don't think they were ready to compete against teams like Duke and Carolina anyway so I'm good with how it ended.
immediately puts Sampson as one of the highest paid coaches with that offer. here's to hoping he sticks around for years to come
The loss didn't feel as bad as last year's did...coming off that crazy last second shot. But it still hurt. Having said that, I love this group of kids so much. Among my very favorite college hoops teams of all time. I'll miss watching Galen and Corey play, for sure. But the future is bright for Houston Basketball!!!
Next year is going to be an offense for the record books. Mills, Hinton, Jurreau, Brooks... That's a nightmare for any defense. Now if we can just find a baby Clint Capela to play center.
Great season. They lost a game they could have won. Some fault to the refs early and the rest on them. I give credit to PJ, that dude stepped up and played his tail off versus us. The real story is they won the city back. I live in Spring and went to HEB last night and I saw more UH gear at 8pm on a Sunday night than I've ever seen, I would have thought we were still playing. Men, women and a few kids decked out in red. Usually I go there and see NFL gear on shoppers, I saw zero NFL. Did see a few Astros and 1 Rocket fan. Looking forward to a third times the charm trip!
We do need to improve that Center spot. Brady is gone, and while Harris and Gresham have had a few good games, Kentucky showed that teams with great big men will eat us up and there’s nothing we can do about it. We did a great job Vs Ohio State and @ UCF, But Tacko ate us up at home and PJ got everything he wanted.
LET’S GOOOOOOO (also, is Chris Beard really leaving a Final 4 team for a team that went below .500 in conference?)
Fabian really progressed well as the season continued. Alley will need to be that stretch 4 for us next year. Mills will get buckets.
It was a great season. Very watchable and likeable bunch. The hallmarks of a Sampson team, defense, rebounding and take care of the ball are good basketball. Opposite of Rockets, and yes I know this is Rockets site. But play down to the level of poor teams, the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, off and on defense, and jacking up threes is hard to watch. I'm a fan, but still hard to watch.
Mcllvoy is now saying the deal is basically done and there should be an announcement "today or tomorrow at the latest." With Tillman writing checks, there's really no reason for Sampson to go anywhere else. UH can and should be a perennial Sweet 16-type school and be in the mix every single year like Duke, Kentucky, NC, etc. This isn't football, where you only have a chance to win a NC if you're from the right conference. UH is a destination school for basketball.
There is a school out West that is very interested in hiring Chris Beard..... with the right coach, that team in the West would compete with Duke and UK for the best recruits. Personally I think Beard should stay at TT, they have a really good class coming in........ just renegotiate your contract for 5+ million a year over 5 seasons.