Kelvin Sampson has quietly done an outstanding job with this Houston program. Inheriting a program that had only made one NCAA Tournament since the days of the Southwest Conference, Sampson finally got the Cougars over the hump in 2017-18. And while scoring sensation Rob Gray graduates, several key cogs are back from a team that was a few seconds away from beating eventual national runner-up Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. The defense should be strong once again, but former UMass guard Dejon Jarreau will have to provide some scoring punch alongside a great shooter in Corey Davis.
Yeah, I don’t know about UCF. Fall seems injury prone having lost chunks of the last two years to injury. If Dawkins stays healthy, they’ll still be good, but I think Fall goes down (pun intended) again and they slip to 4th. So I think:
Houston
2/3. Memphis/Cincinnati - toss up
UCF
Everyone else like he has them.
By tournament time, I think UH, Memphis, and Cincy could be equally good if everyone is healthy. And UCF could be in the mix too if Fall stays healthy too, I just don’t think it will happen.