Q&A With Houston Beat Reporter Joseph Duarte from Georgia State blog

Cougar Basketball
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Q&A With Houston Beat Reporter Joseph Duarte

While March Madness got its start early Thursday afternoon, Ron Hunter and his team are still preparing for Friday night’s matchup with the Houston Cougars. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with University of Houston beat reporter Joseph Duarte and find out more about this Houston team. Duarte has been covering UH Athletics for the Houston Chronicle for 8 years and gave me some great insights into Kelvin Sampson’s squad ahead of the game on Friday.

5) Houston only lost 3 games all season, all in conference play. Was there a common thread in all three losses?

Duarte: Each of those games were different in their own right with regards to what the deciding factor was that led to the loss. The loss against Temple in early January can be attributed to poor free throw shooting down the stretch. The UCF game was probably Houston’s “worst loss” of the season. The team made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes, specifically turning the ball over down the stretch. Those two games can be thought about as kind of “missed opportunities” for this team. The loss in the American Conference title game was their one blowout of the year if you can call it that. Jared Cumberland exploded that game and Houston didn’t have an answer. Each loss is different, but the Temple and Central Florida games are one that I think Kelvin Sampson and his team would categorize as missed chances.

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I just read the Q&A and he called Corey Davis jr. a “first year Houston player”. I wonder if that was a mistake by the Georgia State guy. It seems like Duarte wouldn’t make a mistake on that with Davis being one of our key players these last two seasons.

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I feel like I need to respond. This blogger called me Thursday asking for “background” so he could write a scouting report/analysis on the Cougars. Normally these requests are sent via email, I write replies and send back. This particular website took bits and pieces from our phone call, interjected his own editorial/inaccuracies/misspellings and posted under the guise that it was a true Q&A. Fabian White Jr. DID NOT miss last season. Galen Robinson Jr. is MORE THAN “above-average defender.” It’s JARRON Cumberland. Kelvin Sampson DOES NOT take off his tie in “rage.” Very disappointed, to say the least.

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Thanks for clarifying, JD.

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Yeah, I figured that. Thanks for all of your hard work, JD. Go Coogs!

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He must have went and cleaned it up.

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Ron Hunter apparently blogs about his own team.

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