Kelvin Sampson watched his Houston team come within seconds of the first NCAA title for both himself and the program.

Florida and Walter Clayton Jr. somehow overcame Houston’s spirit-crushing defense Monday night to will out a 65-63 victory in an NCAA title-game thriller not decided until Clayton’s own D stopped the Cougars from taking a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

Whoever said there were no great underdog stories left in March Madness, or that the title would go to whoever spends the most money — or amasses the best collection of big names from the transfer portal — clearly never checked out Houston.

A decade ago, Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Kelvin Sampson of Houston were looking to resurrect their careers after being handed show-cause penalties by the NCAA for recruiting violations.

Houston’s relentless defense confused and harassed Tennessee and carried the Cougars into their seventh Final Four and first since 2021, with L.

Milos Uzan soared for an uncontested layup on a beautifully executed inbound play with 0.9 seconds left, and No. 1 seed Houston survived a late collapse to beat fourth-seeded Purdue 62-60 in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

As the NCAA Tournament heats up, the styles of Notre Dame's Niele Ivey, LSU’s Kim Mulkey, Alabama’s Nate Oats, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and a handful of other coaches stand out in a sea of coaches in team polo shirts and quarter-zip pullovers.

SIU Edwardsville guard Ray'Sean Taylor broke down in tears after his team was routed by Houston in the NCAA Tournament.

And then there were 1s.

Sixth-ranked Houston is riding a 13-game winning streak behind the stingiest defense in the nation.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is the Associated Press coach of the year for men's college basketball.

Stanford has hired Kyle Smith away from Washington State to take over its struggling men’s basketball program.

Emanuel Sharp started overtime with a 3-pointer that put top-seeded Houston ahead to stay as the Cougars advanced to the Sweet 16 by topping ninth-seeded Texas A&M 100-95.

Milan Momcilovic had 18 points and Keshon Gilbert scored 16 as No. 7 Iowa State used a big second-half to rout No. 1 Houston 69-41 in the Big 12 Tournament final.

L.

Houston remains atop the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the third consecutive week.

Houston still has a tight grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25 while Kansas is out of the top 10 for the first time in three seasons.

Jamal Shead hit a short follow shot with 0.4 seconds left and No. 1 Houston beat Oklahoma 87-85 on Saturday night, giving coach Kelvin Sampson a victory over one of his former schools.

A new set of rules for the block/charge call in college basketball has helped open up the game.

Now it’s Houston’s turn at the top of The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

Jamal Shead had 26 points, including 20 in the second half, and No. 2 Houston took sole possession of first place in the Big 12 with a 73-65 win over No. 6 Iowa State.

Emanuel Miller’s layup with six seconds left gave TCU a 68-67 victory over No. 2 Houston on Saturday, the Cougars’ second straight loss.

It’s been a rough few days for the headliners in the AP Top 25.

Purdue is still atop the AP Top 25 but Houston has jumped Kansas into second place as the last unbeaten team in Division I men’s college basketball.

Shaka Smart was voted the AP men's basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular-season and Big East Tournament titles.

Houston was the lone No. 1 seed left in the tournament for about 30 minutes on Friday night, until its own run ended with an 89-75 loss to Miami in the Sweet 16.

For top-seeded Houston, any hope of winning a national title may come down to Marcus Sasser’s ailing groin.

With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

All-American Marcus Sasser is a big question mark in the NCAA Tournament.

Houston has received the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region for the NCAA Tournament.

Jamal Shead had 16 points and nine assists as top-ranked Houston advanced to its fifth American Athletic Conference championship game in a row with a 69-48 win over Cincinnati.

UCLA has climbed to No. 2 behind Houston in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll.

Marcus Sasser scored 22 points to help top-ranked Houston beat East Carolina 76-57 and clinching outright possession of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.

Marcus Sasser weighed many factors in deciding whether to return for his senior season at Houston.

Houston returned to No. 1 in the AP men’s college basketball poll for the third time this season while Northwestern and Texas A&M barged into the rankings after each had a pair of impressive wins last week.

Jarace Walker had a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds and No. 3 Houston rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat Cincinnati 75-69.

Houston and Kansas remain firmly atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll after a record weekend of Top 25 losses.

Jarace Walker scored 17 points and No. 5 Houston used runs in each half and the nation’s best scoring defense to beat No. 2 Virginia 69-61.

Houston and Texas remain firmly entrenched atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

Marcus Sasser scored 25 points, Tramon Mark added 16 points and No. 1 Houston routed Norfolk State 100-52 in the Cougars’ first game as the top-ranked team in nearly 40 years Tuesday night.

Taze Moore scored 21 points, Jamal Shead added 18 and Houston, a Final Four team last season, advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with a 68-53 win over Illinois.

Jared Butler scored 17 points to lead five Baylor players in double figures, and the Bears roared to a 78-59 victory over Houston in the Final Four.

Gonzaga’s undefeated season hangs in the balance in overtime against UCLA.

Gonzaga (30-0) has been an offensive juggernaut rarely seen in college basketball. Ad“Everyone wants us to keep moving forward, but that’s not how we roll,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. That doesn’t lessen our desire to win this game, the next game or win two more games.”The next one won't be easy. The Bears were embroiled in one of the darkest scandals in college basketball history, when Patrick Dennehy was murdered by teammate Carlton Dotson in 2003. They played in the Final Four.”___More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/College-basketball and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25

Yes, Houston is going back to the Final Four for the first time since the famed “Phi Slama Jama” era after Monday night's 67-61 win against Oregon State. And Houston knocked down enough free throws late while holding Oregon State without a basket during a critical 3 1/2 minutes. Fittingly, it was DeJon Jarreau — the American Athletic Conference's defensive player of the year who led the effort that stymied Oregon State star Ethan Thompson — who was named the most outstanding player of the Midwest Region. “It was right there within our grasp with the effort we showed in the second half,” Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said. They held the Beavers to 35% shooting in the first half before Oregon State found some openings.

... Oregon State opponents are shooting just 31.3% overall and 23.1% from 3-point range in the NCAA Tournament. That Missouri squad lost a regional final to an Oklahoma team coached by Kelvin Sampson, who’s now at Houston. … Arkansas is in a regional final for the first time since 1995, when it lost to UCLA in the championship game. … Arkansas’ Justin Smith is averaging 20.3 points and 11 rebounds in three NCAA Tournament games. Arizona and Indiana are both in an NCAA regional final for the first time.

Now it's taken coach Kelvin Sampson's team somewhere new: the program's deepest NCAA Tournament run since the days of Olajuwon, Drexler and the famed “Phi Slama Jama." That sent the second-seeded Cougars through to their first regional final in 37 years, earning a matchup with No. Houston (27-3) came in holding opponents to a national-low 37.3% shooting, and then harassed Syracuse (18-10) into just 28% (14 for 50). “It’s the best defense that that we’ve seen this year and they deserved to win,” coach Jim Boeheim said. Syracuse had shot at least 52% each time while making 29 3-pointers — but there would be no repeat of that unexpected 2016 Final Four run thanks to Houston's defense.

The Cougars play No. By the time the first half ended, and the Scarlet Knights had forged a 30-27 lead, Rutgers and Houston each had two regulars mired in foul trouble. AdChaney took a seat with his fourth with 15:45 left and the Scarlet Knights went on the attack. And by the time there was 10 minutes to go, the Scarlet Knights had meticulously built a 50-40 lead. UP NEXTThe Cougars play the Orange next weekend for a spot in the Elite Eight.

We wanted to be the American Conference champions.”Just more than an hour after the AAC title game ended, the Cougars (24-3) were named the No. The Bearcats won the previous two AAC title game matchups before last year’s tournaments were canceled because of COVID-19 after Houston had won its second consecutive AAC regular-season title. This title game got lopsided, like their only regular-season matchup three weeks earlier, when Houston won 90-52 at home. SMU's 15-point win over Cincinnati in 2017 had been the largest margin in an AAC tournament final. The Bearcats got to their fourth consecutive AAC tournament title game with a 60-59 win over the top-seeded Shockers in their semifinal game Saturday.

11 Houston used a dominant first half to cruise to a 75-58 win over UCF on Sunday. Houston (11-1, 6-1 American Athletic Conference) won its fourth straight game since its loss to Tulsa. “It was a great game for us,” Houston guard DeJon Jarreau said. “They made a lot of shots to start the first half off and kind of knocked us back,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. Sampson passed former Houston coach Tom Penders.