The “Why” series continues on as we dive into a news storyline and discuss why the player/team should or shouldn’t be paid more attention to and whatever happens that it will impact their career or team. Last week, we discussed Zion Williamson’s injury and Why Zion Should Play The Rest of the Season.
Today, we discuss the least talked about Top 10 team in a very long time. Houston. Houston has continued to win on a consistent basis and keeps moving up in the rankings. But the national media isn’t impressed as they continued to be jumped by other schools with more exciting and athletic players that makes them stand out.
Mid Major’s like Murray State, Hofstra, and Wofford have gotten recognition, but not quite Houston. We dive into some of the reasons that may be the case.
Conference Prestige is a big issue:
The AAC is run by 2 teams throughout most seasons and that’s Cincinnati and UConn. UConn started out well, but since conference play, has fell off. The only real threat near the top of conference to Houston is Cincinnati. Houston has some solid non conference wins, that looked promising at the beginning of the year, but others are not looking too strong.
They started out by beating previously, 18th ranked Oregon, 65-61. Oregon ended up losing Bol Bol and has been a disappointment ever since. They blew out BYU on the road by 24 (which is a very impressive win). They went on the road and beat Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma State has not been very good this year, but has taken Texas Tech and Kansas to the wire in back to back games. Their most impressive win, by far, is a home win against a extremely talented LSU squad. But the conference slate has been pretty underwhelming. And losses to Temple and (most recently), UCF won’t help their causes.
They do get a challenge on Sunday as the Cougars get their season finale on the road against #23 Cincinnati. If they do win that contest, Houston should have a good chance of being in the 3-4 line. If they lose that and not win the conference, it could get as worse as a 6 seed in the tourney for Houston.
Best player isn’t national recognized:
A lot of well known teams have their big time players. Whether that be Ja Morant at Murray State. Markus Howard at Marquette. Francis Alonso at UNC-Wilmington. Chris Clemons at Campbell. And finally, Justin Wright-Foreman out of Hofstra.
The Cougars are still a really good team with some good quality top players and a good blend of experience and youth that have had playing time. Houston is led by Senior Corey Davis Jr. (16.1 PPG) and Junior Armoni Brooks (13.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG). Houston has key contributors like G Nate Hinton, F Cedrick Alley Jr. and G Dejon Jarreau. All 3 of those are underclassmen and receive significant game time and make an impact on the game.
Even though they don’t have that elite player on their roster, they play really well together and are among the best defenses in the entire nation. The Cougars rank #5 in the country in points allowed per game with 60.8 per contest. Their play as a team is among the best in the nation and it’s never one player that is carrying the load. That’s what makes the Cougars so dangerous in the month of March.
Not a ton of rich history:
Guy Lewis is a legend among all Houston fans for his time as the Head Coach at Houston (1956-1986). That was also the last time Houston was considered to be near the top of the rankings. As the Cougars made 3 Final Fours from 1982-1984. 2 of those in which they lost in the National Championship game. Ever since then, they’ve made it to 5 NCAA Tournaments and only escaped past the first round just once (last season).
Rich history isn’t necessarily huge when it comes to Mid Major programs, but with Houston, it had some meaning when they were in a more respected conference, that was the Southwest Conference. The Alvin Brooks, Clyde Drexler, and Ray McCallum years were ones that Houston would forget.
But Kelvin Sampson has done one of the best coaching jobs of the last 5 seasons and has turned Houston into a conference contender. And from my eyes, I expect Houston to be in contention from here on out and make a case as a top Mid-Major program.
Do I think Houston deserves more attention? Yes, but continued wins will be the continuous trend upward. And it starts with avoiding losses to Temple and UCF. Their next test will be on Sunday when they travel to Cincinnati for a chance to impress their resume and get a Q1 win.
Image Credit: https://uhcougars.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4495
