Houston HC Kelvin Sampson's quote about Rick Barnes tells college basketball fans all they need to know about Tennessee's head coach
The Tennessee Vols and the Houston Cougars will face off on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis with a trip to the Final Four on the line. On Saturday, Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson met with reporters and he spoke at length about his relationship with Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes. Sampson and Barnes coached against each […]
The Tennessee Vols and the Houston Cougars will face off on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
On Saturday, Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson met with reporters and he spoke at length about his relationship with Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes.
Sampson and Barnes coached against each other in the Big 12 for a nearly a decade (at the time, Sampson was the head coach at Oklahoma and Barnes was the head coach at Texas….essentially the Big 12 version of Mike Krzyzewski vs Dean Smith).
The longtime Houston head coach told reporters that if Houston can't win the NCAA Tournament this year, he hopes it's Barnes and the Volunteers that are cutting down the nets in San Antonio in early April.
"Sometimes, Rick will call me at night and he'll say, he won't even say hello, he'll say, you still run your 3-2-zone? I'll say, yeah. He'll say, I'm gonna call you tomorrow and talk about that and just hangs up," said Sampson. "Who does that? Rick Barnes. He'll call me two days later, hey Kelvin, this is coach, [I just called] to tell you I love you, brother. That's Rick Barnes.
"He's one of a kind. I wish we had more like him. He's just a jewel among jewels. He's one of the great ones. I've spent a lot of time with that guy, different places, on the road, recruiting. If we don't win it, I hope he does. That's how much I respect him."
Sampson likely isn't the only coach that feels that way about Barnes.
Barnes is easily one of the most well-respected and beloved coaches in college basketball. Sampson and the rest of the coaches that are still in the tournament badly want to win a national championship. And Houston will be doing everything it can to knock off Tennessee on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Sampson's quote about pulling for Barnes if Houston can't win, however, is the ultimate sign of respect.
Tennessee undoubtedly has an all-time great leading its basketball program right now.
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