After a four-day hiatus (did you even know we were gone?), the daily is back. Kelvin Sampson gave the guys four days off, so we decided to do the same.
the daily #145 | 12/27/2023 | Archives
One…and Quad One. Despite being 12-0, ranked #1 in the country in the NCAA NET, KenPom, Bart Torvik, ESPN BPI, Massey, and 3rd in both polls, the Houston Cougars needed a reset at Christmas. Get away from each other, the gym, video and practice, coaches, and the Guy V. Lewis Development Facility.
The players went home to family or with a teammate’s family to enjoy Christmas. They knew once they were back, it was going to be hell. A Saturday game against a sneaky Penn team is all that separates UH and Big 12 play. Then, it will be 10 Saturday games and eight-weekday games (5 Tuesdays, two Mondays, and a Wednesday).
The breakdown is like this:
Home Saturday / Away Tuesday*
Away Saturday* / Home Tuesday
Home Saturday / Away Tuesday*
Home Saturday / Away Monday*
Away Saturday* / Home Tuesday
Away Saturday* / No Midweek
Home Saturday / Home Monday*
Away Saturday* / Home Tuesday*
Away Saturday* / Away Wednesday*
Home Saturday*
*Expected quad one game.
GoCoogs expect 12 of the 18 games to be considered Quad 1 on the day they’re played. After the midweek off in February, UH gets Texas at home (likely not a quad one game), then six quad one games to end the season.
Currently, UH has four quad-one wins.
Practice. The team was back together on Tuesday and had a very long practice—time to test their endurance. The Godfather, Galen Robinson, told us this was likely coming:
Most of the work Tuesday was on correcting the issues in the offense – the stagnation, the lack of movement, not talking enough. They also worked on pace and getting into the offense earlier in the possession.
J’Wan Roberts worked out with the team.
UH practices a little earlier than usual today due to classes being out. They’ll work through film and then get on the court at Fertitta around 1 p.m. (before home games, practice is at Fertitta. Before road games, they practice at Guy V.). We’ll be there documenting what we see and talking to players and coaches.
The Best. This week, we will highlight a few stories we thought were pretty good this year…or had some impact.
When Dana did not understand his buyout was a monthly payment:
And Starns Leland looking back at his first season on the UH Beat:
Behind the scenes: my first season on the UH Basketball beat
Subscribe to GoCoogs on YouTube for more of our player interviews and coverage of the 2023-24 Basketball Team and the 2024 Cougar Football Team.
