That's what we are missing is quality bigs. I really hope the juco big and hopefully we can land the stud from Austin and really make noise next year. Sampson said on Jon Rothstein's podcast earlier in the year he felt we were still one player away from making serious noise on the national scale.
First time all season I've felt like the opponent was the better team. Georgia Tech is for real, shooting lights out, and they are bouncy, but we still in this thing. Gray on Smith seems like a mismatch, as Gray is a bit of a ball watcher, but hanging in there.
All in all, I'm still pretty happy with the way the season went. It'd been a while since we got some postseason action and this team was much improved over last season. The Sampson era is trending in the right direction.
Definitely heading in the right direction, I just wish we could get some more Houston high school players like we are doing in football!! But so far we are doing well with Juco's and major program transfers.
Cougars have gone through some interesting era's, for a period there we were bringing in one international player after another with moderate success. And then it seems under Penders and Sampson we became a bit of a rehab/JUCO facility, representative of the coaches, and representative of the one and done era. I'm ok with being a rehab team given great local players will not likely stay more than one year anyway. This is out best chance to have quality players stay for a few years. It may not be ideal, but I can certainly live with it.
Think the loss of Rose and Johnson hurt a little, but the three primary core scorers and distributer still in house with Gray, Dotson, and Robinson. So I like our chances to win conference. But we need an inside presence to win in the NCAA.
Devin Davis just committed to UH 6'7 230lb PF AVG 16.8ppg and 8rpg at Odessa JC this year. He played his freshman year at Indiana.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">College basketball sources: 5-star big man Jarrett Allen from Austin narrows choices to <a href="https://twitter.com/UHCougarMBK">@UHCougarMBK</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/TexasMBB">@TexasMBB</a> <a href="https://t.co/8JBBhJlwPq">pic.twitter.com/8JBBhJlwPq</a></p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/726136564636475393">April 29, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Jarrett Allen is supposed to make his decision in the next 2 weeks. In the meantime UH signed Blinn JC PG Morris Dunnigan. He AVERAGED 22.9PPG and 5.9RPG this year. He will help offset the loss of Ronnie Johnson who graduated and decided to transfer to Auburn.
Can our program/attendance get turned around by continued success on the court? Adding Jarrett Allen might be enough to bump us into being a Top25 team. We're working on new facilities, but we need the fan support to match.
We need some real success I mean getting to the dance on a regular basis. The attendance has only went down the tubes in the past 10yrs to be honest. We have 1 bid in the past 25yrs so exactly what would make fans come out to see this program. This is Houston you have to win to draw fans unless you are the Texans.
Congrats, Coach Sampson! Eat 'em Up, Coogs! http://www.uhcougars.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/052516aaa.html Sampson, Houston Agree to Contract Amendment
http://m.chron.com/local/article/Billionaire-regent-expected-to-give-20M-for-8339664.php The University of Houston is expecting to receive a $20 million donation from Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire who chairs its board of regents, to help rebuild the school's basketball arena and put his name on it, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the plan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Renderings of the $60 million Fertitta Center, scheduled to be completed during 2018-19 season! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForTheCity?src=hash">#ForTheCity</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoCoogs?src=hash">#GoCoogs</a> <a href="https://t.co/acKe637Ada">pic.twitter.com/acKe637Ada</a></p>— Houston Men's Hoops (@UHCougarMBK) <a href="https://twitter.com/UHCougarMBK/status/768822393695449089">August 25, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Me like, it's free, it's good for everyone, but doesn't really seem necessary given the status of college basketball which is one and done, and the current status of our recruiting. College basketball and UH basketball are in a bad spot overall so filling seats seems next to impossible for a program that is not on the level of Kentucky or Syracuse or Duke which remain viable.
