juicy matchup. too young to have seen the swc but i've always heard baylor was the school that got the last golden ticket over houston so **** them.
toughest challenge yet for Baylor. I like it!!! UH is going to make this a typical grind it out physical game. Lets see how Baylor matches up with that
I've said this numerous times in that lasts few years when people were trying to say Kelvin was going here or there. KS and his family aren't going anywhere. He has 0 interest in anything else at this point of his life and is all in with building this program. This is his last stop and once he's officially done in the next couple of years, the reigns are passed down to the rest of the family. It's that simple
Those 4 and UH are in my Elite 8 of best teams that didn't finish the deal. Illinois "flying illini" or "positionless clones" of '89 also belong...not sure who the other couple of teams would be.
Huh? Who? https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...nzaga-michigan-join-houston-baylor-final-four Not a single one of ESPN's 38 college basketball experts picked Houston to reach the Final Four before this tournament started. What was it that gave you pause about the Cougars when you filled out your bracket, and have they resolved your questions over this four-game run? Medcalf: I just didn't know if they could keep up offensively with the teams I figured Kelvin Sampson's squad would have to beat to advance to the Final Four. And the struggles against Memphis and Wichita State didn't increase my confidence in the Cougars, who also have two sub-100 KenPom losses on its résumé (Tulsa, East Carolina). But they can really shut teams down on defense -- Ethan Thompson finished 3-for-12 in the Elite Eight -- when they play their aggressive style. That's enough to keep them in any game against any opponent. And Sampson's coaching prowess is widely recognized. But this is still a team that missed 42 shots and made 20 against Oregon State on Monday night. That's probably not sufficient to win a national championship. Yet, the Cougars' physical dominance (19 offensive rebounds) allows them to control games. This is a really good team. Bottom line: Houston should have been on my Final Four list. Borzello: Given Houston's struggles against Memphis twice in a week and some other surprising hiccups over the final five or six weeks of the season, I had concerns the Cougars wouldn't be able to beat the best teams their region had to offer. Well, through no fault of their own, they didn't have to play the best teams their region had to offer. But all they could do is beat the teams in front of them, and they cruised through a couple wins over Cleveland State and Syracuse, had a tough time with Rutgers, and needed some late shots to hang on against Oregon State. The fact that they had trouble against Rutgers and Oregon State doesn't totally ease my worries about them, but Quentin Grimes has been terrific offensively, DeJon Jarreau is an elite defender and they rebound better than pretty much anyone in the country. And they have one of the best coaches in the sport in Sampson. So they have a chance. Gasaway: The experts were wrong! This expert didn't expect a team that had played two nail-biters within the space of a few days against Memphis to be able to handle what the field of 68 would throw its way. No, Houston didn't face an opponent higher than a No. 10 seed, but the Cougars have played well enough to reach the Final Four even if the region had been all chalk. The paeans sung to Jarreau's defense are richly deserved, and I would only add that few teams in recent memory have better demonstrated the tournament benefits of amazing rebounding at both ends of the floor. Lunardi: The presence of Illinois at the top of Houston's bracket was the main deterrent to picking the Cougars. But Loyola Chicago took care of that problem, then Oregon State took care of Loyola, and finally the Cougars themselves erased Oregon State. In the bigger picture, I share the concern that Houston will eventually have to outscore a more explosive team to continue its run. That hasn't happened yet, so the Cougars have been able to impose their will through four rounds. The likes of Baylor, Michigan or Gonzaga may have other ideas.
Nobody will pick UH to win it all and I don't blame them for that. Gun to the head at the start of this madness everyone including CKS would say they like Gonzaga or another top seed. But in the madness things happen like this thread has mentioned before, just ask NC State who picked them to stop Phi Slama Jama after they reached the final four. These "experts" are supposed to tell us what is most likely to happen. Odds are against the Coogs. Honestly even if they lose in any fashion to Baylor, I'm still extremely please with the program. UH men's BB was a dumpster fire. CKS, staff, players and UH brass have final rid the program of the horrors of the apathy that plagued this program. I'll be cheering with good reason no matter the outcome from here on out. I started TV at attitude when they were knocked out of the sweet 16 few years ago. Go Coogs
I literally can't lose this next game. Graduated from Baylor for undergrad...went to UH for law school and my son is in the business school there now. Whoever wins is the team I'm rooting for in the national championship game. For those that didn't watch a lot of Baylor, they do really well against teams that try to slow down pace. They were 6-0 against those kinds of teams in conference play. Their offense is a tick or 2 below Gonzaga, but their defense is far more similar to UH. I do expect that UH will win the battle of the boards, though, because they always do. Trying to be completely objective, I think Baylor has the advantage, because they're so balanced...but UH plays so hard, I can totally see this game going either way. Regardless, both teams reaching the Final Four is a MASSIVE accomplishment given the relative states of the programs at the time the current coaches took over. Both buildings will have a 2021 flag flying for as long as their arenas are open.
Houston should walk away with this. This is the American Champion we're talking about. This is not going to go the way you expect it to go.
It's so strange to me, because I've never had anything like this happen before in a game with such huge implications. No matter the outcome, I'm going to be genuinely happy for the winner and disappointed to some extent for the losing team. My son, though, has decided he shouldn't watch that game with me, just in case
Odd those basketball experts still mention those two close wins against Memphis in a negative light. Memphis won the NIT championship and their only losses since February 1st were against UH. Memphis was better than a lot of teams picked over them to be in the tournament. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...nzaga-michigan-join-houston-baylor-final-four
yup. I'm tired of hearing about that too. Memphis is a NCAA tourney team. just because they didn't get that part right, doesn't mean Memphis isn't a pretty good team. They're definitely better than a number of teams who got bounced in the opening round
