Kelvin Sampson on Tommy Lloyd: 'He's a real one'
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Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson has a long history coaching against the Arizona Wildcats.
Sampson has also known Tommy Lloyd for many years. Sampson is good friends with Gonzaga coach Mark Few, Lloyd's former boss. And Sampson thinks the world of Lloyd.
“I knew Tommy a little bit when he was with Mark Few. … Mark and I were good friends when I was at Washington State and he was an assistant coach (at Gonzaga)," Sampson said during his press conference on Thursday. "When Tommy got the (Arizona) job, my first response was, ‘Wow, what a great hire, what a great hire.’
"But the Arizona people that didn’t know him, I knew once they got to know him would be thrilled because I just think he’s high-level. And the job he’s done at Arizona, if it was done in the Eastern Time Zone or East of the Mississippi, I think he would get more credit."
Sampson and Lloyd will go head-to-head for the first time in the Big 12 on Saturday — and there is a lot on the line.
Houston (20-4, 12-1) is in first place in the Big 12 and ranked No. 3 in the country in the NCAA NET Rankings. Arizona (17-7, 11-2) is ranked No. 10 in the NET and is in second place in the Big 12. The winner of Saturday's game will have the inside track to the conference championship — and a top-3 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Here are the highlights of Sampson's Thursday press conference:
Sampson: 'Tommy's A Real One'
“In the coaching profession, you know who the real ones are, and Tommy’s a real one; he’s got a great staff. And having that structure and having that culture, but the most important thing is talent. Tommy’s always been a great recruiter, especially international kids, so all his teams will have a good balance of kids from different places. But he knows how to coach, knows how to build and kudos to Arizona for giving him an opportunity. He waited a long time for this and he got one of the best jobs in the country at Arizona.”
Sampson On Arizona's Strengths
“I think their strengths are, offensively they’re really, really athletic in the backcourt and they have multiple, really good posts. 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 On His History Coaching vs. Arizona
“I thought about that a year ago when they came into the league. … 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.”
Sampson On Arizona's Fans And Lute Olson
“They had great players, they had a great coach, but what I think separated them and made them so different than any other West Coast school was their fans. It was like being at a Big Ten school fan-wise where most of the Pac-10 schools struggled to get fans to the game. Not Arizona, and they have so many traditions down there. A lot of the coaches in the (Big 12) may not know the history of Arizona, but I do.
“I’ve just always respected Arizona because they were THE program when I started out coaching. They were our Duke, they were our North Carolina, they were our Kentucky; that’s the level, and that’s the show that they were on.
“The other thing I remember is how nice Lute and (his late ex-wife) Bobbi Olson were to Karen (Sampson’s wife) and I; we weren’t very good, most of the games with Arizona, we were never in it, we just weren’t good enough, but through it all, Lute was always nice. … He was just a nice man, and Bobbi Olson was a class, class, class lady. They showed Karen and I how to be professional.”
Sampson On Caleb Love: 'He's Fearless'
“He’s dynamic; that’s the best way to describe Caleb. I would say two words, dynamic and fearless. What makes him tough is his success as a player doesn’t alter anything he does; he plays the same way. And he plays the same way if he’s missing shots, too, and to me that just reeks of confidence and it also reeks of the freedom and confidence his coaching staff has in him.
“He’s allowed to make shots and he’s allowed to miss shots, and coaches understand that’s all part of it, but they’ve got an inside game that allows them to get a lot of offensive rebounds. Your misses only kill you if you’re only depending on your first shot to win the game, but if you can get second and third shots, then that will balance itself out. But watching him at his best, he’s scary; he’s really, really good, and he plays so many minutes and he’s in great shape.
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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.