Houston Cougars forward J’Wan Roberts celebrates in the second half against the Duke Blue Devils on March 5, 2025|Robert Deutsch|Imagn Images

I’m still having a hard time believing that Houston won that game against Duke on Saturday night, but I’m by no means surprised. As a KU fan, I knew how good Houston was. I knew the amount of fight they played with and how they take on the personality of their coach Kelvin Sampson. Houston Guard LJ Cryer even went as far as crediting their nail-biting game against KU in late January for giving his team the experience needed to win against Duke.

Houston stormed back from 14 down with eight-plus minutes to go in the game and down 6 with 33 seconds to a 70-67 victory. Duke only scored two field goals for the last 13 minutes of the basketball game. That is unheard of, but it speaks to just how elite Houston’s defense is.

Houston had no business winning this game. With 1:14 left in the game, Houston forward Joseph Kugler committed an egregious technical foul by swatting the ball out of Sion James’ hands while trying to throw it in from the baseline. Duke got to shoot free throws and get the ball. You could see the look of devastation on Kugler’s face and even head coach Kelvin Sampson. He didn’t let that moment define him, although one would have understood if he did. Kugler showed extreme toughness by continuing to keep his composure and provide the disruption that led to a steal and a Kugler putback dunk that put Houston in prime position to win that game.

Houston reminds me of how elite college basketball teams used to be built. Houston isn’t built on transfer portal guys. LJ Cryer (Baylor) and Milos Uzan (Oklahoma) are the only players that play significant minutes that were transfers from other schools (Cryer transferred last season and Uzan was a transfer this season). Sampson prides his program on elite defense and most of all, a winning culture. Even down to the way he completes his coaching staff. Sampson’s 11-year run at Houston has been defined by Conference Championships and deep tournament runs, resulting in two Final Four appearances including tonight’s title game.

Last year, point guard Jamal Shead led them to the Sweet Sixteen, and he played four years at Houston. Their second-best player this year, red shirt junior guard Emmanuel Sharp has been at the program his entire collegiate career. Graduate student J’Wan Roberts who is one of their best bigs has played at Houston all four years. You just don’t see teams with that type of buy-in anymore.

When you stay at a program for four years in this day and age, you are staying because you love your coach and your teammates. You can’t win at the level Houston has won by worrying about playing time. You stay at a place because you believe in the direction of your team and have a genuine bond with the guys yo go to battle with.

I love how Houston has built their program and that is exactly what KU needs to get back to. Self’s teams are always built behind the same principles that Houston builds on, at least they used to. KU used to be centered around defense and toughness. When they won in 2022, they had leaders like Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun David McCormack, Dajaun Harris, and Jalen Wilson who all played with Self for multiple seasons.

Bill Self since winning the championship in 2022, has tried to win with the microwave approach. He tried grabbing players from other schools and recruiting the top of the top high school players. He went after Texas transfer Arterio Morris who was a top-20 recruit and that back fired. He went after Hunter Dickinson and AJ Storr who were the best players available in the portal at their time and KU has nothing to show for it. They’ve had their worst stretch of basketball in Self’s tenure.

They’re off to a good start this offseason bringing Flory Bidunga back and signing 6-foot-4 guard Jayden Dawson and 6-foot-7 forward Tre White. Sampson has proven that Houston was more than ready for the jump to the Big XI. He loves to boast to anyone who will listen that the Cougars were battle tested.

“We weren’t 34-4 playing in the toy poodle league, Sampson said. We were 19-1 in the Big 12. Shoutout to my Big 12 brethren.”