HOUSTON — The Houston Cougars are in the NCAA Tournament once again and their head coach went one-on-one with KHOU 11's Daniel Gotera.
They won their first game against Northern Kentucky and on Saturday, they take on Auburn in the round of 32, with the hope of returning to Houston as a Final Four team.
In this one-on-one, Sampson talked about this year's team and how far they've come.
"What I've really enjoyed about this team is watching them improve," he said. "It's something our entire staff takes pride in."
And as for his coaching style and recruiting to the University of Houston...
"I think it starts with being comfortable with who you are," he said. "I don't try to coach like everybody else. I try to respect everybody's coaching style, but I think the more successful coaches, especially over a period of time, they want everybody to buy into the program, but you have to have a program first."
Watching the games with an antenna? KHOU 11 has upgraded its technology and is broadcasting on both VHF and UHF. Tune in on either 11.1 or 11.11.
While UH was ranked No. 1 for much of the season, Sampson said that really doesn't matter.
"I don't care if we're ranked, but it's cool for our fans," he said. "For a coach, it's neither here nor there to me. The first time was cool when we were No. 1. Look where we were and where we are. But you're down in the arena, sweating and bleeding, crying and doing all that stuff trying to win the next game."