Houston, Florida taking place for the match for the title – Orange County Register

San Antonio – The one who said that there were no more large oppressed stories in March Madness, or that the title would go to the team that would spend the most money – or amasse the most creaky collection of big names in the transfer portal – has probably never checked Houston.

And whoever thought that the college hoops left teams without stars practiced by the NBA trained by pies conferences as lemon who care more about the size of the lip and the heart of a player than his percentage of 3 points – well, it is also these couguars.

The team of defenders and negatives of coach Kelvin Sampson will face Florida for the national title Monday evening. They conclude the Final Four of a leading front which presented all the seeds n ° 1 but ends with the two superiors – Auburn and Duke – sitting at the house.

“We did it in a way in our own way,” said Sampson who, at 69, would go beyond Jim Calhoun to become the oldest coach to win the title if his cougars won. “It worked well.”

Gators have also been neglected in their own way

Florida, a choice of 1 1/2 points in this game by Betmgm Sportsbook, played the oppressed in its own way this year.

The Gators (35-4) were chosen to finish sixth in their (very good southeast conference) and are led by a player, Walter Clayton Jr., whose first sport was football.

Their list is filled with late flowering of mid-Montage (Clayton, Will Richard, Alijah Martin) and some others from high school which were at best 3-star recruits (Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh).

Even so, it would be difficult to put Florida, with a rich department of athletics, a rich story and to play in a rich conference, in the same category as Houston – a suburban school in the fourth American city which draws the eye of certain inhabitants who call it “cougar high.

Houston’s transition to Big 12 has created new stories

When Houston (35-4) left the American Athletic Conference in 2023 to join the Big 12, he immediately became the school with the smallest sports budget among the five (now four) major conferences.

But things change. He will finish an expansion of $ 150 million at his football center this summer.

The sports director, Eddie Nunez, said that cougars are fully engaged in the sharing of income as part of the new rules which should take control of the next university sports, and that Sampson evolves as well as anyone.

“Everyone says that he is old -fashioned, but the reality is that he gets it and that he surrounds himself with people who can help him with null, income, everything that is presented,” said Nunez. “In the end, he will do what he will do best. He builds a culture and obtains good children with good work ethics. ”

The presence of Houston in the Big 12 played in the predominant scenario of March Madness this year: from The Sweet 16 on, there were no team of small conferences and, therefore, there are no more slippers in a tournament that lost his soul.

Houston has a tradition – everyone remembers Phi Slama Jama – and builds a budget. However, calling the Sampson program a university basketball monster is missing the point.

His largest gate piece is LJ Cryer, the goalkeeper who won a title with Baylor in 2021 before transferring and becoming the top scorer in the cougars. If Houston will place a player in the NBA next season, Cryer is probably this one.

“I do not necessarily think that this applies to my program,” said Sampson when asked if the portal had changed the nature of his work.

Houston long -term defenders make life hard from adversaries

The rest of the alignment spends time making life difficult with players who will certainly be in the NBA. See the last 10 minutes of Houston 70-67 victory against Duke on Saturday.

These are players like Jewan Roberts, a 23 -year -old senior who played 148 games in five seasons, all in Houston – a career that was extended because of the coronavirus pandemic. Or Emanuel Sharp, now in his third year with Sampson and on average about three points of 3 points per game.

Houston’s call card abandons the games that become ugly. He has the country’s main defense as a percentage of goals in the field (0.382) and authorized points (58.5).

“I think they will put pressure on the ball screen, try to get the ball out of Walt’s hands. But they turn, they are long, they play so hard, so hard,” said Gators coach Todd Golden.

At a time when players like Duke’s Cooper Flagg – a 6 -inch 9 -inch force that can dip, turn 3 – get air time, there is not as much room for, say, Jojo Tugler of Houston, a second year 6-8 of Monroe, Louisiana, who has more rebounds than points this season and including four blocks against Duke gave him 77 in 35 games.

“One of the first things we do when we give a child on the campus is that we measure their scope because of how we play the defense of pick-and-roll,” said Sampson. “There are many 7 -foot children who are very forest. They find it difficult to move. These children would not work well in the way we play in defense. ”

CBS may not rush to make coils of demonstrating this kind of thing.

Sampson attacks the kinds of players who don’t care about this.

“This is what you want to be a part,” said Roberts. “You want to be with someone who will develop you, love yourself to love yourself and not let yourself spend bad days.”

Originally published: April 6, 2025 at 6.55pm