I was about to ask about him. There was a team picture about a week ago and he wasn’t in it. I didn’t see him in the video working with the bigs either. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I’ve seen a couple of practice videos on Instagram and X. One clip was a 5 on 5 drill where the CKS famous rim-lid was on the basket and there were some grown ass men getting physical on the boards. Based on that clip, I don’t think physicality or rebounding will be a problem in 2026-2027. Joe Tugler and another big that I am not familiar with, he must be a new player, were getting vicious on the boards.In another clip, Kordell Jefferson took the ball strong to the hoop and converted, and in another clip he was playing physical, smothering defense. That guy is a DUDE. He will play this season. There is no way UH has a quicker, stronger, or more aggressive guard than Jefferson. If we do, then we will win the national championship. CKS has some DUDES suiting up. If we can score, we will win becasue we will certainly defend and rebound. If you need to get amped up for Cougar basketball, watch those clips on Instagram and X.
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On top of all of that, KJ is HUNGRY.
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Man… look at all those banners!!!
Just need the BIG BANNER!!!
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Don’t hold your breath…
I’ll be honest… I’ll trade a good baseball program for a good basketball and football program any day of the week!
And I used to go to a lot of Coog baseball games… just feel like our NIL will be focused on basketball & football.
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Quit holding my breath long ago. Guess we will see.
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I asked Kelvin about Ollie Taylor and, as usual, he did not disappoint:
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Kelvin Sampson on new big man Djafar Silimana and Arafan Diané.
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On our podcast Kellen talks about how physical all 4 bigs are. Kelvin says if you want a soft team, don’t let them compete. Last year Kellen didn’t have Tugler, Sakho or McFarland in pre-season to go against Cenac. I’m not inferring that any of our bigs were soft but it didn’t help any that they couldn’t compete at practice.
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Made my eyes mist over to hear that Ollie was gone. One of my all time favorites, and the most amazing Coog ever. I remember seeing him play against the Coog frosh when he was at San Jac JC, and in warmups dunk two balls on one leap. Wasn’t even 6-3, as Kelvin says, he was 6-2. And he went on to play four years in the ABA.
Makes me love KS even more to hear how he talks about the old guys and the Cougar tradition.
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My fave quotes from this interview…
“You can tell a lot from a person whether they laugh a lot or not…”
And…
“ARAFAN IS A MOOSE!”
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One of Ryan’s better interviews with Coach Sampson, about a former player who most fans on this board never heard of. Ollie Taylor, from San Jacinto JC, was a human jumping jack, who jumped C for the opening tip-off at 6’2".
Thank you for the memories.
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Ollie was simply amazing. In fact we won the opening game jump ball against Lew Alcindor. 6-2 against 7-2. I could not believe it when I saw it.
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Wow!
I met him & Birdsong at that game where they came and signed autographs… got both of their autographs on those pictures they gave out…
RIP Ollie!
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After Ollie retired from pro ball, he came back to Houston and would play with a team in leagues at Bellaire Rec Center and Fonde. I played against his team several times. Great memories.
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That ain’t fair! Lol
I always heard Mookie Blaylock used to play at some of the Ys around town but I never saw him…
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Ollie was at San Jac when the Game of the Century happened. Alcindor was in the league before Ollie got to UH.
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Did he give a timeline for DS after the wrist surgeries?
Any chance he will be back in two weeks for the scrimmage?