Big-boy Cougars must fight looking past underdogs
TULSA, Okla. — Kelvin Sampson sat at a podium for more than 15 minutes Thursday afternoon to talk about Houston’s NCAA Tournament matchup.
There was a question about this year’s Cougars having the type of success that is most recently comparable to only Phi Slama Jama 35 years ago.
Then came a query about weird grandpa references aimed at Sampson, 63, from 54-year-old Georgia State coach Ron Hunter. (Hunter’s comic turn was a lot less funny after we learned he and Sampson aren’t cool like that. They don’t know each other that well at all. Awkward.)
That was followed by a question
about what Sampson learned in his years as an NBA assistant.
And on the news conference went.
As it turned out, Sampson was asked to talk about a variety of topics in the media session, none of which was his team’s matchup against Georgia State on Friday.
As for the players, the first question posed to Georgia State’s trio of representatives at the podium was, “When you guys are watching tape of you, what are some things that stand out to you?”
UH’s Galen Robinson Jr. and Corey Davis Jr. were asked about the difference in returning to the Tournament after having been there the first time last year.
That’s what often happens when a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament goes up against a double-digit underdog.
The underdogs are asked about the big boy. The big boys field questions about everything else.
The underdogs are asked about what it will take to win the game. The big boys are asked about the past and the future, but not necessarily the present.
Yes, UH at 31-3 and the American Athletic Conference regularseason champion, is considered one of the big boys for the first time in 35 years. This isn’t journalistic license for the purpose of this column.
As such, looking past Georgia State is understandable. Media are looking past them. Fans are looking past them.
UH, a program that has never lost to a double-digit seed, has to fight against that.
“Paying attention to what’s going on in the media, like who is favored to do what, that never doesn’t resonate with us,” Davis said. “We’re always conscious of coming out, playing hard and playing cooler basketball.
“Doesn’t matter what the opponent is, what their seeding is, how big the team is. It matters how hard we play and how intense we come out.”
First-round upsets excite. Tournament buzz is created by the little dogs beating the big dogs. The Panthers beating the Cougars.
Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, No. 3 seeds hold a 115-21 record against 14th seeds. That 84.6 percent of the time No. 3 seeds earn the win does nothing for the 21 times they didn’t.
In more than half the Tournaments since 1985, at least one 14th seed sent a No. 3 home in the first round.
“To be honest, we don’t really care what seed,” Georgia State forward Malik Benlevi said. “We’re going to come in and play hard regardless. We feel we can beat anybody with the defense that we’re supposed to play.”
Interestingly, 14th seeds have an 11-9 record in games decided by three points or less, an indicator that nerves are more of a factor for big favorites.
Georgia State has done this before, surprising 14th-seeded Baylor in a 2015 thriller. None of the players on this year’s roster was on that team then, but Hunter was rolling around on a stool with a cast on a torn Achilles as his son R.J. drained a 30-footer with less than three seconds remaining to lift the Panthers to victory.
Hunter fell in a much-viewed and remembered celebration, and so did the Bears.
The Panthers are not shying away from this opportunity.
“If I don’t believe it, how are my kids going to believe it?” Hunter said. “It’s no disrespect to Houston at all. I will be extremely, extremely disappointed if we don’t win this game.”
That said, a Georgia State victory would be a significant upset.
The Cougars are listed as 12-point favorites. They walk and talk like a team that can handle the expectations.
Robinson said the inexperienced Cougars were looking for answers a year ago in the entire roster’s first appearance in the tourney.
Having been through it, they now have answers.
That seemed to be the case at UH’s open practice at the BOK Center on Thursday. Relaxed and comfortable, the Cougars had the look of a team that had been there before.
UH plays follow the leader. Sampson is chill — well until the tie flies off during a game — and the Cougars are chill.
Davis and Robinson are cool. The rest of the team? Cool.
Houston has never been a No. 3 seed in the Tournament, but in so many ways this season has been about firsts since the Phi Slama Jama era.
“To even be compared to them is a blessing … we want to make history, we don’t want to live in it,” Robinson said. “We want to make our own destiny and do something special that’s never been done.”
Hmm. All five times the Cougars have advanced to the Final Four, they did it from the Midwest Regional.
You can’t get to the Final Four without making it past the first one.