Houston is 'underrated, underestimated' as it heads back to Final Four with real chance of winning it all

INDIANAPOLIS – Jim Nantz stepped up to the microphone like he had done for 32 Final Fours. That velvety voice. The smooth presentation. Hello, friends. But this was different. This was urgent. This was gushing. This was Nantz as a full-on fan.  

The voice of The Masters dropped any pretense of objectivity Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. The voice of the NCAA Tournament for more than three decades was singularly focused on the "we" of it all after watching his Houston Cougars cruise past Tennessee 69-50 in the Elite Eight.

"I'll tell you the theme I hope that evolves once the [Final Four] starts and the national media picks against us again," Nantz told a small gaggle of reporters on the court after his alma mater trounced Tennessee in the Midwest Regional Final. "We're always underrated, underestimated."

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The disrespect card has been played from the upper decks of Bryant-Denny Stadium to the first row of students at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But to hear Nantz, a member of University of Houston Class of 1981, loving on his Cougars, well, that was something. 

The man who gently guided us through Tiger's round at Augusta National, was screaming to the rafters for the Cougars. He, they, deserved it on Sunday.

Houston beat Tennessee by 19 points in the Midwest Regional Final and it wasn't that close. The 15 first-half points scored by the Vols tied a season low and was the lowest by any No. 1 or 2 seed in NCAA Tournament history. Tennessee missed its first 14 3-pointers. The Vols scored only 50 total. Only Florida – another Final Four team – had held Rick Barnes' squad to fewer points this season. 

A sixth consecutive Sweet 16 for Kelvin Sampson turned into the program's second Final Four in five years, and its seventh overall. It's hard to draw a straight line from Hakeem Olajuwon to J'Wan Roberts but Nantz tried because there is only one more Final Four mountain for this program to climb. 

"Some year, some year," Nantz began, "for all of these players, for Guy V. [Lewis], we're going to win that championship. You know what? It might be this year."

It might be. Certainly Duke – the Cougars' national semifinal opponent – has to take notice. When the bulldozing was done, Houston had won its NCAA-leading  17th consecutive game with Duke next with 14 wins in a row. 

Houston's NCAA-leading defense held Tennessee to 28.8% shooting, a season low for the Volunteers.

Guard LJ Cryer's dream was still alive to become the first player to win national championships at two different schools. There was Baylor in 2021 (when it beat Houston) and now, possibly, this.  

"Clutch," Cryer said, summing up the moment, "not scared of the moment." 

Roberts put it more succinctly. 

"We're down to four teams now so, shit, why not?" he mused. 

Why not indeed? Since Feb. 1, Houston has played only three games decided by less than six points. None of them losses. The Cougars, 34-4, have lost one game in regulation this season. They have not lost a true road game all season. 

In the first 11 ½ minutes, eight players scored for Houston. Tennessee's two national defensive player of the year finalists – Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack – were a combined – 3 for 14 with six turnovers. 

When Houston decides to snuff someone out, it takes them out. The SEC's two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Zeigler, was a total non-factor going 1 for 9 with four turnovers. 

Then it was time to gush further. These Cougars largely did stay together. Roberts is in his sixth and final year. Cryer could have left for the NBA last year with his hot hand. Eleven of the 14 players on the roster are high school recruits. Five are from Texas. 

"We are the anti-college basketball 2025 team," Nantz said. "We actually care about our school. We care about one another and we care about winning. And they believe in their coach. They're not trying to impress some scout somewhere and worried about going into the portal."

Here they are again – Duke and Houston in the tournament. If not for Jamal Shead injuring an ankle, Duke's 54-51 win in the Sweet 16 last year might have gone the other way. 

"We probably would have won the game [without the injury]," Nantz said. 

But there is a further conclusion to draw from Sunday in that regard. Shead is a Mt. Rushmore guy at Houston. One of its best ever. Without him, this team has basically gotten farther than it did with them. 

"I grieve that Jamal Shead is not on this floor right now," Nantz said. 

How many teams are like that? Diverse, unselfish and efficient as ever after losing its best player to the NBA. The nation's best 3-point shooting team is also No. 1 in scoring defense. 

"This is not a team that is going to win a rock fight as much as it could win a dance-hall ball," ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla told CBS Sports. 

Guard Milos Uzan was a steadying influence who was handed the keys to the team late in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game against Arizona. https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/houston-adding-a-potent-offense-to-its-suffocating-defense-has-the-big-12-champs-set-for-a-final-four-run/ He later hit the incredible game-winning shot against Purdue on Friday. 

Cryer has made a bid for becoming the best shooting guard in the country. Ask the Cougars after he tied a career high with 30 points in a 81-76 victory vs. Gonzaga in the second round. 

Forward Joseph Tugler became a national phenomenon with a simple bounce pass on Friday in a 62-60 Sweet 16 victory vs. Purdue.

Again, who does all that? Yes, Shead was also on the 2021 Final Four team that lost to Baylor during COVID-19 in a national semifinal. But he was a bit player that year. 

In a way, all the current Cougars are bit players. 

On Sunday, Cryer needed 17 shots to score 17 points. In winning the regional's most outstanding player honor, Sharp shot only 11 of 28 in the two games. But it's the little things. It's always the little things with these guys. 

This Final Four just feels different with Houston's season building to this moment. 

"I couldn't get to him," Karen Sampson said of her husband. "In 2021, I was up in the stands. I wasn't in the bubble so I didn't see him for three weeks."

Sampson overruled anything but the play called "51" that won the Purdue game. Why complicate things, he said after. Run a play we're familiar with.

Guard Terrence Arceneaux came off the bench Sunday to hit eight points in 17 minutes, two of them dagger 3-pointers in the first half. 

Midway through the second half, the Cougars' 40 possessions had resulted in exactly one turnover. Then in the final 5 ½ minutes Houston put it away offensively. Houston made five of its final seven shots in that span – all five of them 3-pointers. Sharp himself bombed in three from behind the arc in a 2:16 span.

You could almost see Vol Nation's shoulders sag. 

"We're a dangerous team," Sharp said. "Any night, it doesn't have to be one person."

For once, Sampson was not totally the center of attention. Grandchildren shared the celebratory podium. Karen and daughter Lauren, UH's director of basketball operations, soaked up the end game. 

Parents hoisted the regional trophy. 

"People don't want to leave Camp Sampson," Nantz said. 

He was talking about the players, not the bandwagon that is loading up around Houston but who cares. The holder of a Bachelor of Arts in Television and Radio Broadcasting degree from Camp Sampson, er, Houston fit in with the rest of them. 

"It's a lot harder being a fan than a broadcaster," Nantz concluded. "This was a great performance, virtuoso. It was masterful."

Not to put words in the mouth of the great orator/Houston superfan but for now there is room to sign off in his grand style a different way. 

 Goodbye, friends. See you in San Antonio.