SAN ANTONIO — Like his team, Kelvin Sampson would not stop. He kept talking, sentences on sentences on sentences, answering questions that hadn’t been asked, delivering a most lucid ramble to explain an epic comeback.
Nine minutes and 919 words later, he finished his initial thoughts. Yes, that was just his opening statement. As the clock ticked toward midnight, he could have lectured Saturday into Sunday, and he still would have left me wanting more. Time meant nothing while trying to comprehend how Houston pulled off the biggest victory of the 69-year-old coach’s life, a 70-67 triumph over Duke in a Final Four game that seemed lost at least a half-dozen times.
“Just proud of these guys for what they accomplished,” Sampson said to end the beginning of his reflections.
On Monday, Sampson will lead a team into the NCAA men’s basketball national title game for the first time. He is a 40-minute contest, or however long the dogged Cougars need to win, from getting to eat the cherry atop a career that hasn’t always been cake. Somehow, his players must summon the game of their lives less than 48 hours after a once-in-a-lifetime comeback.
Most teams don’t have that much emotional bandwidth. But when Sampson is your coach, there is no choice.
“Quitting is not part of the deal,” Sampson said. “We’re not going to quit. We’re just going to play better.”
After five decades in the profession, Sampson has made it to the final night of an NCAA season. Besides the game, he will experience something new on Championship Monday. Sampson — always stern, sometimes cranky, never unprepared — will be a sentimental favorite.
Seventeen years ago, he lost a dream job, resigning from Indiana amid accusations of recruiting violations. Later, the NCAA slapped him with a show-cause penalty, exiling him from college basketball. So he went to the NBA, first in an advisory role with the San Antonio Spurs and then as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Houston Rockets. In 2014, the Cougars welcomed him back to college. The move resulted in one of the greatest rebuilding efforts in history.
Sampson is not a villain. He is a man who keeps improving, the kind who shouldn’t be punished in perpetuity. He has rebuilt his reputation through substance, character and an enduring commitment to the Cougars despite numerous overtures from other college and NBA teams over the past 11 years.
This is where he belongs. At his current school. On the biggest stage. With an opportunity to register win No. 799 and make it the most memorable victory of all.
During an argument earlier this season, Connecticut’s Dan Hurley screamed at a referee: “Don’t turn your back on me. I’m the best coach in the f—ing sport.” But that title should belong to Sampson. He has been consistent, for longer, at a much more difficult place to win big. If you had to choose one active coach to take any roster and get the players ready to compete against any opponent, Sampson should be the pick.
He could motivate a bat to hoop in the sunlight. And it would get at least five offensive rebounds.
“I play for him,” sixth-year Houston forward J’Wan Roberts said. “He put in so much blood, sweat and tears into the program, into us, to want to see us do good.”
The Cougars reached a new level of buy-in against Duke. If you ever thought the tales of Houston’s fortitude were exaggerated, the Cougars made it clear that they like the taste of their own blood. They’re the preeminent don’t-turn-your-back team in sports right now. Duke knocked them down several times, but it wasn’t sufficient. You have to conquer Houston. And the most heralded brand in the sport couldn’t do it.
What was more stunning? A rare Blue Devils collapse? Or watching a team not known for offense erupt? Duke led by 14 points with 8:17 remaining. It led by six at the 1:14 mark. But in the final half-minute, the Cougars scored seven points in a 14-second span. It started with Emanuel Sharp’s three-pointer to trim the deficit to 67-64 with 33 seconds left and ended with Roberts making two free throws that gave Houston a 68-67 lead.
Houston did the impossible before 68,252 at the Alamodome. It broke Duke. The Blue Devils hurt themselves in the second half with offensive and defensive miscues, poor rebounding and a brutal flagrant foul after senior Mason Gillis elbowed Houston forward Joseph Tugler. During perhaps the biggest moment of the game, with Duke leading by a point, guard Tyrese Proctor went to the free throw line and missed the front end of a one-and-one, and then Cooper Flagg was called for a controversial foul while fighting with Roberts for a rebound.
That’s when Roberts stepped to the line and put Houston ahead for good. The big man has been a poor free throw shooter for most of his career — 59.1 percent over five seasons, 63.0 this season. But he had been waiting for this moment.
Sampson has challenged his players to make 150 free throws seven days a week. On Tuesday, Roberts reached 150 quicker than he had all season. He made 87 percent of his attempts.
“I wasn’t really nervous at all just because of the work that I put in, just believing in it and trusting myself,” Roberts said.
He plays for Sampson. Of course, he’s going to trust and believe.
“As long as there’s time on the clock, we’re going to go out there and give it our all,” said guard L.J. Cryer, who made six three-pointers and scored 26 points.
Duke led for almost 35 of the 40 minutes. Flagg, the presumptive No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, played a wonderful all-around game despite missing a potential game-winning fadeaway jumper. He finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals. In the first half, Duke freshman Kon Knueppel also played like a lottery pick, scoring 12 of his 16 points.
Two minutes before halftime, Duke built a 12-point lead. Houston didn’t flinch.
“Never once did I feel we were going to blow Houston out,” Duke Coach Jon Scheyer said.
Sampson, who could yell a brick wall into submission, stayed cool this time. After the Cougars narrowed the score to 34-28 at halftime, he felt confident his team had survived its worst stretch of the season.
“I was probably more calm and positive because I knew that’s what they needed,” Sampson said.
He kept returning to the same thought.
“Being down, what’s the problem?” he said. “Didn’t matter to me that we were down to the team we were playing.”
Duke was an obstacle, not a superpower. Sampson knows how to deal with obstacles. He started his career at Montana Tech. He went 7-20 in his first season. At the end of that year, his mentor, Jud Heathcote, called and joked: “Hey, Kel, I just want to congratulate you. You’re the only coach in captivity that possibly could have taken Montana Tech from obscurity to oblivion.”
Montana Tech had a 66-25 record over the next three seasons. A star was born in Butte, Montana. During stops at Washington State, Oklahoma and Indiana, he showed he can fix any program. But Houston is his masterpiece.
Before he left the court Saturday, Sampson pumped his right fist and yelled to Cougars fans in the crowd, “Let’s f—ing go!” He hugged Hakeem Olajuwon. He danced in the locker room.
Sampson is the only coach who could have taken Houston from obscurity to supremacy. He’s not content, either.
