Houston is a surprising addition to this list. Do they have a chance to win a National Championship? They absolutely have a chance to win it all, but they have a rating of sell because they do not have anywhere near enough to beat Gonzaga, Baylor, or Villanova. Houston is a good team that is going to rack up a ton of wins and be a high seed in the NCAA tournament. They have all the makings of a second-weekend team and should get to that point no question.
Houston is not going to light the nets on fire, and they have never been much in the way of scoring under Kelvin Sampson. What they do very well is defend. They currently have the second-best scoring defense in the country and are giving up less than 60 points per game.
They are relentless on defense and don’t allow many easy looks at the basket, force teams into bad shots, and the Cougars are a top 10 rebounding team who cleans up on the glass. Their prowess on the defensive end is going to keep them in every game they play. They like to play slow and will try and muck up any game they play in.
On the offensive side of the ball, Houston is capable but because of how slow they play, they likely are never going to score enough to beat the teams above them. It all starts with their guards in American Athletic Player of the year Quentin Grimes who is a Kansas transfer. He does a little bit of everything for Houston on both ends of the floor and is an elite offensive player. Point guard Marcus Sasser is another great offensive player and he helps continue the backcourt scoring punch with Grimes.
The frontcourt is fantastic and one thing that sets Houston apart from everyone else in the country is their ability to get second-chance points through their 17 offensive rebounds per game. That is something that no other team on this list can claim.
The Cougars have relentless rebounders and are led by senior Dejon Jarreau and senior big man Justin Gorham. Gorham is one of the best rebounders in the country and Jarreau is the team leader and one of the best glue guys in the country as well. Jarreau is a huge part of what the Cougars do on both offense and defense and they would not be nearly as good without him on the floor.
Houston has a superstar freshman in guard Tramon Mark. Mark has already pushed out the preseason Player of the Year in the American conference in guard Caleb Mills. As he gets better, he is only going to help the Cougars more. The other thing that is going to hurt Houston in their quest to win a national title is their overall lack of quality depth.
Outside of their top six, the Cougars don’t get much from anyone else. Houston finds themselves on this list because of their defense and their ability to rebound. They also have athletes who are a matchup nightmare. If Houston can force teams to play at their pace, they have a great shot. If the Cougars are forced to play fast, they have no shot.
i get questioning our offense…his reasoning for question our offense is bad… we arent playing slow on purpose… fg% is the big question mark , especially vs the elite teams were we might not be able to relentlessly offensive rebound… a real question mark…
this article portrays it like we are playing slow on purpose when its the exact opposite…im legitimately not worried about pace, or playing teams with fast pace…
My biggest concern is who is going to score inside the arc if the 3s are not falling. Mills was probably the best option. Sasser and Grimes can at times. Maybe Mark by then. Getting Fabian with an effective baseline jumper or post up baby hook would be a nice addition but I am afraid he will be in Breaon junior season playing shape!
That said, I like this team. I liked it better with Mills but that is water under the bridge now. I don’t get the depth concern because come tourney time, we will likely see only Mark and Chaney with significant mins off the bench? Or am I way off on that? Unless there is foul trouble or a blow out, I don’t foresee Shead, Tyson or Roberts getting meaningful mins.
News to me as well. As I listened to today’s game, I thought about how UH is playing now and how they are doing it without White and Mills - both expected to be big for the team this season.
Don’t rush it; I am savoring each game we play and the fact that we have been deprived of most of our pre-AAC games due to COVID, has me wanting this season to last.
BTW, I expect White to come in and play in the post season.
I always felt that Mills being named pre season player of the year in the AAC was a bit of a stretch by whomever votes on this kind of stuff. The young man only played one end of the floor.
He was truly gifted at offense, but lacked toughness on the other end.
Mills was made preseason POY because all the 1st and 2nd teams guys from last year except Jayden Gardner left. Thats it. It was just lazy sports writing. Anyone that follows the league and specifically this team, knew that Grimes was poised to benefit the most from Hintons early departure. He should have always been the front runner.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but as a fan, I’ve noticed our depth starting 3 years ago. And, this year’s team appears to be the deepest. Also, it seems like a lot of the bench is even improving as the season goes on.
I think this team hasn’t had a Rob Gray/Corey Davis Jr.-Armoni Brooks type flashy scorer since those guys moved on. However, the reality is that a lot the guys have been able to be productive on both sides of the ball.
I agree with PtbUHx, in that this is probably the evidence of depth 3 years in the making. I’m sure someone can show me the stats, analytics, to disprove me, but the overall sense is that everyone on the team, can and will contribute, aside from the redshirts sitting out and developing.
QG, is showing what we all wanted and probably unfairly expected last year, DJ has returned his form from two years ago but gone up multiple notches (obviously his injury start to the last campaign was a factor), MS is probably the closest to the scorer like RG/AB/CDjr of yester yester year. JG now reminds me of Rockets Chuck Hayes. Not the height you’d ordinarily want in the NBA, but the tankiness to be able impose himself. I imagine I’d break a bone or two trying to lure him into a charge (and I’m 6’1" 268lbs).
i actually think our team last year was deeper than this team… that team just didnt have the star power (technically just more developed)…
last year our best scorer was the 5th guard of the bench, we had gorham not getting any minutes (sampson said he was good but fabian had to get the minutes) …2 legit centers in harris/greshman
just talking depth, last year was the deepest team weve had… corey/armoni year and this year (sassser/grimes) had to be on the floor most of the game…last year we did not need any player to be on the floor, our success was not based on any player…again just talking depth, this years team and corey team are better teams,
but to the OP… yeah depth is not an issue… if you read his article, he says we only have 6 good players… not counting guys like gresham… all because greshman isnt scoring doesnt mean he isnt a valuable player
