Though it lacks much of the obvious starpower of Duke — its opponent in the Final Four — Houston has been one of the central characters of the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season.
The Cougars — the program of Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and the Phi Slamma Jama teams of yore — have enjoyed a rebirth under coach Kelvin Sampson, making the NCAA Tournament each of the past seven years it was held after missing it all but one year from 1993-2017. In recent years, they’ve been dominant, going 159-23 since the start of the 2020-21 season, a stretch highlighted by a pair of Final Four appearances.
This season has been perhaps their best yet, with a 34-4 record and Big 12 regular season and tournament championships. A number of players have made those achievements possible, from All-American guard LJ Cryer to bruising big man J’Wan Roberts.
The notable names on the Cougars’ roster hardly end there. There’s another Houston player that, based on his name and appearance, might make a hip-hop-inclined viewer say “Hmm.”
Mercy Miller is a freshman guard for Sampson’s squad who has been a contributor off the bench for much of the season, having appeared in 22 of the team’s 38 games. To at least a portion of the millions of viewers who will be tuning into the Cougars’ Final Four matchup Saturday against Duke at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Miller is known for reasons that go beyond basketball — he’s the son of hip-hop artist, producer and mogul Master P.
Here’s a ...
