This is the 11th team I’ve had at Houston,” Sampson said. “We won 30 plus games five times, and this is the first time we won 34 games. And I’m glad these guys did it. The maturity of our older guys has been great for our younger guys.

With a 69-50 win over Tennessee that perfectly captured everything Sampson's program is about, Houston is on its way back to the Final Four

Houston basketball coach Kelvin Sampson is going to another Final Four. The top seeded Cougars took care of business by dismantling the No. 2 seed Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday, clinching a second trip to the championship city in four years.

In a college basketball era where faster, higher-scoring games seem to be all the rage, this Final Four seems to be all about the defense.

Now, the Cougars are two-stepping it back to Texas. L.J. Cryer finished with 17 points, Emanuel Sharp scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and the nation’s stingiest defense delivered a historic NCAA Tournament performance,