Houston coach Kelvin Sampson edges UConn's Dan Hurley for AP coach of the year
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is the Associated Press coach of the year for men's college basketball
There was a moment during the NCAA Tournament, when top-seeded Houston was well on its way to a 40-point rout of No. 16 seed Longwood, that helps to capture why the Cougars have become so dominant under Kelvin Sampson.
It was late in the game, and Mylik Wilson was late closing out on the Lancers' DA Houston, who buried a 3-pointer over him.
“They were up 30,” Longwood coach Griff Aldrich recalled, “and I thought DA barely got the shot off. And Sampson's screaming at Wilson like that's an emergency. ‘Get out there!’ It's like, damn. I thought he was out there."
That's the way Sampson coaches, demanding excellence no matter the score or time left in the game. And the results speak for themselves: Houston won the Big 12 regular-season title i n its first year in the league, earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament for the second straight year and advanced through the opening weekend for the fifth time in a row.
