There’s many reasons to be bullish on Houston during the upcoming season.
The Cougars will welcome back two of the best players in the American Athletic Conference — Marcus Sasser (17.7 points) and Tramon Mark (10.1 points) — after both missed the majority of last year due to injuries. Houston also returns its starting point guard in Jamal Shead (10 points, 5.8 assists, three rebounds) and brings in a five-star prospect in freshman big man Jarace Walker.
But there’s another newcomer that has quickly earned Kelvin Sampson’s affection.
“I love Terrance Arceneaux,” Sampson said Monday on the College Hoops Today Podcast. “His greatest strength is that he doesn’t have many weaknesses. Terrance knows who he is and he’s really not interested in anybody’s opinion of him.”
The 6-7 Arceneaux was a consensus four-star recruit according to 247Sports. He should give Houston another quality perimeter player during the upcoming season to go along with Sasser, Shead, Mark, and Ramon Walker, who averaged 16 minutes in four NCAA Tournament games last March.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to be a good player,” Sampson said of Arceneaux. “But this will be an adjustment because he’s not the top dog anymore.”
Houston finished 32-6 last season and lost to Villanova in the Elite Eight.
The Cougars are currently ranked FOURTH in the ROTHSTEIN 45.
Leftovers
- INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW (6/14): Guest — Iowa’s Ben McCollum
- INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW (7/13): Big Ten Offseason Breakdown
- Big Ten Offseason Breakdown
- INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW (7/9): Guest — Marquette’s Shaka Smart
- Indiana, Missouri finalizing agreement to meet on Dec. 18th in Bloomington
