I saw my first Coog basketball game in 1959 as an infant in my parents arms. While I enjoy football (Saturday excepted), UH basketball is my first love and every season brings a new story to be savored.
While epic games, stellar individual performances, and championships are the sizzle, perhaps what I enjoy most is watching a team and individual players grow and mature throughout the season. Sampson is a master of this and references to his “lab” by others are well taken.
As he pointed out in a recent interview, this season will be predicated on how quickly and completely the freshmen buy in.
So, I predict some early growing pains replete with fan frustration. This won’t be a one loss conference season. BUT by March, assuming his normal process takes its course and we can avoid the injury bug at key positions, this will be a completely different team. We’ve seen this movie before. With buy in and some luck, this has the potential to be THE SEASON.
I for one am going to strap in, sit back, eat some stale popcorn, and thoroughly enjoy the ride.