Sampson agrees to deal with the University of Houston

The Houston Cougars have found their next head coach and they didn’t have to look far.

Houston Rockets assistant Kelvin Sampson has agreed to return to college hoops as the Cougars’ coach, according to CBSSports.com.

Sampson had worked in the NBA with the Rockets and Milwaukee Bucks over the past six years.

Sampson, 58, was fired from Indiana in 2008 after an NCAA investigation into improper and excessive contact with recruits regarding phone calls and text messages.

The violations were repeat offenses from when he was head coach at Oklahoma. This led to a five-year show-cause on Sampson, one of the harshest in NCAA history against a D-I college basketball coach.
The NCAA no longer puts such restrictions on text messages with recruits.

Sampson compiled a 496-271 career record at Indiana, Oklahoma, Washington State and Montana Tech. However, he received a five-year show-cause order in 2008, which meant that if a team wanted to hire him, it would need to impose sanctions on Sampson or “show cause” that Sampson properly served his punishment. The show-cause recently expired, so Sampson will be able to coach without any sanctions levied upon him.

Say what you want about Sampson but he will have the Cougars playing at a different level than in years past. Call him a cheater or a dirtbag but Sampson has the potential to make Houston a nationally relevant program once again.

James Dickey steps down at Houston; Kelvin Sampson a candidate for the job

After four seasons at the helm of the University of Houston basketball program, head coach James Dickey decided to step down due to "private family matters". Dickey was 64-62 in his four seasons.

Under Dickey the program looked to be headed in a positive direction as the school regained some footing in recruiting the Houston area and the state of Texas. Dickey is credited with elevating the Houston basketball program across many facets, while making the transition to the American Athletic Conference.

"This has been a difficult decision to make. I continually preach to my players about being an everyday guy, and the balance of your personal and professional life is a major part of it. With that being said, I have a family matter that requires my time and energy, and I will regretfully step down from my current position at the University of Houston,"Dickey said. "I am extremely appreciative of Mack Rhoades for the opportunity and for the value he brings professionally and personally. I cannot thank my coaching staff and our players enough for the experience and memorable moments over the past four years. The system of support set forth by our Athletic Department staff is world class, and I’m appreciative of every member of the Houston Athletics family. I would like to thank the Houston fans for their support through the years and greatly encourage them to continue their support of the program in the future."

According to the University of Houston, a national search for Dickey's replacement will begin immediately. Candidates for the position will not be disclosed by the Houston Department of Athletics, for the integrity of the search.

The cupboard won't be bare for whoever is named coach as he'll have local products Danrad "Chicken" Knowles, Danuel House and L.J. Rose to build around.

One candidate that has been rumored as the leading candidate for the job is Houston Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson. Sampson is a proven winner at the college level and led the Oklahoma Sooners to the 2002 Final Four. Sampson has also ran afoul of the NCAA for impermissible calls to recruits while at Oklahoma and Indiana.

If Sampson is hired he could be the coach to make Houston nationally relevant again.

Five college basketball programs that should be better

It's hard to explain cycles in college basketball. One day your a national power and in the blink of an eye a program can fall on hard times. I came up with a list of college basketball programs that should be doing a lot better than what they're current national standing is. I know that facilities and donors play a role, but I look at it from a pure wins and losses standpoint along with location and a little tradition. These five programs should have a better national standing than being afterthoughts.

1. DePaul Blue Demons- The Blue Demons were an Independent power in the 1970s and 80s under legendary coach Ray Meyer. The names Mark Aguirre, Skip Dillard, Dallas Comegys, Terry Cummings and Tyrone Corbin are glorious names from the past. The train kept rolling under his son Joey but you could tell that things were getting a little shaky under his leadership. With the emergence of Illinois in the mid 80s the program took a hit lot of good Chicago players heading to Champaign. Which leads me to this...How can you not be a good program with all the Chicago talent? The last coach to really tap into the wealth of Chicago talent was Pat Kennedy when he lured Bobby Simmons, Lance Williams, Quentin Richardson to Depaul.

No coach has had any sustained success since the Meyer's roamed the sidelines. Current coach Oliver Purnell is slowly getting things headed in the right direction and with a Big East that has less teams in the conference the Blue Demons might be competitive. Losses to Southern Miss, Arizona State, Texas and Wichita State show that the Demons still are pretty far from sitting at the big boy table. Losses to ASU, Texas and Wichita State were double digit losses.

There is no excuse for DePaul to be so noncompetitive and not get the top talent in the city. Purnell needs to straighten things out before the fans and administration figure that they've seen enough and fire him. They have lost five straight NCAA Tournament games and have won only two NCAA Tournament games since 1987.

2. Seton Hall Pirates- In the late 80s P.J. Carlesimo turned Seton Hall into a tough minded winning crew. He led the Pirates to the 1989 national title game and six NCAA tournament appearances, with a Sweet 16 and Elite 8 thrown in. Along the way he started reeling in top recruits to South Orange, New Jersey, not the easiest place to get a player to come to. Then after the 1994 season Carlesimo left for the NBA and things haven't been the same since.

Assistant George Blaney took over at the helm and he managed one NIT appearance. Enter Tommy Amaker who led the team to three NIT berths and a Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. He brought in some top flight talent but the team never meshed well. He ended up leaving for Michigan. Louis Orr or Bobby Gonzalez couldn't bring the Pirates enough consistency in the win column to justify keeping them on board.

Kevin Willard now has he task of trying to make the Seton Hall nationally relevant again. He has a current record of 49-49 entering this season. Not the kind of consistency Pirates brass was looking for.

I know times are different but why won't the top New Jersey/New York high school players consider Seton Hall. The Pirates do have a strong class next season headlined by shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead. Whether that will be enough to change the programs or Willard's fortunes remains to be seen. But the program has seen recent success in spurts so that's why they land on this list.

3. USC Trojans- When you think of USC you think of football and Tailback U. Basketball has become an afterthought a USC, until you start losing with regularity, which gets you fired. Why this program has never had any sustained success in beyond me. Never having their own arena and playing in the dark L.A. Sports Arena didn't help.

They're in sunny Southern California (Los Angeles), play in a major media market and have an abundance of top flight basketball talent. Talent that seemingly winds up across town at UCLA. Why can't the same talent wind up at USC?  Not being a consistent winner doesn't help your cause when the school across town is racking up national titles and playing in high profile games.

The Trojans have made the big dance,most recently 2007-2009,  and have had NBA caliber players (Taj Gibson, O.J. Mayo, Gabe Pruitt, DeMar DeRozan) on their roster before, but it's always been a one or two year run for this team before it heads back to the bottom of the Pac-12 standings.

New coach Andy Enfield was a splash hire and won the press conference with UCLA (hired Steve Alford), and Enfield hired super recruiters Tony Bland and Jason Hart to mine L.A.'s best talent.

Enfield prefers an uptempo attack and that will catch a player's eye. Whether he gets the talent and wins big is a different story. Things might be looking up for the Trojans but not this year.

4. Arizona State Sun Devils- Long hailed as a "sleeping giant" this program has never been awoke long enough to be a consistent winner. When you go down the line of coaches that have been in Tempe, you realize that the program has won games, but not enough to become a threat to in state rival Arizona. 

Back in 1989 many thought "stealing" Bill Frieder from Michigan would finally get the program on its feet. he won games and attracted talent, just not enough to be a big winner like Lute Olson. They've had NBA talent like James Harden, they have a beautiful campus and some lovely coeds. That hasn't been enough to get players to the valley of the sun. The Sun Devils best moments came in the early 80s with Byron Scott, Fat Lever and Alton Lister playing and Ned Wulk stalking the sidelines.

Current coach Herb Sendek is on the hot seat and probably needs to get the Devils back to the NCAA Tournament to save his job. With point guard Jahii Carson on board, Sendek has scrapped his slow pace and went uptempo, realizing this is probably his best chance to get back to the tournament . So far the results this season have been good with the Sun Devils off to a 10-2 start. Sendek needs to be a tournament regular at the very least if he wants to stick around.

5. Houston Cougars- Does anyone have an answer for a program that was a tournament regular from 1970-1984, made five Final Fours and two national title game appearances go from those high points to scuffling to make the CBI? The team that produced Otis Birdsong, Clyde Drexler, Don Chaney, Elvin Hayes and Hakeem Olajuwon and brought us perhaps the most entertaining team of all time "Phi Slamma Jamma" is now trying to capture past glory. The Cougs only have one NCAA appearance since 1992. That hasn't been a good run for the program. There are several theories: the end of the Southwest Conference, the lack of stability in the program after Guy Lewis’s retirement, a failure to recruit in the city limits and playing at a 44-year-old arena.

The Cougars were at one point "the program" along with Arkansas in the Southwest and are now competing to be the best program in their own state. Since 1992 the Cougars have been surpassed by Texas, Baylor, and recently SMU.

The glory years of coach Guy Lewis are long gone, but having a good program shouldn't be. The Cougars shouldn't have to leave the city to recruit high level players or stray outside the state borders. The team has tradition and history on its side but that doesn't seem to matter to high school players theses days.  

“In the grand scheme of things we stopped recruiting Houston-area athletes,” Vern Lewis a guard on his father’s first two Final Four teams at Houston, in 1967 and 1968. said. “If you recruit within a 50-mile radius of the city, you’ll win the national title.”

Greater Houston basketball has produced the likes of T.J Ford, Daniel Gibson, Emeka Okafor, Rashard Lewis, Stephen Jackson, Kendrick Perkins and DeAndre Jordan. They all should have looked hard, if not signed, with UH. None did. That's a shame that the program has sunk so low.

Coach James Dickey looks like he might have the program going in the right directions as he has recruited the city and state of Texas. Getting Danuel House and Danrad "Chicken" Knowles was a start. If Dickey can keep the local kids around and convince them that going to Houston is the way to go he might be the one to bring the program back to respectability. 

Honorable Mention

 Georgia Tech- It seems s long ago since that national title game appearance. They haven't built off that success.

Alabama- This team hasn't done much since Wimp Sanderson left town.

Tulane- They probably wish Perry Clark was back on the sidelines. Too much homegrown talent leaves their backyard.

St. John's- They don't keep the elite NYC talent at home.

Georgia- This program should aspire to be something greater. Mired in mediocrity for a very long time.

Detroit- This team should be able to win with the local talent.

Auburn- The ghost of Sonny Smith couldn't win with the hand the current staff has been dealt. The basketball needs some of the 'prayers from Jordan-Hare' to be successful.

Houston's Danrad "Chicken' Knowles finally cleared by the NCAA

The University of Houston basketball team received some good news today when prized freshman forward Danrad 'Chicken' Knowles was cleared to by the NCAA Eligibility Center to play immediately.

Knowles redshirted last season when he was declared academically ineligible. Knowles also did not participate in the Cougars' exhibition game or the first two games.

Head coach James Dickey is is happy to finally have the situation resolved.

"We are grateful that the NCAA has ruled quickly in Danrad's case, and we are excited that he has been allowed to compete this season," said James Dickey, UH coach, in a statement released by the school.

 "I appreciate all the efforts of our administration and compliance throughout this process. As excited as our coaches, players and fans will be with this news, no one will be more excited to hit the court than Danrad on Thursday night."

The 6-foot-10 Knowles is expected to be a major contributor for the Cougars, who will begin their first season in the American Athletic Conference. This will give the team a much needed boost as Dickey tries to get the program nationally relevant again.






  

L.J. Rose is granted a waiver to play immediately at Houston

University of Houston sophomore guard L.J. Rose will be eligible to compete for the Cougars during the 2013-14 season after the NCAA recently granted his waiver request.

Rose will have three years of eligibility remaining with the start of the 2013-14 season. He and his Houston teammates return to classes for the fall semester on Monday, Aug. 26.

“We are extremely grateful that the NCAA has granted L.J.’s request. Family is so important, and this gives everyone in L.J.’s family the best opportunity to watch him play,” head coach James Dickey said. “We look forward to the start of the 2013-14 season with L.J. as a member of our program.”

Four members of the 2013-14 Houston Men’s Basketball team were ranked among the nation’s top 100 prospects by ESPN. Sophomore guard Danuel House was ranked No. 15 in 2012, while redshirt freshman guard Danrad Knowles was listed at No. 56 in 2012. Rose came in at No. 63 in 2012, and junior forward TaShawn Thomas stood at No. 92 in 2011.

Rose, who was one of the nation’s top prep players out of Westbury Christian, competed at Baylor during the 2012-13 season. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard played in 33 games for a team that won the NIT championship. He posted career highs with 14 points, 12 assists, three rebounds and two steals in a win against Hardin-Simmons in mid-January and dished out five assists in 16 minutes at Big 12 rival Iowa State in early February.

Rose, who is a Houston native, was ranked among the nation’s top-75 players by Scout.com, ESPN, MaxPreps.com and Rivals.com. As a senior in 2011-12, he led the Wildcats to the TAPPS 4A state championship game, scoring 17 points on the way to All-Tournament honors.

Before attending Westbury Christian, Rose competed for his first three high school seasons at Second Baptist School. There, he earned All-District 4 and Class 4A All-State honors as a freshman and again as a sophomore.

He also owns international experience on his resume. Rose was a member of the U16 National Team that won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in Argentina.

The Rose family is no stranger to the Houston program. His father, Lynden, lettered for the Cougars’ Phi Slama Jama teams from 1980 to 1982 and was a sixth-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982. His father also served on the UH Board of Regents from 2004 to 2009, while his uncle, Cecile Rose, scored more than 1,200 points in 114 games from 1974 to 1978.

This team has the potential to be good, but if leading scorer Joseph Young hadn't transferred to Oregon, the Cougars might've been a dangerous team to play in the new American Athletic Conference.    

Sumlin Might Want To Stay In Houston

University of Houston head football coach, Kevin Sumlin is a hot commodity right now. He has the Cougars at 12-0 and positioned to get to a BCs bowl game. The offense he runs has put up some video game numbers and have scored a ton of points this season. It's a testament to him and the team that they've been able to focus amid speculation that Sumlin is in line for a higher profile job.

With numerous coaches being shown the ax recently his name is being mentioned for jobs at Arizona State, Illinois, Mississippi, and UCLA. If I'm Sumlin I'd stay put at Houston. For how long it depends. Only of Bob Stoops ever decided to leave Oklahoma would be the only way I'd leave Houston.

Not to say that any of those jobs are bad jobs, but Sumlin would be set up for failure. Maybe Arizona State would be the job I would consider. But with USC still reeling in top tier recruits I would probably steer clear of the Sun Devils job.

As of now Sumlin is having none of the speculation talk and says he's working on an extension with Athletic Director Mack Rhoades.

“I’ve talked to Mack a couple of times, we’ve had a couple different discussions about a lot of things,” Sumlin said. “I’ve got a really strong relationship with him, an open relationship. Our administration understands that we’re trying to win a championship, and things that detract from that, I’m not really interested in doing.”

“Nobody has talked to me all year,” Sumlin said. “No one has contacted me from anywhere in the country about a coaching job anywhere. Even if they tried, at this point, I wouldn’t even talk to them. We’re in the middle of the season.”

With new facilities being put in place and Houston moving to the Big East things might be looking up for the Cougars as far as being relevant nationally again. Of course that all depends on the Big East keepin their AQ status in the BCS. It looks like Sumlin might be in Houston for the long haul.











    

Top 5 Teams That Didn't Win The NCAA Tournament

Since it's March Madness time, I decided to do a little research and came up with a list of the top teams that never won the NCAA tournament. I'll say this, my list won't be one that most agree upon , but I think it will be tough to dispute. This list comes from 1980 to present day.

5. 1991 Arkansas Razorbacks- The Razorbacks were deep, talented, and athletic as any team in the nation which includes the dominant UNLV team that failed to win that year.  They just didn't have UNLV's mental toughness. Led by Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, big man Oliver Miller, and coached by Mr. 40 minutes of hell, Nolan Richardson.

For all the talent they had, for some reason they couldn't put it together come tournament time. Arizona State gave them all they could handle in the second round and people started questioning whether Arkansas had what it takes to make it to the Final Four. They seemed to answer that question when they dismantled Alabama, a team that gave them fits in the SEC. Then they ran into a hot Kansas team and it looked like the Razorbacks tried to out-talent the Jayhawks instead of outplaying them.

Everyone figured it would be UNLV vs. Arkansas for all the marbles but both teams came up short. The Hogs finished 34-4.

5a. 1991 LSU Tigers- Any team with Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Jackson (Abdul Mahmoud Rauf), and Stanley Roberts belong on my list. The Tigers underperformed most of the year finishing with a 23-9 record. The supporting cast wasn't that bad either outside of LSU's big three. The problem was that Dale Brown couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag. I know he did more with less previously, but when he had serious talent he couldn't win.

The Tigers bowed out in the second round of the 1990 NCAA tournament to Georgia Tech and Lethal Weapon 3 (Dennis Scott, Brian Oliver, and Kenny Anderson) in a 94-91 thriller. What I remember from that game was Shaq and Stanley blocking every shot Georgia Tech's centers put up and Jackson missing an off balance three that ended the season of a team that started ranked number two in the country.

A serious waste of talent as Jackson went pro and Muslim, Roberts flunked out and went overseas and Shaq saw zone defenses for two more years.

4.  1993 Michigan Wolverines- The Fab Five was at full strength for two years and ran roughshod over the college basketball world. Although they looked undisciplined at times these kids could flat out play.

After falling short against Duke in the 1991 finals as freshman, it was predetermined that the championship was theirs for the taking as long as they were in Ann Arbor.

When the Wolverines won the Maui Invitational, beating eventual national champion North Carolina and Final Four participant Kansas, many figured the Wolverines would run to a top seed and Big Ten title. They got a top seed but not a Big Ten crown, being edged out by Indiana twice by one point.

In the tournament they got a second round scare, having to go to overtime against UCLA and close games against George Washington and Temple. Somewhere John Chaney is still seething. After beating Kentucky in the semifinals, I figured that Michigan had the title in the bag. The game against Kentucky was one of those games where everyone says "the winner of this game will win the championship". Well, we all know what happened in the championship, close game, the timeout that wasn't, ballgame thanks for coming. Michigan lost to North Carolina 77-71 to finish 30-4.

Chris Webber left for the NBA and the fabs were no more.

3. 1991 UNLV Runnin Rebels- It was a close call to put this team at number three. They were one of the most dominant teams to ever hit the hardwood. Others will point out that they played in the Big West, but when they went out of conference they blew them out as well, Check out the scores over NCAA tourney teams Louisville, Michigan State, Princeton, Rutgers, Florida State, and Arkansas. The Arkansas game was a 1 vs. 2 matchup on the road and the even though the score ended up 112-105 the second half wasn't that close.

It was only a matter of time before the college basketball world crowned Jerry Tarkanian and the Runnin Rebels for a second straight year. They won in dominant fashion, but they didn't blow everyone out like they did in the regular season. The Tarkanian's worse fear happened. They played Duke in the semis, a team they steamrolled by 30 in the championship game the year before.

Duke knocked off the Rebels 79-77 in one of college basketball's biggest upsets. I think it's one of college basketball's biggest shams. I don't know which players were responsible, but someone shaved some points or outright threw the game. And I'll die believing that until I'm convinced Duke won straight up.

The Rebels finished 34-1 and haven't tasted the success they had since Tark the Shark was ran off campus.

2. 1985 Georgetown Hoyas- It pains me to put the Hoyas at number two, since they also were the most dominant of that year. Led by Patrick Ewing, the Hoyas smothered teams on defense and were efficient on offense. They had a two game slide when they were knocked off by St. John's and Syracuse in back to back games, but later avenged both losses.

The Hoyas had really had no top notch competition as they ran through all comers until the Georgia Tech game in the Elite Eight. Then they had the misfortune of trying to beat a Villanova team for a third time. Georgetown escaped the Wildcats twice in the regular season but couldn't complete the sweep as they fell to Villanova 66-64 in the finals.

Georgetown finished 31-3.

1. 1983 Houston Cougars- Yes youngsters, the Houston Cougars made Final Fours and actually have a proud history, they've yet to restore. I place Houston at number one for one reason. They made three straight Final Fours and came up short each time. Houston's failures were based on bad timing, defections, and a cinderella miracle finish.

In 1982 they played North Carolina in the semis, led by James Worthy, Michael Jordan, and Sam Perkins. They lost shooting guard Rob Williams to the NBA after that season. And in 1984 they went up against a Patrick Ewing led Georgetown team and lost Clyde Drexler to the league after the '83 season. Which means I have to explain 1983.

This team had serious talent, even with the loss of Williams. Drexler, Larry Michaeux, Michael Young, and a young Hakeem Olajuwon, when he was still Akeem. Take this into account, Olajuwon barely played in '82. Coach Guy Lewis championed the dunk calling it a high percentage shot and Houston dunked so much they started a fraternity called Phi Slamma Jamma.

The Cougars went 31-3 that year, but they were the most entertaining, high octane team in college. They played in an epic semifinal game against Louisville's Doctors of Dunk and won 94-81. Another game in which the "winner of this game should win it all". There was a fly in the ointment called North Carolina State.
The Wolfpack slowed the game down and controlled tempo. Drexler was hit by early foul trouble and Houston couldn't get it going. When they did get it going, they went up by five until Guy Lewis went all Thomas Hearns on me and slowed it back down ( check the first Hearns vs. Leonard fight, when Hearns started boxing and let Leonard back in the fight), going four corners and playing right into N.C. State's hands.

The came the coup degrace, when the Wolfpack's Dereck Whittenburg threw up a long airball only to have Lorenzo Charles dunk in the miss. What a way to lose. By your favorite weapon. No matter what I'll always love Phi Slamma Jamma.

Honorable Mention- 1981-1983 Virginia Cavaliers, 1980-1981 DePaul Blue Demons, 1992 Indiana Hoosiers, 1999 Duke Blue Devils

      

Case Keenum for Heisman

I know its highly unlikely to happen,but I want Case Keenum to win the Heisman Trophy.Call me crazy,but he has been the most consistent player all season.I know he hasn't played against the highest level of competition but the two games he had against so called superior teams (Oklahoma State and Texas Tech) he put up some fantastic numbers,both of them wins.Others will make a case for Florida's Tim Tebow or Alabama's Mark Ingram.Both deserve to be in New York but in my opinion neither has really stood out.Another player getting Heisman buzz is Clemson's C.J. Spiller.Just because Keenum plays in Conference USA doesn't mean he shouldn't be considered a serious Heisman Candidate.Others will point out the offensive "system" he plays in.Tebow plays in a system and you don't hear anyone criticizing him.Keenum's numbers compare well to any quarterback in the nation.If I had a vote it would go to Case Keenum.