This is the 11th team I’ve had at Houston,” Sampson said. “We won 30 plus games five times, and this is the first time we won 34 games. And I’m glad these guys did it. The maturity of our older guys has been great for our younger guys.

With a 69-50 win over Tennessee that perfectly captured everything Sampson's program is about, Houston is on its way back to the Final Four

A little more than a dozen hours passed when Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, when asked about the point guards in the Elite Eight, made a point to compliment Braden Smith.