Now in his 11th season at Houston, Kelvin Sampson’s status as one of college basketball’s premier coaches was cemented years ago. But with Tuesday’s addition of 6-foot-10 big man Chris Cenac Jr., a five-star prospect from Branson (Mo.) Link Academy, the Cougars are now recruiting with success that matches the heights they’ve achieved on the floor.
Given all that Sampson has accomplished at Houston without securing any highly-touted recruits, the college basketball world should be worried of what the Cougars are capable of now that they have secured the No. 10 prospect in the 2025 class.
Cenac Jr. is a gifted big man with undeniable talent and NBA upside. At 6-foot-10, he runs the floor with grace and strokes a smooth-looking jump shot that has range out to the three point line. He’s also a long-armed, bouncy athlete with a pliable frame who has the type of ball skills that’ll undoubtedly translate to the NBA.With last season’s Sweet 16 appearance, the Cougars have now made six-straight NCAA tournament appearances. A streak that is the best in the program’s history. And, were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic, the run would be at seven tournament appearances and counting.
During this string of tournaments, the Cougars earned two No. 1 seeds, they were a No. 2 seed when they reached the Final Four in 2021 and they’ve never been seeded lower than No. 6. Also, over the course of the last seven years, they’ve not finished lower than second in conference play. This includes last season, their inaugural year in the Big 12, when they finished first in the conference. This feat made it five seasons during this seven year run that the Cougars have either tied for first or won a regular season conference title.
You’d have to go all the way back to the 2018 season to find a Houston team that didn’t make it to at least the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. In short, Houston hasn’t witnessed this kind of success since guys like Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon walked the campus.
Despite producing five NBA Draft picks (including three first-rounders between 2022 and 2023) during this resurgence, the Cougars last seven recruiting classes have ranked 90th, 61st, 54th, 31st, 44th, 22nd and 48th in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite Team rankings. However, thanks to Sampson’s refusal to accept anything less than toughness, exceptional coaching and proven player development, these class rankings haven’t meant a thing in Space City.
Sampson and his staff have turned three-star recruits like Marcus Sasser and Jamal Shead into NBA players while guiding five-stars prospect like Jarace Walker and Quentin Grimes into first round. Doing the latter opened up the floodgates for Houston, putting them in position to land players like Cenac.
“Quentin Grimes and Jarace Walker opened up a monster line of credit,” a source close to the program told 247Sports.
Though a bold claim, this comment is still an understatement. With the addition of Cenac Jr, the Cougars now have the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in the country. That’s right, he’s bringing friends. The type of highly-rated friends that this program hasn’t seen since the days of Drexler, Olajuwon and Phi Slama Jama.
6-foot-6 shooting guard Isiah Harwell is a well-built wing who ranks No. 12 in the senior class. Uber-athletic point guard Kingston Flemings ranks No. 18 nationally while three-star Bryce Jackson is the type of athletic, local prospect who the Cougars have historically turned into valued contributors.
Recruiting rankings don’t always translate, so we’ll have to see how this infusion of elite talent resonates in Houston. But, based on the Cougars’ recent history, it doesn’t take the world’s greatest basketball mind to guess that things will play out pretty well.
Houston has a track record of getting the most out of whoever lands in its lap. Sampson is never going to change who he is. The combination of his demanding coaching style, on-the-floor results, NBA development and a competitive NIL program have all played major roles in turning the Cougars into one of college basketball’s most successful programs.
A lot of things have to come together at the right time to build a power program. But, the common denominator in all of these moving pieces has been Sampson and his staff. Now that the Cougars are recruiting the type of talent that only the bluest of the blue bloods used to attract, the rest of the college basketball world should be on notice.
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