Nearly 40 years later, Cougars knocking on Final Four door
INDIANAPOLIS — They are on the doorstep of history.
The University of Houston men’s basketball program has endured a love-(mostly) hate relationship with the Final Four. Mostly, it’s been downright cruel.
Getting there has been equally difficult. For nearly 40 years, the Cougars wandered the desert in search of college basketball’s Promised Land.
A win by the second-seeded Cougars (27-3) over 12th-seeded Oregon State (20-12) on Monday night in the Elite Eight at Lucas Oil Stadium will deliver the school’s first trip to the Final Four since 1984.
“We’re 40 minutes away from the Final Four,” coach Kelvin Sampson said.
UH’S deepest NCAA Tournament run in 37 years has conjured images of rim-rattling “Phi Slama Jama” that made three straight Final Four appearances from 1982-84. Two straight trips to the national championship game. Lorenzo Charles. Jimmy V. A part of the “One Shining Moment” montage that, like clockwork, delivers a gut-punch reminder every March.
That — along with the oft-forgotten Elvin Hayes-led Final Four trips in the late 1960s — will always be a part of UH’S storied basketball history.
Until a new chapter is written. “I think you should honor the past, (but) you should live in the present,” Sampson said. “Thirtyseven years ago is irrelevant to our team. Our team is now.”
This team may dunk two or three times a game. There is no polka-dot towel on the bench; the coronavirus pandemic has taken away Sampson ripping off his tie early in games.
There are no flashy nicknames like “Dream,” “Silent Assassin” or “The Glide.” Instead, there’s “Ladeeky” — the nickname given to point guard Dejon Jarreau as a kid and a nod to his New Orleans roots — and “Q,” which seems appropriate for Allamerica guard Quentin Grimes, who usually quiets a (social-distanced) crowd with his deadly 3-point shot.
“People should be heaping praise on this group of kids,” Sampson said. “It’s about this group of kids and what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve worked to accomplish. I’m proud of them. What happened 37 years ago … that was tremendous. That was great. That’s one of the great teams of alltime. But I don’t think any current team plays based on what happened 30 years ago.
“Most of our guys were born in the 2000s. I’m proud of this team and we’re going to live in the moment. I don’t think you should — and I really do mean this — I don’t think anybody should say, well, it’s about time we did this.”
All Sampson had to do was look at the dust that had accumulated inside Hofheinz Pavilion.
The cramped locker room. The leaks. The lights that were never turned off, because school officials worried, they might not come back on. The times Sampson would pay visits to classes to plead, no beg, for students to attend games as his master plan for the program was about to begin.
Since the Phi Slama Jama run, UH made only four other NCAA appearances — all first-round exits — until Sampson guided the Cougars to three straight appearances.
Even then, some of the Cougars’ past seemingly haunted them. The loss at the buzzer to Michigan in 2018. The late collapse to Kentucky in 2019. The cancellation of the 2020 tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the uncertainty how this season would be safely played.
“A lot of programs have never done it once,” Sampson said of reaching the Final Four. “It’s not easy to do. It’s hard to win games. It’s hard to make the tournament. But our kids have sacrificed. This COVID thing has been real.”
Before the start of the NCAA Tournament, UH players discussed at length the perceived lack of respect as national analysts questioned the legitimacy of a No. 2 seed. Surely, the Cougars were a candidate for an early exit. Final Four run? No way.
All the Cougars did was clobber No. 15 seed Cleveland State by 31 in the opener, rally from a 10-point deficit to beat No. 10 seed Rutgers in the second round and crack No. 11seed Syracuse’s 2-3 zone 6246 on Saturday. No mention of a UH defense that has been among the best in the nation for several years.
“We’re not much of a storyline,” Sampson said. “We’re Houston. They’re Syracuse.”
UH will likely hear that its path to the Final Four lacked a real challenge, thanks to an upset-filled Midwest Region. With a win over Oregon State, the Cougars will become the first team to reach the Final Four without facing a single-digit seed.
“Anybody can lose at any given day,” Jarreau said. “Probably that night it wasn’t that team’s night, and it was another team’s night. You never know how it’s going to go. I’m grateful for us to be in this position. We just control what we can control. That’s not our problem. We’re grateful.”
Jarreau said the Cougars still have a “mission to accomplish.” Grimes has repeatedly said UH can “do something really special.”
Exhaustion began to set in for Sampson early Sunday morning as he wrapped up post-game interviews. Then it was off to the team hotel, the NCAA’S so-called “bubble” that the 65-year-old said has felt like being “locked up in the RV park.”
It’s been 18 days since the Cougars were home. They haven’t lost since leaving.
“We’ll go back, jump in the RV, shut the doors and get ready for Oregon State,” Sampson said.
They might watch to check the GPS. It’s only a mile to the Final Four.