Houston's coach has high praise for Arizona's basketball program
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When Kelvin Sampson talks about college basketball, people pay attention.
In the twilight of his remarkable 45-year coaching career, Sampson has one of the best teams in the country - again. He has won 709 games and coached some outstanding teams, but his 2024-25 Houston squad might be his best yet.
The Cougars come into Tucson on Saturday in first place in the Big 12 and carrying a No. 6 national ranking. Led by fifth-year seniors J'Wan Roberts and L.J. Cryer, Houston is one of the oldest and most experienced teams in the nation.
Cryer and Roberts are both 23 years old and are two of the best players at their positions in all of college hoops. In order to beat Houston on Saturday, the Arizona Wildcats will have to figure out a way to neutralize their impact.
Sampson Has High Praise For Arizona
When Sampson was asked about Arizona's strengths during his Thursday press conference, he gushed about the Wildcats athleticism and size.
“Offensively they’re really, really athletic in the backcourt and they have multiple, really good posts," Sampson said. "Most teams in the league have good rotations of three like us with J’Wan (Roberts), JoJo (Joseph Tugler) and Ja’Vier (Francis), but they’re able to rotate four guys and stay at a high level.
“They’re extremely well-coached; their plan is suited for that team, their speed is a factor, their transition offense is a factor. And they get their hands on a lot of loose balls and deflections with their athleticism and their speed.”
Sampson has a long history with Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, dating back to his days as the head coach at Washington State. He also has been around long enough to understand the impact Lute Olson had on the college basketball landscape.
“I thought about that a year ago when they came into the league," Sampson said. "I go way back with Arizona. We took over at Washington State and that was about the time when coach Lute Olson was getting the basketball program going at Arizona, and he created a monster. It saddens me that there’s a generation of kids that will never know what Arizona basketball was with Lute. … They were the program, they set the bar.
“UCLA had the name, but Arizona had the program. They were the preeminent program on the West Coast, they were the best program in the West. I didn’t dare strive to be like them, I just wanted to get to where we could compete with them; they were so far ahead of (Washington State). There weren’t many programs that could touch Arizona for a long, long time.”
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-029877d49238355bd3388a94f90e3c72.jpg "Ben Sherman")
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.