March Madness: a team that keeps winning by missing shots / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: USA Sports Today-Scanpix Credit USA Sports Today-Scanpix

March Madness is a peculiar tournament. All of a sudden, teams who looked flashy and cool like Gonzaga or Auburn during the entire season can crush into the cold face of reality: Winning does not always have to look nice. Winning looks like winning.

"Victories don't come with asterisks. It's not a beauty contest. We were going to make them uncomfortable. It's what we do."

That's' what Kelvin Sampson, the Houston Cougars coach, said after their upset in the Sweet Sixteen against Arizona Wildcats, the No.1 team of the South Region.

Sampson revitalized the Cougars program and brought them into the national semifinals last season, for the first time after 1984. Those were Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler's days.

You know, the famous Phi-slamma-jamma days. And "The Dream" was right there at AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas.

But on paper, Houston Cougars was a bit away from last season's Final Four team because their main core was dissembled.

Quentin Grimes got selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in last season's draft and then became a New York Knicks' player; DeJon Jarreau also found a two-way contract to make it into the NBA (with Pacers). Justin Gorham went overseas to start his pro career at Germany, Telekom Baskets Bonn.

But Kelvin Sampson's methodology remained intact: do not complicate the offense, attack the boards, slow down the pace and unleash hell in defense.

And thanks to the transfer rules that came into effect recently, they could partially replace the ones who left and find players who can sustain the fringe methodology.

Kyler Edwards became their go-to guy in offense, Taze Moore joined from CSU Bakersfield to strengthen the perimeter while Josh Carlton picked up from where Justin Gorham left off.

Arizona Wildcats consisted of many international players, including Azuolas Tubelis and his twin brother, Tautvilas (Lithuania), Kerr Kriisa (Estonia), and Pelle Larson (Sweden). It was one of the most offensively polished teams in the country.

Led by Benedict Mathurin, one of the top NBA draft prospects, this team was fun to watch with their ability to create space and high-quality shots, thanks to their superior off-ball movement.

65% of their made shots were assisted, a rate that was the best among all the teams in NCAA Tournament. This team was an offensive animal.

Besides, their coach Tommy Lloyd was also on the verge of breaking all-time record. He could have been the first coach to win more than 34 games in his first season at the helm in the program, for the first time in the entire history of NCAA. That was big.

However, Tubelis brothers and co. just crashed into the wrong team. They were limited to the lowest score of the season with 60 points. In fact, it was only the third time that the Wildcats were limited below 70.

How did Houston reach Elite Eight in the second season in a row?

Let's make one thing clear: the Cougars are not a defensive team, only. Yes, they are the best team to limit the opponent's shooting rate at a minimum with 37.5% FG and 28% 3 FG.

True, they are the ones usually no team would like to face in the NCAA tournament because they are so ruthless, aggressive, and athletic. They will ferociously trap you in the most unexpected moments with abrupt double-team moves.

There is no way you will get out of a fifty-fifty ball without being hurt. It is simply not possible.

However, there is some peculiar thing about them: according to kenpom, adjusted offensive ratings, they are the 9th best offense in the entire country. That is actually an even better position than their defensive ratings, where they sit at 10.

This is happening even though they are only 39th when it comes to FG accuracy (46%). They are barely Top 50 in the Effective Field Goal and only in the Top100 in the True Shooting percentages. They are not good shooters.

Besides, all the other members of the Top 10 in the offensive ratings have their potential NBA draft prospects. For Gonzaga, there was Chet Holmgren. For Purdue, there is Zach Edey and Jaden Ivey. For Murray State, there was Tevin Brown.

Houston's' best scorer, Marcus Sasser (17.7 pts per game), injured his back in December and finished the season early. The only player who can help them as a primary offensive option on a consistent basis is Kyler Edwards, who seeks to carry his Final Four experience with Texas Tech in 2019 to Houston. He is not averaging even 15 points per game.

So how to does Houston makes it work in the offense? By missing shots.

Certainly, they don't' miss their field goals on purpose. But they are not afraid of shooting because they have a clear-cut plan: Attack the boards. And attack together. They shoot. They miss. Then they try again. More, again, forever.

Houston Cougars are the second-best school in the entire country when it comes to offensive rebounding percentage. They are grabbing 38% of the rebounds in the offense when a shot is missed.

By virtue of these secondary and tertiary chances, Houston is generating 2nd most extra scoring chances per game (7.9) in the entire Division I. It is nothing like last season's 8.7, but still, that will do.

Last year, their kamikaze diver department in the offensive rebounding unit was spearheaded by Justin Gorham.

This year, his role is fulfilled by Josh Carlton, who joined the Cougars from UConn via transfer portal.

Since his putback and finishing skills near the rim are considerably good, his points per game skyrocketed to 11.8. Out of 275 field goal attempts, 63 of them were putbacks. That is a 22% ratio, the same as Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert.

The other bigs filling the paint, Fabian White and Reggie Chaney, also know how to reach the Final Four from last year's experience. They are older and wiser now.

These second-chance points leave the burden out of their three remaining primary ball handlers, Jamal Shead, Taze Moore, and Kyler Edwards.

Taze Moore got into a foul problem against Arizona, which did not totally cut Houston out of the scoring hardline. They kept rebounding, and they kept upsetting Arizona by making the most of those 2nd point chances.

In fact, they kept their 3-point attempt rate on moderate levels (39%, 135th in the country) and stood away from mid-range by taking nearly 70% of all their shots from the floater zone.

Lastly, these offensive boards also help Cougars break the offensive rhythm of the opponents and help them control the pace. It is known to be a risky strategy because a missed offensive board when two or three players attack simultaneously could weaken the transition defense.

However, that depends on who deploys the strategy and how do they do it. Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors are two of the highest offensive rebounding percentage teams whereas, giving the least frequency to let a transition in their defensive end.

But once their opponents clear the rebound, they are in the bottom 10 in transition defense. So that depends.

Do all these put Houston Cougars among the Final Four favorites? Well, they don't have an attractive brand of basketball, so quite sure, many expect them to lose in the next round.

"Man, people will probably find something else to say about us," Josh Carlton says. "But we're just going to keep winning. That's no problem."

For Houston, there is another Wildcat on the way for their second Final Four in a row: Jay Wright's Villanova. Very interesting matchup because Villanova has been usually among the highest 3-point shooting volume in the entire country, and Houston is among the best 3 point defenders.

Madness is here.

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