It’s been amazing seeing the Cougars climb to the top tier of basketball programs! I hope that with a bit more stability in player development, the Cougars will be able to finally attain their much elusive national championship title! Very exciting time to be a UH Cougar!
i am a Coog for life, but I am getting long in the tooth. Hurry up guys! I was counting on Phi Slamma Jamma. Probably the best ever team to not win it all.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...rticle/uh-kelvin-sampson-changes-22278404.php While there are plenty of questions around college athletics, Sampson has found answers in a busy offseason: As part of reporting day Sunday, the Cougars will hold a team meeting and dinner in advance of the start of their offseason conditioning program that begins Monday. • Incoming freshman Arafan Diané has dropped between 12 and 14 pounds since he arrived in early May, Sampson said. Diané, the No. 1 center in the class of 2026, was listed at 7-foot-1 and 290- pounds at the time he signed last November. “He’s doing a great job,” Sampson said. • Braden East, a 6-foot-9 transfer forward from Lamar, has “been working his butt off” with top returner Joseph Tugler. • Forward Chase McCarty did not require offseason surgery on his injured left wrist that bothered him the final two months of the season. “It just healed on its own,” Sampson said. “Good thing it was his off hand.” • A preseason exhibition against defending national champion Michigan is tentatively scheduled for late October in Grand Rapids, Mich., a source said. The contract has not been finalized between the two schools. • Sampson said he’s spoken with other basketball coaches around the country who have or are considering adding a general manager to help navigate the NIL/rev share and transfer portal.
Anybody know anything about the international player that signed with the Coogs? Supposed to be a a really good player. A seven footer.
Are you talking about Arafan Diane? He joined a while back. He was born overseas but went to prep school in Iowa. Top-3 center and probably top-20'ish player in this high school recruiting class. Was listed at 7'1" and something like 300 lbs in high school. But I think Sampson said that he has been working his butt off and has lost something like 10-15 lbs while working out. In high school, it seemed like he was just dominating little kids. I'm guessing we won't know what he's really made of until the season starts. Diane also got a really raw player to sign with Houston. His name is Djafar Silimana - I posted an article/tweet about him earlier in this thread. He seems to be really raw but is 6'10" with a bananas 7'6" wingspan (I don't know if that's been verified). He went to a US prep school but is from Africa.
Kelvin talking about Diane and Silimana (sorry it's a facebook video, but that's where it is): https://www.facebook.com/UHCougarMB...-sampson-on-djafar-silimana/1472151988270826/
This is a great article about Djafar and how he was recruited to Houston by Arafan. PaperCityMag.com, where it's hosted, seems to be having some connectivity issues as I'm posting this, so if it's not working, try again later. This is another article about Djafar on SI.com.
