Houston Cougars HC Kelvin Sampson joins The Herd to talk about his team's run in the NCAA Tournament and more
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I always felt the perfect combination for a college basketball coach, and Jim Beaheim's done this, and Mark Fugh's done this, and Mike Krzyzewski because he coaches like Mark fu USA basketball. Kelvin Sampson at Houston. He spent six years in the NBA on several teams, and it gives you a sense of where you want to take the players. It's the ultimate destination. And he's now with the Houston Cougars. This was a program that I grew up with that was Fi Slama Jama. But when Kelvin took him over, they weren't a drought. They had a four or five year spell. They weren't they were not a viable team. And he now joins US live. They face Duke coming up in the game of the tournament. You know, I asked Mark Few a week ago, I said, who don't you want to play? He goes, yeah, I'd rather miss on Houston. I've seen enough of them. You have created a team that's no fun to play. So that's beyond recruiting. That's culture. When you when you got to Houston, you've done it four times. You did it at Washington State, you did at Oklahoma, you did it Montana Tech. I think it was what is it about you in the first year or two? How do you change not just recruiting, how do you change culture in basketball?
I think one of the attributes a head coach has to have is yes to have a clearly defined way he wants to win the game. And you don't have to pick the defensive event or the offensive vent, but you have to have something that your kids will believe in. And I think culture starts with being on time. It starts with giving your best effort. It starts with your body language, being responsible so you don't have to be held accountable, being someone that has the right attitude every day. I spent a lot of time coaching attitude and effort before we can ever be a good team.
I mean that sounds simple, Colin, but.
All the great cultures have kids that will play for something bigger than themselves, you know, and that's in this day and age. We had eight out of our top ten players return the year before it was the same thing. I think we've had three kids transferring ten years that were in our top ten players. So we haven't lived in the portal, although we do believe in the portal. But we have kids that when they come in as freshmen, they become sophomoores juniors, and now they're seniors in our senior class this year. Last year, we're juniors, and they were held accountable the seniors that are own and now that they're seniors, they fully balled into the things that we believe in. I've got a great staff. My staff is either my family or former players are support staff as former.
Managers, so not really a resume guy.
I don't take phone calls from people to tell me who they think would be good for us.
I kind of make that decision on my own.
So I think the program part goes with the culture, and that's been good for us.
You know what you sound like, coach, You sound like a warm weather villanova. That's what I said. No, I mean he would go. He would go to the DMV get tough kids. Villanova kids were loyal, they played beyond themselves. They play good defense, and it's really a lot of times in college basketball of a team is defense first over offense. It may not be as glamorous. I like your athletic ability. I like your aggressiveness. I think it initiates your offense. You know, you look at that tape. You've been in the NBA. You put that tape. Been to watch Cooper flag. He reminds me of Jason Tatum a little bit, like he's kind of good. He's kind of good at everything.
What is everything?
What do you do when you face a guy? And Kelvin he's going to get his I mean, he's going to score. What's the mindset facing a kid like that that is kind of special?
Well? Less than well?
I guess about twenty four hours ago we were playing Tennessee in Indianapolis.
And we got back last night.
I guess around eleven or eleven thirty, got up this morning and did my analyzing, did our analysis of the Purdue in Tennessee games, And really haven't watched Duke a lot, but I have watched him enough over the course of the year. The first thing that jumps out to me is what a great job John did and putting his team together. You know, for example, bring and a kid like Scion James in to pair next to Cooper Flag and Canepo and the big hid inside because he's smart, he's tough, doesn't require a lot of shops. It's got a lot of winner in him. Cooper Flag was going to be the centerpiece. How they fit everybody around them is what's so impressive. How do you start stop Cooper Flag? But that's kind of a silly question. You don't. But you have to be the best version of yourself. You know, we played in the Big Twelve the last two years, and you know, whether it's Kansas or Iowa State or Texas Tech, there's a lot of really good teams and all those teams had a best player.
So we'll come up with something. Now, will it be good enough? I don't know. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.
But at the end of the day, every team has to focus on what they do good and try to beat their best version themselves for that forty minutes. But that forty minutes, we have to be the best version of the Houston Cougar.
We can be what did you learn in the NBA that you think even today you think about it occasionally. That helps you as a college coach because you spent six years there. That's a spell of time.
Yeah. I spent three years with Scott Skiles.
Yeah.
Then I spent three years with Kevin McHale. One of my best friends and coaching is Greg Popovich. So Pop got me started with the Spurs, and then a month later I'm.
With Scott Skiles.
I think Scott probably helped me the most because he's a little bit of a basketball savant, extremely smart, prepared, organized, He understood how to hunt matchups. He was extremely good in the last two minutes of the game, situational basketball, taught spacing, understood how to teach hand coach the game.
He really opened my eyes up.
Being with the Spurs just just reinforced the things that I believed in with culture because Pup really do.
Pup really did.
When he was coaching the Spurs during that period, he ran his He ran his program like a college team.
He had unbelievable character.
Guys like Tim Duncan and minw Genoble and Tony Parker, guys like that that totally bought into everything he said. They allowed him to coach him and Scott. Scott just took me to another level in terms of the x'es and o's and opening my eyes to the importance of space and how do you get shots out of space and you don't have to rely so much on sets every single time if you can get paint touches and have proper space and that can become your offense. So and then with Kevin McHale, it was just been a manager.
You know. Kevin knew how to treat players, players respected him. Yeah, so I.
Got a little bit from all those guys. It was an unbelievable experience for me. It was almost like being a crash course in advanced basketball lytics.
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Yeah. You know, I was saying this, that is that I think the NBA and I like the NBA. But I told Adam Silver when he was on my show five six weeks ago, I said, I think you guys have marginalized college basketball. I said, the G League Jalen Green's amazing. He disappears. I said, the reason I know who's ion is is college basketball. I think the coaching's better. I think the kids are treated well, I said, frankly, if you play for a top ten college basketball team, you're getting four to eight million dollars of free marketing. It's incredible, I said. Or you can make a couple hundred thousand dollars in the G League. Like I, I look at the NIL as a booies college basketball. It's your ally. You know what you say? Listen, you can pay a ninety percent of the G League and I'll put you on TV thirty times. Is that kind of how you view it? That that the NIL? Initially it's like oh boy, wild wild West. But in a weird way, I think it's your best friend. Actually, Zach EATI can stay for another year. How do you How do you view ANIL?
I think the the h antithesis of the G League is college basketball. Now, guys aren't leaving early to go to the G League. They have to take too much of a pay cut. I think older players are becoming more in vogue for the NBA because of that.
Yeah, you've got guys You've.
Got guys coming out in their fourth year now that are demanding or can get a big contract instead of going out early and languishing on the quad Cities the Erie Pennsylvania four o'clock flight.
In the morning.
They're not doing that for a lot of reasons. But the NBA is getting older because of that. But I think college basketball is getting better. You look at all the veteran teams. Now, duke is an outlier, but who's always been an outlier because they always get you know, they get the best players, and good for them. That's they don't need to apologize for that. There's very few dukes in the world. But if you look at teams like us, you know we have a very veteran team and we have we have guys that could have put their name in the draft a couple of years ago.
I've got four guys in NBA right now.
Quentin Grimes, who stayed with me for through his third year, Marcus Sasser State four years, Jamal Schett State four years, Jars Walker was a lottery pick. But most our guys are older guys, and the reason they're staying now is because the NIL it is what it.
Is, Kelvin Samson plus winning record three Final four appearances. This team is athletic, they are tough, they're physical, and I meant that as the greatest complet Villanova South because I have so much respect. I knew Roley and Jay Wright really well, and you guys remind me of tough kids. They're going to class, they're working hard, they're coming back and they become great pros. Grimes, by the way, was actually really plan well right now. Calvin, good luck to you. I can't wait to watch it and you've built another great program.
Thank you, Thank you, Colin. Appreciate you having me on.
You Bet Kelvin Sampson, Houston Cougar basketball coach thirty six years j mac. He started at Montana Tech, Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana, Houston.
He's an amazing coach.
They've run into some unlucky stuff the last few years in the tournament because he's had some loaded teams.
And it's a rematch. Last year.
Remember, Duke probably should have lost to them, but Houston's best player, Shed got hurt yep, and then Duke was able to pull away. So Houston revenge on the mind.
I don't think they.
Can do it.
Can you imagine doing well. He's a tough matchup for Houston. Now, remember you only have two bigs, no depth of Purdue gave Houston everything they could handle, but Purdue could not. Purdue got worked on the offensive glass. Purdue got worked on that inbounds play.
At oh That was a phenomenal one of the players of a tournament.
Yeah, that was an outstand Yeah.
And Purdue just couldn't hit. Neither team shot the ball particularly well in three point shots, but Purdue needed to hit shots. Everybody was complaining about the officiating and push offs. And my take is, you can't get worked on the offensive glass and you can't miss. You can't shoot twenty nine percent on threes and beat Houston. Yeah, but I'll tell you Purdue's become a big time program.
Let's give an eye on their star, Braden Smith. Why I hear he may go on the portal. We'll see. I don't know. He's very good. Okay, he's a good player.
Yeah.
Uh.
Jaym Marck with the.
News, No, no.
This is the herdline news, all right, mister NBA.
There was a bit of a brawl, a melee, if.
You will, in the NBA involving the new look bad boy Pistons, Ron holland the young fella. They got Isaiah Stewart look at the finger pointing nas Reeed's had enough. Dante Devincenzo said just let me just grab you, and they got Chaotic a million ejections, Rudy Gobert in the thick of it, but actually a bit of a peace maker there. I'm just telling you this is a new look Detroit Piston's team.
This franchise has been.
Down for a while, and they don't like the way they're officiated. They don't they feel like their staff went off last week. Yeah, they feel like I don't know if they're wrong. I think Detroit feels like, Okay, we're tired of hearing. Detroit is young and they don't get kind of the league whistle. Their complaint is you're giving everybody else to whistle, like show us respect, and they're not necessary So I watched some of their highlights and some of their complaints, and they're not necessarily wrong.
Yeah, there is a lambier mahorn Field to this team.
Like Isaiah Stewart is a bad dude, Okay, not like a bad human being, but just on the court. He is rugged, he's facing a lengthy suspension here. He got into it with Lebron before, and the guy's not to be trifled with.
Coming off the.
Court, points at his jersey No Detroit, and I gave him feel of.
Those back Vincenzo Villanova.
Guys. He tough, he's so punk, he's not gonna get pushed around. I'm just telling you, I don't want to see this Pistons team in the first round because they're not going to go down lightly. Kate Cunningham's a star and they just have some bruisers who're not afraid to mix it up. That's a team I don't like playing in the men's league. The guys who just don't care, they don't care about going to work Nick Day with a black eye. That Pistons team, man, I'm just telling you be careful with them.
Next ups go.
To Stefan Diggs, the new Patriots wide receiver signed on Friday, and you know people are curious how he's gonna help Drake may Well. Here is what Diggs is saying about joining New England, comparing Drake may to Josh Allen.
I'm excited.
I really look forward to it. It's crazy because when you ask around, he has a lot of similarities. Well, people say through the Gray Bonyax a lot like Josh And you know that was my guy. So I'll look forward to meaning connected with him.
We played him last year. He shows a lot of fight.
He got that fiery quarterback I want to win my say. So you know that's something I get excited about and love to be around. But as far as like his development as a quarterback, I feel like, you know, that's not really too much of my job.
My job is to get up and catch the ball.
They haven't had a number one receiver.
Wait a minute, wait, did you know.
What he just said?
What as far as developing a quarterback, that's not really part of my job.
That's my job. It's not his job is to get open catch the ball. That's not his job.
A young quarterback who's like what Drake By is like twenty.
Three years old. I'm a wide receiver. I'm working on my craft, you work on yours. Just all get open and I'll catch What a.
Team player Colin Cowhert is.
I gotta do me, you do you, I'll do my job.
Well, I'm saying I'm a wide receiver. I'm with a wide receiver group. My job is to right read, run my route and catch the ball.
It's want to be a veteran leader in the huddle or in the locker room.
Quarterbacks lead receivers. Receivers don't lead quarterbacks.
You think Drake May's going into the locker room and commanding respect because the second year quarterback.
Yeah, I do.
Silent respect and digs.
We know, now, let's slow down. He's been a little choppy, but he's a little you know, he's a receiver. I just bake it in, like I always know with my wife, she's gonna snap at me once a day. What's a day, Yeah, she I just know I'll do something and she'll ask me to do something for a third time. And I'm thinking about some sports rant. So I just bake it into the ritionship, right, And once a day she's gonna snap and she won't throw anything at me or anything.
I would hope not.
Wait, this is quite the reveal.
A terrible show. At least once a day, I'll be asked to do something for a third time, and I bake it in that she will be frustrated with me. I bake in wide receivers. You guys are all gonna be needy like three times a season. It's I baked it in.
I get to snap out like every fourth day, maybe not every day.
You know. My wife did the other day she did this. She put the dry cleaning out in the open in the hallway in the bedroom, and then she moved it to front of the stairs the next day, hoping you'll then yesterday she moved it to the front door. And my thing is, could you just ask me to take it, I'll do it. But she just she's like, well, I figured you'd figure it out. And I'm like, I don't figure much out.
A little passive aggressive.
At the time, and just tell me do stuff.
Do you think she's listening right now?
She doesn't even know what I do. She taks time on accountant.
I don't.
I'm not a mind reader, right, that's is that what you said. I'm not a mind I didn't argue.
I never argue. I've never won an argument, not going to start now. But she kept moving it throughout the course of the house, and I was like, I'm saying, I'm taking that as a sign that it's my turn to do.
But I've got to focus on this rid about the new bulling pit bats in baseball.
That's right.
Yeah, final story, Colin is the UFL kicked off Week one of their second season, and one of the biggest moments was in the Michigan Panthers game.
Take a listener who sealed their victory.
Time tries to out of it.
How about that?
You hear that kind of Kua his younger brother.
Oh yeah, he's got two brothers that were playing and he's both scored.
In Week one.
Who's out of here talking about retiring? His brothers are just stacking.
You know, it's huts down.
So I watched Pooka Nku. I saw his high school tape Utah, and I saw him go play at Washington. He's a good young player. And then I watched him at b y U. I would have never guessed he was as good as a pro. He was a fifth round pick. Yeah, like there. It was funny like when Cooper Cup was at Eastern Washington. Both the Rams and the Chargers liked him. I was told after the draft the Chargers are like, if they didn't take him, we loved him, like Pooka Nakua, Like George Kittle. I remember watching him. He played at Iowa. Yes, yeah, I remember watching George Kittle in college. I'm like, oh, he's a good player. I would have never guessed George Kittle. It's so much harder to identify football talent because fit you know, you play with Kyle Shanahan, or you play with Andy Reid. Like sometimes you see guys and you're like, you know, it's very obvious. Like Aiden Hudginson at Michigan. You're like, yeah, that guy's gonna be really good. But or Joe Altd Notre Dame. You're like, he's gonna be a really good tackle. Phuka Nakua caught me off guard, and you were right because during camp, Matt Stafford, do you remember that OTAs told everybody, dude, we got a star.
I remember I gave that out of his fantasy advice before he played a snack.
You said, you know, sometimes you get lucky. You meet some people who know something.
You told me, you said, he is lighting up camp.
I'll see what I can do.
But this draft has me concerned about my guy, Jalen Milroe. I maintain he's going early and Chris FeliCa is pushing back. Some people are like Milroe no shot at first round. My people are saying he's gonna go first round, but we'll see. I don't know where you are on Milroe yet, h.
He needs the right fit. Well if he no, I mean not like like he really eads the right fifth. Yeah, he's a better Anthony Richardson.
That's not saying much.
Well, he actually does. He throws a nice ball. He's just accuracy wise on you.
Know, Josh Allen and Wyoming right, not as.
Turnover prone, but they just you're not quite sure what you're getting series the series.
But again it matters, like he said, Kittle at Iowa, I mean with the Iowa offense runs in quicksands in the last twenty years, So you wouldn't expect any of those guys to really pop.
And it's like when you watch the tight end from Penn State, you know he's great. Oh he's caught seventeen balls against sc What I mean Like, you're like, oh, this guy's gonna be But there are every draft will have like multiple players. You're like, I.
Watched him in college. Where did this come from? And Jamiyor Kims was good in college. I didn't see Oh my gosh, he is explosive as l with the Lions. You know they've said him.
Oh the other one is armor On Saint Brown. So I watched him in high school in southern California's dad was mister Olympia, and he comes to us. He's very good as a freshman. Then I feel like he plateaus a little bit and he wasn't a good speed guy. He was a hard worker. He was a great kid. Everybody liked him. But I kind of felt like and he went in the fourth round, and I kind of felt like, he'll be a fifty five catch guy. No idea he would be one of the ten best receivers in the league. I would have guessed. He was a ten year veteran, well liked, hard worker, kind of a good two. Maybe not even a great two. He's an excellent one. Yeah, Like just and you and I watch a lot of college football. Yeah, George Kittle, amer On Saint Brown, who was the first one I talked about. Oh, Pooka nakula Ya. I'm sorry we never guess that. J mckl anws.
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by.
The Herd Line News five in LA.
It's the Herd be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern a em Pacific.
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The new torpedo bat the Yankees are using, and I think some of it's aesthetics if you put a picture of them here, and I apologize to the video audience, but the bat on the top is the new bat. Now it looks like it's like twenty five to thirty percent bigger. But you know, it's not breaking the rules. The lengthest in circumference is not illegal. So and if you see players during the game, people say, well, it looks like a bowling pin. I've heard that it's a bowling pin. So I trust the governing body. I mean, sometimes leagues introduce things and don't tell the players, like David Stern, the late commissioner, and said, hey, we've got a new basketball. The players are like, yeah, we don't like that. They did that once, I think with a football or something, and Peyton mannings that I can't grip it. And so the Yankees are hitting all sorts of home runs. There are people that are complaining Aaron Judge is not using it. It's clearly helping. So the only question is when do the rest of the teams use it. So here's the Yankees Jazz Chism on his new bat. Oh, I love my bet.
Yeah.
I mean I think you could tell it's working pretty well for me. But I mean, it doesn't feel like a different bat. It just helps you in a little way.
I guess.
It gives you a feeling of just feeling like you have more to work with, you know what I mean. Like you probably don't have more to work with, but it feels like it, you know what I mean. So it gives you that extra confidence in your head to be able to go out there and hit anything.
What do you make of it? I mean, over the weekend they're setting records.
Love me, just love news stories that are fresh and brand new and outside the box. This is gonna shake up baseball. That's undeniable, right you would say that instantly.
Oh, there's absolutely no question.
The demand for these bats is going to be through the roof.
And it's the Yankees that's a huge part of this. The tush push wouldn't matter if it was Jacksonville.
If nobody would Kuncke Brewers with these bats, yes, would it be as much of a hubbub.
So, by the way, the Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers used a torpedo bat yesterday he went oh for four. So it doesn't work for everybody. Again, baseball is a different sport. It's a lot of mental you know, hockey, basketball, football, it's too fast. Golf and baseball. You sit around a lot thinking that's what you've seen great all time golfers like Ian Baker, Finch or David Duvall. I mean they go, they get into their head. A Rod just literally can't hit Barry Bonds. So I wouldn't mess with it if I was a good hitter. Well, but if I'm hitting two forty eight, why not even the Warriors, the.
Three point Warriors, remember they went ballistic from three.
The Houston Rockets tried it.
Do you remember that Game seven where they missed like twenty four to threes in a row. Yeah, Like, it's not gonna wor out automatically. You're using the bulling pin dat you're automatically?
Well yeah, I mean there is something to be said that Kevin Durant Stephan Clay playing together are not anybody else?
Eric Gordon and whoever else there.
Here's Aaron Boone, Yankee manager, on the new bats.
You know, trying to be the best we can be. I mean, it's one one of the things that you know, gotten pointed out. But you know, I say to you guys all the time, we're trying to win on the margins. We have a big organization that are invested in a lot of different things where we're trying to be better in every possible way. The reality is it's all within Major League standards.
Yeah, it's I think if it was the Orioles, we wouldn't care as much. The Evil Empire. Listen, Baseball. We had Rob Manford on last week. If you look at the last seven or eight things that have happened in baseball, eliminate defensive shift, Otani goes to the Dodgers, pitchclock, torpedo bats, Yankee Dodger World Series. Baseball's on a heater.
It's not a heater, you know.
I mean they've had about seven or eight either cultural changes or significant moves that have all worked in their favor. They Baseball's on. I mean, you've got to be honest in our business. Is I gave baseball about fifteen years old, but they have had for the last two years. The game is infinitely more watchable you know, and some of this too is we have to be remember this. Not only are the Yankees a big brand, they did lead baseball in Homer's last year, so they are a team capable. This isn't the Twins, and suddenly they're doubling the rest of the sport.
You think Baseball presses their luck with this golden bat ticket thing.
Not this year?
Not this year?
Okay, because that would I think that's spicy. Maybe you save it, you keep your powder dry. Hey, let's ride this wave. Let's wait till next year and then implement it.
But it's just like baseball. I believe that ESPN and Baseball will get a deal done. I think you can't give it up now. I just I think if you think they come back to the market, yeah, I just I think it's just. I mean, I got Bryce Harper and Philadelphia Soto and New York Judge in New York, I got three stars, five stars.
On the Dodger, I got torpedo bats.
I mean, I've got the the Cubs could be interesting. Braves actually are struggling, and now the Dodgers and the Braves play. So Atlanta's not off to a good start, but it's just it does matter in every sport not named the NFL where your star's playing.
You and all the NFL's kind of I mean, I know we didn't.
Dive into it, but this toush push, I'm so you're reading about it sounds like the toush push is going to be eliminated.
Colin.
That ticks me off. I think that's a dumb move by some So, well, you're not allowed to push mostly in the who you Stephen Jones, that' suffs like he's exact what we don't allow.
Pushing in the league. Well, they do allow some pushing. An offensive lineman could kind up Sirianni's.
Starting to pop off. I don't This is going to be a little bit.
Some of it is resentment for Philadelphia, Yeah, because they're a super aggressive team in trades and drafting. And again, if this was the Jaguars, we this would not be some of it is. The greatest compliment is imitation, Yes, or criticism. Both are great compliments if somebody. If somebody imitates me or criticizes me, you matter, and the Philadelphia Eagles matter a lot in the National.
Football what's the saying. The highest form of flattery is imitation or something like that.
And the Eagles are people copied it so and unlike the wildcat it's got legs. It's just I think we undervalue how much of this is Jalen Hurts, who is historically strong and small. So you can't you know, Josh Allen does it or Herbert and you can take the top off, you can jump over the pop. You can't do anything with Jalen Hurts.
Daniel Jones tried it and like his center got dinged up. Yeah, like yeah, it is.
All right, good stuff. Kelvin Samson stopped by today. Matt Hasselbeck stopped by today, and yes, I think the I think the torpedo bat is here to stay. It was so funny, like people were freaking out, you know, everybody was like yeah, of course the Yankees about it. There is just something about guys in sports. There are certain brands that just are polarizing. Regardless. This is the minute they start winning, people get ticked off. The college basketball Crown is next to Utah and Butler on FS one