UH happily paying price for success
Possible early loss of Hinton, Jarreau to draft shows progress of program
Kelvin Sampson recalls a line once passed along to him by close friend Jeff Capel.
“They don’t grow up wanting to play in college,” Capel, a veteran college basketball coach, told Sampson. “They grow up wanting to play in the NBA.”
That’s the current situation facing the University of Houston men’s basketball program, with guards Nate Hinton and DeJon Jarreau yet to make public their decisions whether to return for next season or begin professional careers.
“One of them or both of them may decide to stay in (the draft),” Sampson said during Tuesday’s virtual caravan.
Hinton is leaning toward leaving school early, according to a source, while Jarreau’s plans are less clear. What had been a June 3 deadline to decide was pushed back Wednesday.
A departure by either
would represent the second straight year UH has lost a player with remaining eligibility to the draft. Armoni Brooks left after his junior season, went undrafted and spent this past season playing for the Atlanta Hawks’ affiliate in the NBA G League. Last month, Brooks was signed by the Saskatchewan Rattlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
None of the major mock drafts has Hinton or Jarreau being among the 60 picks in the two-round draft. NBADraftRoom.com has the 6-5 Hinton, who averaged 10.6 points and 8.7 rebounds last season, “on the bubble” as a late second-round pick.
Sampson encourages his players to get draft evaluations, a fact-finding mission of sorts, and then sit down and weigh options.
“If you get drafted, you have to go,” Sampson said. “If you’re not going to get drafted, you should come back. (But) that’s not my job to find out. That’s why they hire agents.”
To even have players consider leaving early — unheard of at UH for most of the past few decades — is a testament to the nationally ranked program built by Sampson and his staff that puts a premium on player development.
“When you have a program like ours and the level we are at now, the reason why we are good is we have good players,” said Sampson, who in the last three years has won 83 games and two American Athletic Conference regular-season titles and would have made a third straight NCAA Tournament trip if not for the coronavirus shutdown. “When you have good players in this climate, sometimes you may lose one earlier than expected to the draft, which is why you build depth.”
As of now, the Cougars have an overcrowding situation with eight players in the backcourt. The group includes returnees Caleb Mills, Marcus Sasser,
Quentin Grimes, Hinton and Jarreau, transfer Cameron Tyson and incoming freshmen Tramon Mark and Jamal Shead.
“On paper, we have too many guards,” Sampson said. “I’m not going to play all these guards.”
Along with decisions to test the NBA waters by Hinton and Jarreau, Grimes would have been the most likely to explore turning pro at the start of last season. Grimes entered the NBA draft after his freshman year at Kansas, then struggled through an early injury as a sophomore and spent time coming off the bench before closing strong to end the regular season.
“His best basketball is so far ahead of him,” Sampson said of Grimes at the end of the season.
The decisions by Hinton and Jarreau will directly affect the roster makeup for the 2020-21 season. If both return, that would likely force Mark and Shead — who have drawn high marks from the coaching staff — to redshirt. If both leave, the Cougars have a manageable six players in the backcourt.
“We are able to play five guards every night. That’s how many I play,” Sampson said. “I don’t play six guards. I don’t play seven, and I don’t play eight. I play five guards, two 4s, and two or three 5s.”
Earlier this offseason, UH had 14 players, one over the scholarship limit. Forward Cedrick Alley Jr. transferred to UTSA.
“I’m a firm believer that things usually work out,” Sampson said.
That should be the case in the next couple of weeks. A return of Hinton and/or Jarreau would strengthen the Cougars’ case for a high preseason ranking. If not, depth has the Cougars better suited to overcome the losses.
“You want your kids to do good,” Sampson said. “We’re a development program. It’s great for our program if our kids get drafted. That’s good for us. But it’s great for them.”