We’ll see. Coach said we may add 2 players and one has committed to us already. None where either of them.
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I think Chaney will be a Gorham clone next year. That means you add a healthy Fabian to replace 2021 Chaney. Frontcourt looks better at starters, bench maybe not as good we’ll see how Powell and Carlton come along.
Taze Moore addition is huge. He’s 6 foot 5.
Multiple tall guards that play CKS ball is the difference between tournament good and final four good IMO.
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Mills was not a member of the Final Four team, he left way too early to even be considered.
As for being better, we will just have to wait and see how the new guys mesh in and perform. However, I am very optimistic that we will have another deep NCAA run. Of course, regardless of how good we are, every game in the dance is up for grabs and upsets happen all the time. I am looking forward to continuing the good times and excitement in the Fertitta Center.
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Deeky was the tail that wagged the dog. Regardless of how good UH may be at year’s end next season, there are going to be growing and chemistry pains to work through at the onset. Not saying these are obstacles, but just a natural progression that time and familiarity take care of … as in this year Deeky, Sasser and Q had it because of last year’s experience.
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Depends on who else. If we land Barker and Kopp I think we are top 15 for sure and a 3-4 seed
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I agree with you wholeheartedly, this was a special group that had great chemistry! When I look at what CKS has done season after season you can’t rule out anything for next year! That’s the fun in it we will just have to see how it all plays out!
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All I know is under Sampson, our teams have started out good and gotten better as the years goes on. I am expecting greatness next year.
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I just hope they have the hearts of who they are replacing.
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Grimes is going to be the tuff one. Deeky and Gorham are definitely replaceable, he’ll we already replaced Gorham with Fabian. Mark can definitely be better than Deeky. The lock down defense will definitely be missed but he can be better on offense for sure. You never know how dudes will develop especially with a full off season. Deeky had a really bad year last year than just completely turned it around. Gorham was almost unplayable last year, Sampson didn’t give him any playing time really, than all of a sudden he’s our best big. So yes we are more than capable of replacing those guys. It’s what Sampson does, never doubt his development
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gorham wasnt “unplayable” last year, in atleast 5 interview samspon noted gorham was one of our best players who was a victim of depth, that with Fabian established we just didnt have the minutes to give him to establish himself, he said if you came to our practices youd leave thinking gorham was our best player depending on the practice
daily cougar did a whole piece on it last season
also dejon last year wasnt bad… dejon had a bad “shooting” year, dejons value to us has nothing to do with shooting…Dejon was extremely good in the non-shooting parts of his game especially after conference play started. defense/rebounding/running the offense
and mark can be a better scorer than dejon… dejon’s value wasnt scoring //you underestimate what dejon was too this team dejon literally ran our entire offense, everyone else was running iso… there was an insane decrease in quality of offense when dejon went on the bench…baylor defensive game was essentially just taking dejon out the game and that led to our worst offense performance of the year (putting Mitchell on him from half court)…
and while its possible to see mark surpassing dejon as a scorer…as far as next season no way mark surpasses dejon as a playmaker…
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I wouldn’t put anything past Mark… He’s already proven that he’s a playmaker offensively and defensively… But I am worried about how the offense will flow next year. We were very stagnant on offense without Deeky at the helm; sometimes downright ugly.
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While we’re all prognosticating and dreaming, for 2022 the South Regional is in San Antonio and the Final Four is in NOLA! Might as well dream BIG. Man, talking about a PARTY! Go Coogs…
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Oh yeah that might be doable.
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It’s fun trying to guess the rotation of next year’s team, but Sampson has always said it doesn’t matter how his team’s start. It’s how they finish the season. The rotation will look different by the time we go dancing. We don’t even know the full roster yet.
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This is what Coach Sampson said after the loss to Baylor: “And we have good players coming in. And obviously, like everyone else, we’ll pick up some kids from the transfer portal as well. We’ll be back. We’ll be good again next year.”
That was after he said this: "We’re getting the next step. Once we got to the Elite Eight, that’s where you want your program to be. You want it to improve, to get better. I know how difficult it is to get to a Final Four.
"One of my really, really good friends is Gene Keady from Purdue. He had a hall of fame coaching career. He never went to one Final Four. It shows you how difficult it is. John Chaney, Temple, hall of famer, never went to one Final Four.
"You just say, well, just make sure you can get back to the Final Four. May never go to a Final Four. Those are hard to get to. Look at all the teams that have never been to one. You don’t ever think those things are – that they owe you. Well, we got to one; we can get to another one. Maybe, maybe not.
"That’s why you focus on the things you can control and keep recruiting good kids, work on improving your roster, establishing chemistry, keep creating the right kind of culture with the right kind of kids. And who knows? You may.
"But this was an important year for us because we had a good team. The team we had this year was capable of getting to the next step. You know, the teams we beat – Rutgers, Syracuse, Oregon State – those teams beat good teams. Oregon State beat Oklahoma State. Oregon State beat Tennessee. And Loyola Chicago, Loyola Chicago beat Illinois. But we beat the team that beat all of them. That gave us great credibility.
"So I understand your question, Brian, but getting to the Elite Eight was a great accomplishment. That’s what I wanted for this program, for this group of kids, I wanted them to get to the next step.
“Getting to the Final Four you don’t ever plan on that. If you did, the four 1 seeds would get there. Michigan had a heck of a year. Illinois was outstanding. They were 1 seeds but they didn’t make the Final Four because you never know. You’ve got to be good. You’ve got to play good on that night.”
Reaching the Final Four is not automatic next year nor any year. Enjoy what Coach Sampson and staff have built and continue to build.
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They can all be replaced, whether or not we will have a team like that or better in 22 remains to be seen.
Saying that, you are under selling the value of having Jarreau to take away the other teams best guard. However, we will be alright. Every team is going to win a little differently
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Thanks for that perspective, Kris! I liked Pat Foster as a coach and was happy he took (begged for) the UH job. One thing that bothered me when he was at Lamar and had some success in the Dance was that he began talking about getting to the Final Four. He found out at UH it wasn’t as easy as just talking about it.
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I can’t tell you how many times over the past few year I have looked at CKS coaching record season by season over his entire career on the UofH website! That is what came to my mind when I heard his comments from that press conference you put in your post. When you look at his season by season results, it brings his comments into focus. He has had so much success over three or so decades, but he readily admits that there are any guarantees to get to the “FINAL FOUR”! He has said several times that he believes he knows how to coach basketball, but even with that who knows what will happen! Based on his years of coaching once CKS establishes winning at a high level and a school it continues!!!
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If Gorham could get on the court, he would have. Idk about articles. I know basketball. If a player is that good a coach would find a way to get him on the court. Especially when bigs on the weakest part of the team. It’s not difficult
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I’m not underestimating Deeky value to this 2020. You are underestimating the players we have and could get for our 2021. Deeky value was so high because he was the only one on the team that could run the offense. Next year that wouldnt be the case. You replace Deeky by committee. You might not have someone as good as him facilitating the offense. But you will have multiple players doing it. 3 good facilitators Is just as valuable as 1 great one. That is what I’m trying to say. You are looking at it as comparing player to player. It’s the same thing with Grimes. It’s not going to be one player just going to come in and replace his 18 a game. We replace grimes scoring by committee. Shead, Sasser, Mark will improve there scoring, Fabian and Chaney will approve inside scoring. You can’t compare the value of Deeky and Grimes on 2020 team when you don’t know what there value would be on the 2021 team. Because on the 2020 team they had no choice but to carry.( scoring for grimes and facilitating and running the offense for Deeky )
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