(SportsRadio 610) - The No. 1 ranked Houston Cougars have had the attention of the college basketball world all season long.
That’s been the expectation since the early days, nine years ago when Kelvin Sampson took over as head coach.
Following the Cougars 83-66 victory over Wichita State on Thursday night at Fertitta Center, while Sampson’s team was cutting the net down, posing for pictures and gazing up at the stands at the record crowd in attendance, he was recalling the days when expectations were high but the athletic department didn’t have a plan.
"That’s when I got two feet in," Sampson said. "When I realized how important it was, I did what was needed and those were some hard days. I’m sure a lot of people weren’t real happy with me over things, but my thought process is, they’d get over it."
He was referencing the days when the Cougars (28-2, 16-1 AAC) didn’t even have a film room, or could even be considered a program.
Sampson worked everyday, challenging the athletic department to provide the things necessary for his program to take the next step.
If expectations were going to be to win, then he needed the things that other top programs had to foster a winning culture.
The athletic department obliged and nine years later, his Cougars are the betting favorites to win the NCAA tournament.
The Cougars have held the nation's top rank in college basketball three different times this regular season. After the polls came out following a win over Kent State in November, Sampson said it was just a rental.
He was right.
The Cougars have owned it two other times since.
And they’re not looking to give it up again anytime soon.
For senior guard Marcus Sasser, who made the decision to return for a final year with the program after having his junior season cut short due to injury, there’s some unfinished business for him and the Cougars as tournament time nears.
"I don’t like to talk about it too much, but you know I didn’t get to play in the tournament last year," Sasser said. "I wanted to and I feel like my team did a great job playing without us. Now that I’m healthy, I feel like I can go in there and help them even more."
Sampson got emotional during the pregame ceremony to honor Sasser along with fellow seniors Darius Bowser and Reggie Chaney.
"I always do," Sampson said. "I remember their recruitment and I remember their commitment. Nobody ever knew who they were. You guys see these kids play, but you have no idea what their journey is."
The journey with Sampson is an experience.
Chaney recalled that when he was first recruited by Sampson, people weren’t sure that was best idea for him.
“Everybody was telling me, you sure you want to do that? He’s a hard coach,” Chaney said.
He was up for the challenge, but admittedly, Chaney said after the first few practices, everything that people warned him about was true and more.
"To be honest with you, it was worse," Chaney said. "I knew he was intense, but it was a little more than I expected for sure."
Four years later, Chaney and his teammates have the opportunity to accomplish something much more than anyone could have ever expected: a national championship.
“That’s what recruiting is. It’s forming relationships, getting kids to buy into something that’s bigger than themselves,” Sampson said. "One of the things I said (Thursday), just make sure we don’t forget who we are, play for each other and this team is good at that.”
Coming up
Houston closes its regular-season schedule when it faces Memphis on Sunday, March 5.
American Athletic Conference tournament
Houston will play as the No. 1 seed at the American Athletic Conference Championship, set for March 9-12 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
Houston will open the tournament in the quarterfinals at noon, Friday, March 10, against the winner of the No. 8 seed/No. 9 seed.
Shaun Bijani has spent the last 16 years covering the Houston sports scene for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @ShaunBijani.
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