Jim Nantz joins Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars on the stage during the trophy presentation in Indianapolis. | Camryn Alberigo/The Cougar
In a new era of college basketball, where the transfer portal and NIL shape players’ decisions, legendary broadcaster and UH alum Jim Nantz believes Houston men’s basketball stands apart.
“We are the anti-college basketball 2025,” Nantz said. “We actually care about our school, we care about one another and we care about winning. They believe in their coach, and they’re not playing selfishly. They’re not trying to impress some scout or worry about going in the portal and making a ton of money somewhere else.”
During the past 11 years under coach Kelvin Sampson, Caleb Mills, Tramon Mark and Damian Dunn are the only players in the top 10 of any team rotation to transfer.
This stands in stark contrast to the Indiana Hoosiers, a renowned college basketball program, who will start the year with zero returners after every player either entered the portal or graduated.
“This is the framework for how college basketball used to be,” Nantz said. “People don’t want to leave Camp Sampson. They want to be around it. So, as college sports move forward, I hope there’s a great appreciation for what this represents in the NIL era of college basketball.”
Sampson doesn’t shy away from the realities of modern college athletics, but he knows money can’t buy culture, camaraderie or sustained success.
“We don’t have a portal program,” Sampson said. “We’ve had so many kids come and go. They’ve all graduated or gone to the NBA, and our program stays where it is because we always have guys coming back.”
When Houston has used the portal, returning players have taught the culture.
Take junior guard Milos Uzan, a transfer from Oklahoma. He didn’t just become a plug-and-play replacement for outgoing guard Jamal Shead. He became everyone’s project. Coaches and teammates embraced Uzan as part of their culture, rather than a short-term fix.
The Cougars opened the season 4-3 as they adjusted to their new on-court leader. Once everything clicked, they found themselves with a chance at a national title and a school single-season record 34 wins.
Shead took to X to sing his praises of the point guard and remind everyone that Uzan doesn’t have to be him to be exceptional.
“Replace is a word I wouldn’t use because he is running his own race… Replace? No. Next up? Yes! It’s his turn and I’m his biggest fan,” Shead wrote.
Players stay loyal to the Cougars long after their departure because they care about their former teammates, coaches, and successors. Many have stayed together for four years, rather than running towards money, contributing to this loyalty.
“Having former players who care about this program has been the biggest blessing to me,” Sampson said.
That sense of dedication sets the program apart in the rapidly changing landscape of college basketball.
As the Cougars take center stage this weekend, Nantz hopes people recognize Houston as the frontrunner of a counter-movement in college basketball.
“This is a team America should go and wrap its arms around and say, ‘I like these kids because loyalty, in the end, is the word,” Nantz said. “This is a loyal bunch.”
sports@thedailycougar.com
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“Jim Nantz thinks Houston is ‘anti-college basketball 2025’” was originally posted on The Cougar