Bored by board work? Not Houston
I love the way this team fights. I love the way this team hustles.
I love the way this team rebounds.
Normally, I don't get to say those things when I'm writing about The Association. Especially Houston's current NBA team.
But Kelvin Sampson's University of Houston Cougars? Man.
How awesome is rebounding, right?
Right?!!
These Cougars aren't in the Sweet 16 without it. Heck, they would have lost by 10 to a tough, gritty, defensive-driven Rutgers team last weekend if they hadn't ultimately owned the Scarlet Knights 39-29 on the glass.
Rutgers was a good rebounding team.
UH is great.
And as complex and flashy as contemporary basketball can be — 3-pointers keep moving farther and farther away from the basket, even though the long-range shot still counts the same — there is something wonderfully refreshing in watching an elite college team reach a 26-3 mark and move within one win of the Elite Eight by relying on inner will and collective strength.
“I don't know if I'm smart enough to eloquently describe it. But I think you achieve what you emphasize,” Sampson said Wednesday during a Zoom media interview as his No. 2-seeded Cougars kept preparing for No. 11 Syracuse.
Then the coach who created this selfless rebounding monster threw out some words: demand, confrontation.
“It's not easy getting kids to rebound,” Sampson said. “It's not easy getting kids to buy into being a good defensive team.”
And then, of course, Sampson perfectly described it.
Madness begins in March. America falls back in love with college basketball again, reminded how great the game can be and how pure on-court action can appear.
But to create one of the best rebounding teams in the country — UH ranks third in Division I ball in offensive boards per game (14.45), fifth in average rebounds (40.93) and sixth in rebound margin (9) — the real work begins every summer.
Sampson's Cougars emphasize offensive rebounding, pickand-roll defense, transition defense and spacing. Assistant coaches create the foundation in groups, then Sampson finetunes the overall fundamentals.
“We start in June and almost brainwash them into who we are,” he said.
Senior forward Justin Gorham is a glass machine, pulling down a team-high 8.6 boards per game. He also is “just” 6-7 and 225 pounds, which means Sampson's defense-leads-tooffense brainwashing system works.
Sampson referred to “unscripted points.”
Gorham referred to an “unscripted battle.”
Sampson acknowledged that
UH isn't a first-shot team. It's the second and third attempts by which the Cougars make the difference and change games.
Against Rutgers, two missed shots at the line became a tipped ball, a rebound, a pass, then a made 3.
“We went from missing two free throws to getting three points,” Sampson said.
Gorham sounded just like his coach, acknowledging that it's all the little things that make the 2020-21 version of UH so tough and dangerous in this NCAA Tournament.
“Coach Sampson never lets you have a day off. You have to work hard from weights to conditioning — preseason conditioning, he's always pushing us,” Gorham said. “He just wants the best out of everybody every day. And that's just what he preaches, and that's what we embody. Just being tough and just working hard.”
Rebounding is personal effort and determination.
It also requires teamwork and 40 minutes of commitment. Real rebounding is science. And an art.
“Syracuse emphasizes playing 2-3 zone,” Sampson said. “They do that every single day. That's who they are. … We work on rebounding every day.”
Guard Marcus Sasser had six boards against Rutgers. Guard Tramon Mark also had six, including three on the offensive end. Guard Dejon Jarreau had five rebounds and played through serious pain all game. Guard Quentin Grimes had a game-high nine, including five offensive boards.
Four guards. Twenty-six rebounds.
You don't see that in basketball.
Unless you're watching and being wowed by Sampson's Cougars.
They thrive off unscripted points.
Their best battle is the unscripted inner war.