KEYS TO VICTORY
3 key components for the Houston Cougars' championship journey
Mar 21, 2024, 10:58 am
March Madness is upon us. Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images.
After winning the Big 12 Conference regular-season championship, Houston is heading back to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year.
Even though the Cougars lost to Iowa State in the conference tournament final, this team is still well positioned to make another deep run thanks to some key players and head coach Kelvin Sampson’s excellent system.
1. The dynamic duo of Jamal Shead and LJ Cryer
Senior guard Jamal Shead has been nothing short of spectacular for the Cougars this season and was recently was named the Big 12 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year.
The 21-year-old has been a fixture for Houston since his rookie year and has become the unquestioned leader on this team.
Shead averaged a respectable 13.1 points per game this season, but doesn’t need to be the primary scorer for Houston to win games. He leads the team in both assists and steals this season and does an exceptional job of getting his teammates involved. That’s not to say Shead can’t take over a game offensively, for the senior guard scored over 20 points four times this season.
Overall, Shead might be the best player on this team, but the Cougars' best offensive threat comes from their other guard LJ Cryer.
Once Marcus Sasser was drafted, Houston knew they needed to replace him with another dynamic guard to pair with Shead and they brought in arguably one of the best players from the transfer portal.
The Katy, Texas, native transferred from Baylor to return home to play under head coach Kelvin Sampson and has been the Cougars best offensive player averaging a career-high 15.3 points per game this season. Cryer also brought with him years of winning experience, for he played in the NCAA Tournament multiple times with Baylor including coming off the bench on their 2020-21 championship team.
Shead and Cryer create one of the best backcourts in the country and both players were named All-Americans earlier this week.
With Shead’s leadership and Cryer’s prolific scoring, Houston has the potential to win any game in the tournament and either guard can take over at a moment's notice.
2. J’Wan Roberts’ injury status
Senior forward J’Wan Roberts has developed into one of the best overall players on this Cougar team thanks to his commanding defense and ability to score in the paint with ease. The 22-year-old is Houston’s leading rebounder and averaged 9.4 points per game this season. Needless to say, Roberts is just as important to this teams' success as the aforementioned backcourt duo of Shead and Cryer, so seeing Houston’s premier power forward get hurt was not a good sight to be seen.
Roberts was severely limited in the final two games of Big 12 Tournament due to a knee injury he suffered against Texas Tech. He was able to return the following day against Iowa State, but the Cougars fell behind early and coach Sampson took him out strictly for precautionary reasons.
At the end of the day, winning the Big 12 tournament wasn’t necessary for Houston to earn a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament, and if the game was close Sampson would have kept Roberts in.
The Cougars will need Roberts in the lineup especially considering they lost freshman Joseph Tugler for the season to a broken bone in his right foot about two weeks ago. Losing their best forward off the bench isn’t ideal, but Houston can make up for his absence thanks to their depth.
In addition to Roberts, Ja’Vier Francis, Cedric Lath and Damian Dunn have stepped up in Tugler's absence and have provided the Cougars with the necessary depth to stay competitive despite losing one of their best bench players.
In the end, it would be hard to envision Roberts not playing in Houston's first-round game against Longwood, and they could always take him out of the game if the Cougars take an early commanding lead.
3. Kelvin Sampson’s system
When Kelvin Sampson took over as the head coach back in 2014, Houston basketball was an afterthought at best. Since then, he built this program from the ground up, and is on the verge of potentially leading his squad back to the Final Four and beyond.
Coach Sampson has taken the Cougars to six straight NCAA Tournament appearances and has developed a winning formula that gets the most out of his players every year.
His system works by instilling a defense first mindset into his players and making sure everyone knows their roles on the team. Take Jamal Shead, Ja’Vier Francis and Emanuel Sharp as examples. All three started out their college careers as bench players and earned their spots as starters by playing with heart, hustle and becoming great defenders on the court.
Shead has proven himself time and time again to be a great point guard and defensive leader on this team. Sharp is a solid 3-and-D player and Francis leads the team in blocked shots this season.
Coach Sampson always gets the most out of his guys on defense, which makes Houston one of the best teams in the nation.
“Our defense is our defense,” Shead said. “We’re No. 1 in the nation. We take pride in that. We turn you over, cool. But we’re going to try to make you miss. We’re going to make it as hard as possible every possession.”
Looking ahead
As it currently stands, Houston is one of the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament and will play their first game against the Big South Conference champions Longwood Lancers
The Cougars are -23.5 favorites to win this game according to FanDuel and shouldn’t have any issues securing a victory on Friday night.
Their following game would either be against Nebraska or fans could potentially see a rematch against Texas A&M in the next round.
The last time these two Texas schools faced each other, Houston defeated the Aggies 70-66 on December 16th at the Toyota Center.
Houston is a No.1 seed for a reason, they are one of the best teams in the nation and have all the necessary skills to go back to the Final Four and potentially win their first championship in program history.
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It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
We have so much more to discuss. Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday!
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