Kelvin Sampson Rails Against Big 12 Schedule, Super Conference Travel — Houston’s Coach Sticks Up For His Players

With two of his players next to him, both graduate seniors who played through injuries down the stretch last season that eventually required surgery, University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson took aim at what he sees as a player health unfriendly grueling 20 game Big 12 basketball schedule and the frequently absurd travel of college sports’ super conference era.

“Let me explain something that everybody in the Big 12’s having to go through,” Sampson says. “We just played our fifth game in 13 days. Third straight game with no days off. On Wednesday the 22nd (of January), we played Utah here. That was the snow game. We left on that Friday to go to Lawrence (Kansas). Got back at 1’o’clock in the morning or whatever it was on Sunday. Then got back on a plane for a three hour flight to West Virginia. . . Are you kidding me? Your road trip that week is at Kansas and at West Virginia. And somehow we were fortunate enough to win them both.

“So now we come back Wednesday night, get back at 2 or 3’o’clock in the morning Thursday. Thursday’s a wash because you’re recovering from Kansas game — emotional. West Virginia. Emotional, tough game. Then we’re playing Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon. And now we’re turning around and playing Oklahoma State again (Tuesday night).

“That’s tough. Especially with no days off. What this team needs more than anything else — other than get our team back together, get Emanuel (Sharp) back, get Ja’Vier (Francis) back — what we need more than anything else is rest. We need to rest. . .

“I’m not saying it’s the Bataan Death March, but it’s a grueling schedule for college kids. For 10 straight weeks, we’ve got two games a week. And this conference is vast. Administrators and the NCAA stopped caring about student athlete welfare a long time ago, man. We know the deal. Nobody cares about that. Nobody.

“And the emphasis is nobody.”

As Kelvin Sampson rants go, this one’s top shelf. Houston’s coach is one of the few prominent figures in sports on any level these days who doesn’t just give largely rote answers. This 69-year-old basketball lifer of a coach will get into things. He’ll speak his mind on the game he loves — and the absurdities he sees around it in 2025. And only Kelvin Sampson could work a reference to Bataan — the forced march of 78,000 POWs during World War II — into a pointed analysis of the faults of the Big 12 going to a 20 game conference schedule this season and how college athletes are treated by the NCAA. Sampson just might teach you a little history too.

But even some of those entertained by it — and you have to imagine even Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark couldn’t help but be a little entertained by the skill and passion of it — may be missing the larger point. Sampson is sticking up for his players, for all the players in the Big 12 really.

J’Wan Roberts and LJ Cryer, the players sitting on either side of Sampson as he goes off on the schedule, understand that. They’ve been around for a while (six and five years respectively) in college athletics and have been through some things.

“We know he cares about us,” Cryer tells PaperCity later. “We see it all the time.”

“Administrators and the NCAA stopped caring about student athlete welfare a long time ago, man. We know the deal. Nobody cares about that. Nobody. And the emphasis is nobody.” — Kelvin Sampson

Kelvin Sampson could have talked about a number of things after UH’s workmanlike 72-63 home win over Oklahoma State on this Tuesday night in February. He could have gotten into how his team moved to 18-4 and 10-1 in the Big 12 despite sitting two of its top eight players with injuries — starting guard Emanuel Sharp (strained right foot) and could-be-starting big man Ja’Vier Francis (concussion protocol). He could have delved into Terrance Arceneaux’s growth (1o points, five rebounds, six assists to one turnover). He could have focused on how point guard Milos Uzan (17 points, three made 3s, five assists and zero turnovers) being aggressive changes so much for this talented team.

And Sampson did talk about those things a little. “I thought Milos was our best player tonight,” Sampson says.

But he chose to talk about the issues with the 20 game conference schedule and super conference travel first, to stick up for his players on a bigger picture thing first. And Kelvin Sampson didn’t just talk to the media about it. He went into those same schedule concerns with UH athletic director Eddie Nuñez full bore coming off the Fertitta Center floor shortly after the final buzzer sounded. It’s probably not the conversation the AD expected when he went to congratulate Sampson on a win, but that’s the Kelvin Sampson experience.

Sampson is always looking for ways that something can be done better. Especially when it comes to his players.

“But sometimes like today, even with all that stuff you do, you can still go there and feel sluggish.” — UH guard LJ Cryer

Sampson’s Big 12 Forecast

Houston does travel by charter flights as all major conference teams do. And some of this will be lessened when Sampson expects the Big 12 to go back to an 18 game conference season next year, restoring a bye week and two more coach scheduled non-conference games. But that still does not make any of this easy. Especially when you’re in the thick of it and college basketball’s February dog days.

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Cryer tells PaperCity of getting through a long college season and a Big 12 schedule without a bye week this season. “Even the years I got injured, I did a lot of treatment. Had a little routine with the trainers and stuff for my feet. Things like that. Sometimes you just get unlucky.

“But yeah, I feel like you’ve got to do anything you can just to prevent those things from happening. . . For me, I try to get massages on off days, stuff like that. When I’m home, I sit in the Normatec (compression therapy boot). I drink water all day. Cherry juice. Coconut water. So that’s just some of the stuff I do to try to keep my body fresh.

“But sometimes like today, even with all that stuff you do, you can still go there and feel sluggish. You go out there and it’s a struggle. So you’re just got to push through it and find a way to get a win.”

The games keep coming, often packed in spurts. After playing at Colorado Saturday afternoon, UH will host Baylor in a Big Monday ESPN showdown two nights later. This is life in the Big 12 in 2025, maybe life in the super conference era forever.

“Next year we’ll go to an 18 game schedule,” Sampson says of the Big 12. “Next year when we go to an 18 game schedule, now student welfare will come into it. But if it was up to the powers that be, they wouldn’t do it.”

Sitting on Sampson’s right at the interview table, J’Wan Roberts stares straight ahead at that one. Sometimes you’ve got to let Kelvin Sampson cook. Especially if he’s making a player point.