Why Kelvin Sampson is optimistic about Utah basketball's future

Utah head coach Alex Jensen hasn't been shy about his admiration and appreciation for what Kelvin Sampson has done in turning Houston into a perennial Final Four contender over the past decade.

Jensen hopes to one day too lead his program out of its dark days and back onto the national stage as a NCAA Tournament threat, much like how Sampson has taken the Cougars out of irrelevancy and into the forefront as one of the premier juggernauts in college basketball.

Following Tuesday night's matchup between the two at the Huntsman Center, where Utah got the full Houston experience in a 66-52 victory for the Cougars, Sampson seems optimistic that the Runnin' Utes can climb the totem pole quicker than some might expect.

"Utah can turn around quickly," Sampson said. "There's a lot of tradition here, and I think Alex is the right guy. He's a Ute. I know he's coming from the NBA, but that's important to him. I think he's gonna do a great job."

If anyone knows anything about rebuilding a program, it's Sampson. Because while the Cougars are considered national title contenders nowadays, that certainly wasn't the case when Sampson first arrived on the scene in 2015. Houston had experienced several middling seasons in the 90s and early 2000s, casting a dark shadow over what was once a proud program that went to back-to-back national championship game appearances in 1983 and 1984.

Sampson, fresh off a couple of go-arounds as an assistant at the NBA level, and his intense coaching style predicated on hard-nosed defense reinvigorated the Cougars upon arrival. Houston finished No. 214 in KenPom in his first season, then ascended to 22 wins and No. 61 nationally in 2015-16. The Cougars continued to rise in the ranks, culminating in last season's national championship game berth and an active streak of seven consecutive appearances in the Sweet 16.

Having finished finished above .500 in conference play just three times since its last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2016, the Runnin' Utes clearly have a long way to go before they can be considered in the same stratosphere as the Cougars. From Sampson's point of view, Jensen and company are just beginning to lay the foundation for what could be a bright future ahead.

"He doesn't have the team he's going to have eventually, but he's building character," Sampson said of Jensen. "He's building culture, he's building a program."

"If you do it the right way, and if you do it brick by brick, and you do it with good kids and good enough players, you're going to have a good program."

The name of the game for Jensen isn't to try to copy Sampson's model for Houston; as Sampson pointed out, being an alum and part of Utah's glory days under Rick Majerus is the driving force behind Jensen's desire to win as the Runnin' Utes head coach. Getting Utah back to competing for national championships will not only require talent and scheme-fits, but also players with similar attitudes and goals.

As some expected, Jensen didn't start his Utah tenure with all the pieces put in the right place. He did, in fact, just take over the program last April. But with a few more recruiting cycles under his belt and the right resources provided by the school, the Runnin' Utes could look more like the team he's envisioned from the moment he was brought in to lead his alma mater.

"You're not trying to mimic them, but it's a great learning thing because they have a culture," Jensen said of the Cougars. "All of his guys are high character guys and are part of the group. We want to do the same thing here; get those guys, and build it where it kind of attracts that type of player, too."

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