I figure this is the right forum for this, and I wasn't sure if I had seen it mentioned before, but the new Rice MBB Coach has some strong connections to Harden going back to high school. I spoke with Coach Pera and he says they are constantly interviewing him for young Harden stories. Harden was there at the Rice media conference to introduce the new head coach and I've seen him at basketball games several times. Here's an article about Harden endorsing Coach Pera. There are many other articles out there. http://houston.cbslocal.com/2017/03/23/harden-hopes-scott-pera-gets-rice-head-coach-job/ And here's one with Pera talking about young Harden. http://usatodayhss.com/2017/athlete-loo-k-back-james-harden-mvp-rockets As both a Rice MBB fan and a Rockets fan, it's kinda cool for me to have my two teams connected in this way.
Yeah, I remember JVG actually talking about Pera in a game last year, and Harden going to games. JVG's a big Rice fan, too.