By PATRICK WALSH
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — For the first time since 2008, the Men’s Basketball Final Four consists of only No. 1 seeds. However, there is one matchup that particularly sticks out. Duke and Houston. The number one rated offense pitted up against the top scoring defense in the country.
Grab your popcorn. This is going to be good.
Sampson is making his second Final Four appearance in the last four seasons and third overall. Last season, the Cougars fell in the Sweet 16 against the Blue Devils. For Sampson he has moved on, and does not ponder on last year’s defeat and takes pride in his ability to develop his players.
” I think the strength of our program is maybe not recruiting the five-star guys that a lot of the schools that are here do,” Sampson said. “But we develop guys into five stars. We take a lot of pride in that.”
Sampson, a defensive-first coach, will have to matchup against the AP Player of the Year, forward Cooper Flagg, and the Duke Blue Devils. Although the Blue Devils feature Flagg and guard Kon Kneuppel who are freshmen, Sampson believes that label no longer applies.
“First of all, they don’t have any freshmen. They were freshmen in November and December. They were sophomores in January and February. March and April, they’re vets.”
Houston’s defense is battle-tested. Last game, the Cougars held SEC Runner-up Tennessee to 15 points in the first half. In the Sweet 16, the defense held Purdue to two points in the final two minutes.
Cougar forward J’Wan Roberts has spent six seasons under Sampson’s wing and knows his head coach’s style. Roberts touched on the importance of practicing with a purpose.
“It’s who wants it more. I feel like when we go into games, it makes it a lot more easier because practices are so hard,” Roberts said. “When you practice a certain way in practice, when you get to the game, it’s like the team’s not ready for this, but we are.”
Sampson added that San Antonio Spurs Head Coach, Gregg Popovich, helped him when his career was in limbo, being given a job by Popovich with the Spurs.
“We all had friends, all of you have friends that have helped you along the way. When I was with San Antonio, the thing that jumped out of me is he runs the Spurs very much like a college program.”
Sampson and his Cougars look to avenge last year’s defeat on Saturday at 9 p.m. EDT at the Alamodome.
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