You can believe whatever you read on ESPN.com or SI.com about the Cougars’ chances of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, or you can come to grips with reality.
The possibility of UH (21-7 overall, 10-4 Conference USA) receiving an at-large invite was snuffed out altogether with Saturday’s 84-83 loss at East Carolina. Read it and weep, Cougar fans.
Tonight’s home finale against Central Florida would certainly have held more importance if the Cougars had avoided last weekend’s slip-up. Instead, the Cougars will need a win just to avoid falling into fourth place in the league.
The Cougars will ultimately have to win the C-USA tournament to punch their ticket to the Big Dance for the first time since the 1991-92 season. Anything less than the C-USA tournament title, and the Cougars will probably make their third National Invitational Tournament appearance in four seasons under head coach Tom Penders.
But who says playing in the NIT is such bad thing? Methinks it could be a nice consolation prize for a team that blew almost every chance it had to gain favor with the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The Cougars played and lost six games in which they could have proven themselves worthy of an NCAA bid. A win over Virginia Commonwealth, Massachusetts, Arizona, Memphis (two games) or Alabama-Birmingham would have given the Cougars some much-needed credibility with the selection committee.
So, expect some grumbling from fans when the 65-team NCAA Tournament field is unveiled on March 16, and UH is nowhere to be found, unless it wins the C-USA Tournament.
Any fan, however, who would grumble over UH making another appearance in the NIT probably didn’t attend games very often in the years before Penders took over in the 2004-05 season. A lot of those UH teams would have killed for an NIT berth.
Pat Foster led the Cougars to their last NCAA Tournament 16 years ago. In the 1992-93 season, his final campaign at UH, he led the team to an NIT appearance.
After that, the program’s wheels quickly fell off.
Alvin Brooks, an assistant coach under Foster, took over in 1993. In five seasons, Brooks compiled a 54-84 mark, which included four losing seasons and zero postseason appearances.
The train wreck continued with the subsequent hiring of former star player Clyde Drexler (19-39 record from 1998-2000) and Ray McCallum (44-73 from 2000-04). To McCallum’s credit, he led the Cougars to an NIT appearance in 2002, but that was surrounded by a couple of nine-win seasons and an eight-win season.
So, say what you will about Penders and his eccentric style of offense, but both have helped bring the Cougars’ program back from the dead.
Consider this season, if you will, a baby step in the Cougars’ return to prominence. The Cougars are not NCAA Tournament worthy, but they’re much closer than they were at any point during the tenures of Brooks, Drexler and McCallum.
Cheer up, Cougar fans. Your program could be a lot worse.
