Houston fans should enjoy seeing Grimes’ name among the returnees, because I expect him at least to test the NBA Draft waters. Even without him, the Cougars will be the heavy favorites in the AAC once again, especially with the recent addition of Carlton, who is transferring from UConn. Francis and Walker were both top-200 recruits per 247Sports, so they fit the profile of players in this program who stick around and develop over time.
Gorham can return if he wants to, but none of us expect him to do so. That also makes his ranking make a lot of sense. If we really had all those people back plus Carlton we should probably be top 4ish since it’s almost exactly our current roster plus a legit 5.
Typical espn. Much like their b10 bias, they refuse to acknowledge that they might be wrong sometimes. Once the anoint a team or conference as royalty, we are always going to get stories like this.
I haven’t read all of these. Are they assuming our roster isn’t complete when making these predictions? I just can’t see the justification right now. We land a couple of guards and I believe we are a top 15-20 team.
Um, no. We’re not starting 4 guards and as of now Fabian is definitely coming back. Tyson has to improve immensely on defense before he becomes part of the main rotation.
13. Houston (28-4): The Cougars have won 111 games over the last four seasons, and have ranked 21st or better in KenPom’s defensive efficiency metric in each of them. In other words, they can survive the possible loss of star Quentin Grimes and be just fine. Maybe not Final Four fine, but Houston should again be the favorites in the American Athletic.
6. Houston
Kelvin Sampson has built a program with staying power at Houston, and the Cougars should be excellent again in 2021–22 even with the graduation of star point guard DeJon Jarreau. Quentin Grimes and Marcus Sasser should return in the backcourt (though Grimes is likely to consider pro options), and the addition of grad transfer Josh Carlton (UConn) should solidify the interior and provide a boost on the glass. Watch out for Tramon Mark, who could break out after a strong freshman season.