NCAA Midwest Regional: Houston Looks To Take The Final Step

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson cuts down the net after the Cougars' victory over Arizona in the Big 12 ... [+] title game. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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Kelvin Sampson has rebuilt the Houston program into one of the elite, and the Cougars will make their seventh straight appearance in the NCAA tournament as the top seed in the Midwest Region this year.
Maybe the near-misses will finally end.
“He’s done an unbelievable job,” Cougars guard Terrance Arceneaux told PaperCity. “This is the year I hope he gets the job done.”
Close calls and heartbreak endings have haunted the program since the Guy Lewis Phi Slama Jam group that featured Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Young. The Cougars lost national title games in 1983-84, and they have not been back to the finals since.
That shining moment video of North Carolina coach Jimmy Valvano running the floor looking for someone to hug after the Wolfpack’s last-second victory in the 1984 title game? That was Houston, stunned.