Houston’s Sampson: Big 12 a ‘hard pet park’

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN

  • Staff WriterOct 19, 2023, 01:42 PM ET Close Covers college basketball
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson stated the Huge 12, which will include the Cougars and 3 other brand-new schools (BYU, Cincinnati, Central Florida) this season, is like a “difficult dog park.”

Sampson, who coached in the Big 12 during his time at Oklahoma, said the competition in the conference is tremendous. No. 1 Kansas is one of 4 Big 12 teams ranked in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 survey that was launched previously today.

Kelvin Sampson, who returns to the Big 12 conference with new member Houston, calls the conference’s competition as a “hard pet dog park.” William Howard-USA TODAY Sports

“We had a head-coaches’ meeting a while ago,” Sampson stated at Big 12 media day in Kansas City. “It was sort of like [being] in a pet park. You’ve got two pet dogs [walking] by each other, type of side-eyeing or a kid starts yapping at the huge one and they begin sizing each other up. I was type of sizing them all up.

“It used to be that you might take a look at a few of those little pet dogs and go, ‘I can get that one, I can get that a person, I can get that one.’ I ain’t seen nobody I can get in this conference. That’s the difference. They’re all German shepherds, male. Where’s the shih tzus? Where are the Chihuahuas at? Oh, that’s a Rottweiler. Oh, my God. That’s a pit bull. This is a difficult pet park, male.”

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1 Associated Houston adds another powerhouse to a league that’s been among the leading conferences in the country for the past decade. Sampson’s squad has actually reached the 2nd weekend of the NCAA competition, a run that consists of a 2021 Last 4 look, for the past 3 seasons.In KenPom’s

conference rankings, the Big 12 has actually been ranked first in eight of the past 10 seasons. The league boasts two of the 3 most recent NCAA champs (Kansas, Baylor) and features some of the most gifted players in America, consisting of Houston’s Jamal Shead, Texas’ Max Abmas and Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson.Next year, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado will arrive as Texas and Oklahoma leave the league for the SEC, moves that will develop a 16-team Big 12.

Because 2012, the league has actually played a true home-and-home schedule in league play. That format will no longer be feasible with the extra groups. In a league that sent out 7 of its 10 members to the NCAA competition last season, schedule imbalance might decide future champs, Sampson said.

“Therein lies the benefits of an out of balance schedule, if you’re on one side or the other,” he stated. “It comes down in some cases to ‘Who do you need to play twice? Who do you need to play as soon as?’ If you need to go to Stillwater, to Texas, to the University of Oklahoma, to Texas Tech, you’re going to lose some games. However if you only have to go to 3 of those … that’s a benefit.”

Kansas coach Expense Self stated the new Big 12 schedule and added competitors will make it harder for teams to get conference wins, which might motivate groups to reduce the challenges in nonconference schedules.

“Who understands how it’s all going to play out? In today’s time and what drives the bus, it’s the best that I think our league could expect,” Self informed ESPN. “However the real pureness of it doesn’t exist like it has in the past. It’s going to be a scenario where I believe records will not be as excellent as they have actually remained in years past however teams may be more prepared to play [in the postseason]”