Kelvin Sampson sat close enough to the front of the charter bus to be serenaded by the steady click-click, click-click, click-click of the blinking hazard lights.
The lights weren’t because of an emergency but rather a police escort. Sampson and his Houston Cougars were headed to the Final Four on Wednesday afternoon, making the 203-mile journey from Houston to San Antonio via Interstate 10.
“Somehow,” Sampson said, “that seems natural.”
Perhaps he meant going to the Final Four seems natural. After all, Houston has made it twice in five seasons, joining only college basketball bluebloods Duke and UConn in doing so during that span.
Or maybe Sampson, the former OU coach, meant being together with his team seems natural.
That’s because you can look far and wide but struggle to find a more stable program. At a time when the only thing guaranteed in college athletics is instability, Houston looks like Valhalla. Since the transfer portal roared to life and started teleporting players all over the country, Houston has lost just three rotation players.
Three!
That’s a day’s worth of transfers in some programs.
Why is Houston so different?
“There’s a brotherhood here that’s unique,” Sampson said the other day as the charter bus zipped west, “and that’s why they stay.”
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