After Friday’s UH basketball practice, I walked down to the floor at Fertitta, fist-bumped with Jamal Shead, and then walked under the goal closest to the UH bench. I planned to film some B-roll of assistant coach Kellen Sampson working with the fours in post-practice before getting a few words with him.
As I walked to get in position, Kellen came up behind me to say hi. I told him that I wanted some time with him.
“To shoot?” he said, noticing the look of incredulity on my face. “NO!” I replied. “I’m a slow white guy. You don’t want me shooting with you.” He laughed, and I said I wanted to interview him after drills.
the daily #131 | 12/9/2023 | Archives
It turns out that Sampson wasn’t staying for drills. It was, perhaps, the first time I’ve ever seen him leave directly after practice. He was heading out to evaluate some players on the west side. So he missed post-practice drills and went scouting.
He had a tournament to attend to evaluate players who may or may not be able to help his team get better in a few years. I don’t think it was ever a question for him, that’s just what you do in this program. That’s just the culture.
Thinking I’d struck out with my interview idea, I said thanks and asked what part of town he was heading to, but he responded by saying let’s do the interview now. So we went up to the club level and started talking.
This is part 1 of our interview, talking about Kelvin’s consistency, older players mentoring younger players, and how J’Wan Roberts and JoJo Tugler have improved:
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