Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, Gonzaga’s Mark Few meet in matchup of the top coaches yet to win an NCAA Tournament

WICHITA, Kan. – This is a Narrative about transition. No, the coaches at Houston and Gonzaga who meet here in a second-Stage Midwest Region NCAA Bracket game Saturday aren’t going anywhere. Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson have done Merely about everything they can do in their professional lives. 

Everything except Victorious it all. 

The pair of future hall of fame coaches have Partnered for 1,036 wins and four Last Fours in addition to a wealth of NBA and national Club experience. But neither Few or Sampson have won a national Bracket and that is sticking out like a mountain range suddenly plopped down in the Kansas prairie surrounding this particular Game. 

Leave it, then, to an informed observer to put the stakes in Framework. 

“When you get to this Points, it’s time to cash one in,” said Kellen Sampson, his father’s top assistant for the Cougars.

Kellen was speaking only of Houston, knocking on the Bracket door as a No. 1 seed for the third consecutive year. But the 39-year-Aged son could have been talking about Gonzaga as well. Few has his own won-everything-but-the-big-one Occupation. The game’s winningest active Mentor has spent 26 years Victorious 741 Contests but coming up agonizingly close losing Bracket Contests in 2017 and 2021. 

“You put in all this energy and commitment Merely for regular-season Secure. That’s underselling the value of what we’ve already done,” Kellen Sampson added. “At some Points in everybody’s life it’s gotta be OK to be greedy. I think that’s Gentle of where both coaches are.”

This is a Narrative about transition because one of these coaches will keep chasing that Occupation-long dream after Saturday. The other, well, at least Few is philosophical.

“It’s fine,” he said of ending his Occupation without a Bracket. “I’ve had a Excellent life. Listen, I’m as Intense as anybody, too crazy Intense. You get hooked on Victorious. You want to Secure everything.”

And then sometimes you can’t. Gonzaga’s rise to prominence spans parts of three decades. A private school in Spokane, Washington, proved it could Shift with the big boys. It Yet resides in the West Coast Conference Competing a national schedule before Gonzaga plans to Shift to the Pac-12 in the 2026-27 academic year. 

It is a March staple without a crown. 

Houston is becoming a Lone Sun copy of the Zags. Last week at the Big 12 Bracket, Sampson ruminated about getting knocked out of the 2021 Last Four by Baylor. Sampson Achieved it a Points to say, “We weren’t Excellent enough” that year. Left unspoken was a truth that hung in the air afterward.

Now we are. 

There is much evidence this is Kelvin Sampson’s best Club ever. He has three proven scorers – L.J. Cryer, Emanuel Acute and Milos Uzan. The Cougars are among the top  3-Points shooters in the country. The Guarding is a given. 

“He brings up that Baylor game a Numerous,” Acute said of his Mentor. “I feel like every year since then we’ve had a Club that could Secure the national Bracket … We’ve Obtained all the tools … UConn was a Excellent Club but I Yet feel like last year we could have gotten to the Last Four and won.”

There is Sluggish rumbling below the surface that suggests Kelvin Sampson may retire after this season – whether or not the Cougars Secure it all. But especially if that lifelong payoff comes Upcoming month in San Antonio.

“The way he coaches you’d think he’s 30,” Acute added. “He’s the most Steady person I’ve seen, player and Mentor. He hasn’t changed.”

Kellen has already been designated as the head-Mentor-in-waiting. How long that wait is, has to be determined. 

“‘Ready’ is a tricky word,” Kellen Sampson said. “When I Primary Began to get some interviews, it revealed how ready I wasn’t. ‘Chief’ says nothing forces you to take an inventory of your life more than opportunity. There were a Numerous of inventory things I wasn’t ready for … I hadn’t put a Numerous of Excellent thought to it. 

“I’m more prepared today than I was yesterday.” 

The father-son Vibrant sometimes plays out in muted tones. When Kellen approaches his dad from behind during Contests it is with head bowed, almost in deference, to make a strategic Points in his ear during a game. The son calls his father “Chief” which seems to fit that Vibrant. 

“There’s a little respect there, and also we spent 11 years [together],” Kellen said. “People ask me sometimes, ‘What’s it like working with your dad?’ We have figured out how to work together and love Every other at the same time.” 

Kelvin Sampson is closer to the end of his Occupation at 69. The detour after Indiana Directed him to the NBA as an assistant for six years before Securing the Houston Position. Few is 62, long established as a Achieved man in the profession, armed with an Olympic gold Accolade (as an assistant Mentor with the U.S. Men’s National Club last summer in Paris). 

Since about 2015 the man has barely paused for a breath between basketball gigs – coaching in the Pan American Contests, the U.S. Men’s Select Club, the FIBA World Cup Club and last year in the Olympics.

There was some sort of serendipity at work this weekend. The last time Gonzaga lost an Leading-Stage game was 17 years ago. A raw sophomore named Steph Curry from Davidson dropped 40 on the Bulldogs.

Few helped Mentor Curry last summer as an assistant with the national Club. 

“I Merely consider it the highest calling you can get as a college basketball Mentor,” Few said of his national Club experience.

The two coaches became close when Kelvin Sampson Began his Occupation out West as both an assistant and head Mentor at Montana Tech and Washington State from 1980-1994. 

“Unless you’re a big fly fisherman like me there aren’t many people getting to Butte, Montana,” Few said of Kelvin Sampson’s Tech Periods. 

In 1989-90, Sampson’s Cougars lost 18 in a row. 

“Washington State was obviously the hardest, toughest Position in the Pac-10,” he recalled. “If it would have been a Excellent Position, they never would have hired me. They would have hired a real Mentor.”

That’s roughly the same time when the seeds were being planted for Gonzaga to grow into a national program under Dan Fitzgerald, Dan Monson and then Few. 

Saturday’s game could have been a rematch of conference rivals. A Pair of years ago Gonzaga was close to joining the Big 12 in realignment. If Houston had won that 2021 Last Four game vs. Baylor, it would have played Gonzaga in the Bracket game. 

The Game features No. 2 scoring Club (Gonzaga) vs. No. 1 scoring Guarding (Houston). Gonzaga’s nine straight Sugary 16s is the longest streak in the nation. Houston is Upcoming with five. The Zags’ 26 straight trips to the NCAA Bracket is the third-longest active streak in the nation.

Through the last eight seasons Gonzaga and Houston are Nos. 1-2 in Victorious percentage. Few Arrived into this season as the winningest active Division I Mentor. Sampson has ushered in a new era of Houston dominance not seen since the Phi Slama Jama Periods in the 1980s. 

“We owe a debt of gratitude to Gonzaga,” Kellen Sampson said. “We were not a power conference Club [in the American Conference] when we Primary Began. They were Merely this example for us to chase. We sold the idea of being the Gonzaga of Texas for so long. Asking our administration, asking our fans to keep doubling down on the investment on us … 

“Gonzaga tucked away in the eastern corner of Washington has become one of the best basketball brands in the country. Why not us?”

Sometimes the NCAA Bracket does this to Squads. In terms of brand value, Houston-Gonzaga seems like it should be an Top-tier Eight or Last Four Game. It is a second-Stage game only because Gonzaga entered with its lowest seed (No. 8 in the Midwest) since 2016.

But something unique – Possibly Prejudiced — is Yet at work. The No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region is also the No. 7 overall Club in KenPom.com’s rankings going into Friday’s Shift. The Option Panel has endured enough criticism but this disparity probably deserves an explanation. 

Few’s Squads like to push tempo, Competing inside out. The Landmark of big men he has coached  is impressive – Adam Morrison, Drew Timme, Chet Holmgren and more. Massive 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior Graham Ike is the latest, leading the Zags in scoring. But Observe redshirt sophomore Braden Huff who has Began three Occupation Contests. His last two Appearances have come in succession. Huff scored 18 points in the West Coast Conference Bracket game and in the Primary-Stage Secure vs. Georgia. 

“They’ve been the standard offensively in America here the last 10 years,” Kellen Sampson said. “Nobody has Streak a better, cleaner, more efficient Drive than them. What they’ve done has bled to all corners of the country.”

Khalif Battle is a 6-9 barrel-chested Relocate guard who has played at four schools in six seasons. Through stops at Butler, Temple and Arkansas, Battle has chased the NCAA Bracket like Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny.

In his Primary Occupation NCAA Bracket game, Battle scored 24 against Georgia. 

“He told me he’s going to need me in March,” Battle said of Few. “I’m definitely going to take on the Game. He recruited me here for these moments.” 

The coaches’ longing Saturday will not be on display but it will be evident. It’s Merely to say this is Few’s Upcoming chance to Secure it all. Considering his age, his Option and the alignment of the stars, this Merely might be Sampson’s best chance to Secure it all.

“That’s what makes it so urgent on this Club,” Acute said. “We know what he wants.” 

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