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One Game Short: The Journey Of The 2024-2025 Houston Cougars
- Davyn Horton
- Apr 11, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 5
It has been an incredible season for the 2024-2025 Houston Cougars men's basketball ball team. A 19-1 conference and 35-5 overall record, a perfect 10-0 record away from home, a .875% winning percentage, a Big 12 Conference Championship, and an NCAA Men's March Madness championship game appearance. Although they ultimately came up short this year, there is enough in place to suggest that there's hope that the Cougars will be back in the big dance next year. With a talented and legendary head coach like Kelvin Sampson, perhaps this time around they will be able to seal the deal and secure their first-ever March Madness championship.
The Miracle March Madness Run
Even though the Houston Cougars were the fourth-ranked team in the country in the pre-season poll, their journey to get to the March Madness championship game was not an easy road. Despite amassing a 19-1 conference and 35-5 overall record, the journey to the championship game once they got into March Madness wasn't an easy one.
Aside from their 78-40 victory against SIU Edwardsville and their Elite Eight 69-50 victory against Tennessee, the four other games that Houston played in the 2025 iteration of March Madness were decided to by just five points or less, so they did not have it easy at all throughout the duration of the tournament. They fought and clawed their way through each and every game. A 81-76 victory against Gonzaga, a 62-60 victory against Purdue, a nail-biter 70-67 win against Duke to get to the championship game. However, as faith would have it, this year was not Houston's year, as they lost in heartbreaking fashion 65-63 against Florida in the championship game. As Joel Anderson said, "a win would’ve meant everything for the Cougars, who have always come up short in the most critical moments."
There is plenty to suggest, however, that Houston is here to compete and will be coming back next year with the talent and the drive to finally go win it all. They played great basketball throughout the March Madness tournament this year. The last seventy-fixe seconds of their Final Four matchup against Duke was some of the best basketball that they played, not just in the tournamnet, but all season. The last two minutes, in general, were excellent, as they went on a 13-3 scoring run, which is what ultimately won them the game and is what ultimately sent them to the national championship. They just need to tighten up their ship in certain plays, so that they can ultimately seal the deal, instead of leaving their fans in heartbreak year after year.
What Can Be Done To Rebuild
Even with some of their talent graduating after this year, and also with players such as Terrance Arceneaux choosing to enter into the transfer portal and testing their luck there, if the Cougars play their cards right and hold themselves together enough, they will be able to keep some core pieces, while also bringing a fresh batch of talent via their recuriting ventures. There is enough talent within their ranks to replenish and reload for another run at the championship in 2026. It will take time to get the new group in sync and ready to work together, but with Kelvin Sampson as head coach, it won't ultimately take very long.
That being said, it is understandable for Cougars fans across the state of Texas, and perhaps across the entire United States, to be dissapointed, as it has been a long road. Once again, Cougars fans are in a position where "until the final seconds of the national championship break differently, they will have to keep holding on to a dream." 2025 felt like it would finally be their year, but alas, it wasn't meant to be, but with a legendary coach like Kelvin Sampson, who has been coaching the team since 2014 and has been coaching in the NCAA since 1979, Cougars fans can have hope that, in 2026, the team will at last rise to the occasion, and become national champions like they know they can be.
A Look To The Future
The Houston Cougars men's basketball team has made it a total of 26 appearances in the March Madness tournament. Of those twenty-six appearances, they made it to the Sweet Sixteen seventeen times, the Elite Eight seven times, the Final Four seven times, and now three times of being the championship runner-up, with no championship wins ever.
Though there has been plenty to love about the 2024-2025 Houston Cougars men's basketball team's season, there is still a bit to be desired. Despite all of the close finishes and comebacks that happened, in particular throughout the March Madness tournament itself, when it mattered the most they couldn't close one more deal, and they couldn't make one final comeback to become national champions for the first time ever.
That said, there is hope for them yet, as "ESPN, Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated and USA Today all have the Cougars as the No. 1 team headed into next year." These outlets believe in the talent that will still be with the Cougars roster next season, and fans should believe too. Sure, they have been through heartbreak after heartbreak over the years throughout the history of the tournament, but the reality is that they can, and will, come back better and stronger than ever next year. The 2025-2026 Houston Cougars men's basketball team has a shot to finally bring joy and happiness to the Cougars faithful, but only time will tell for sure if they will ultimately pull it off or not.
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