Houston Cougars Basketball

After withdrawing his name from the 2019 NBA draft, Quentin Grimes will play college basketball for the Houston Cougars beginning with the 2020-21 season. 

Per Fox 26's Mark Berman, Grimes announced his decision to transfer to the Cougars on Thursday.

Grimes has had a whirlwind couple of months since the end of his freshman season at Kansas. He was one of four Jayhawks players to declare for this year's NBA draft. 

An inconsistent first year in college certainly hurt Grimes' stock heading to the pros. The Texas native arrived in Lawrence with high expectations as a 5-star prospect and No. 10 overall recruit in the 2018 class, per 247Sports. 

In 36 games with the Jayhawks, Grimes averaged just 8.4 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 38.4 percent from the field. Head coach Bill Self announced Grimes entered the transfer portal after going through the predraft process and decided to return to college. 

Grimes told reporters during the NBA scouting combine he was keeping all of his options open before making any formal announcement about his plans:

No decision yet for ⁦@qdotgrimes⁩. Tried to get him to say something critical of @CoachBillSelf. Didn’t happen. All love. ⁦@KUHoops⁩ pic.twitter.com/dE0ceJtFrd

— Mark Carman (@thecarm) May 16, 2019

It was hardly a surprise to see Grimes go back to school to refine his game. B/R's Jonathan Wasserman didn't have him ranked among the top 50 draft prospects following the scouting combine. 

The only downside for Grimes is transferring will force him to sit out for a year before he's able to get back on the court. He will be 20 years old when the 2020-21 season begins. 

Despite the long wait to return to competitive action, the Cougars will provide Grimes with an opportunity to showcase his talent in a way he didn't feel was going to happen at Kansas. He's still a young man loaded with potential. 

If Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson is able to work with Grimes and unlock his talent, Houston will have a potential superstar on its hands for at least one season.   

The University of Houston and head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson reached an agreement Thursday on a six-year contract extension.  

Houston announced the deal after Joseph Duarte of Houston Chronicle first reported the agreement, noting the contract is believed to be worth $18 million.

The announcement follows rumors about Sampson potentially leaving the Cougars to take over the Arkansas Razorbacks program. Sampson made it clear he's not looking to go anywhere else, per Duarte: 

Sampson also noted that his son, Kellen, will be the head coach in waiting, per Duarte.

The 63-year-old North Carolina native led Houston to a 33-4 record and a Sweet 16 appearance in the 2019 NCAA tournament before a season-ending loss to the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday.

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He's guided to Cougars to a 116-52 mark across five years since he left his role as an assistant with the NBA's Houston Rockets to rejoin the college coaching ranks in 2014.

Sampson previously served as head coach of the Montana Tech Orediggers (NAIA), Washington State Cougars, Oklahoma Sooners and Indiana Hoosiers during a career on the sideline that spans four decades. He owns a 541-279 record at the Division I level.

The two-time reigning American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year joked about the Arkansas speculation when asked during March Madness about a possible move before next season.

"I'm not going to talk about my contract situation," he told reporters. "My response to—what school was it? I was just joking. I didn't know if you said Arizona or Arkansas or Alaska or—yeah. Been a lot of those schools over the years. I don't really have a response to it. I don't know what I'm supposed to respond to, you know. There's nothing to respond to."

His extension will force the Hogs to continue their search to replace Mike Anderson, who they fired last month after an 18-16 campaign.

Meanwhile, Sampson's reported $3 million base salary would be tied for 21st among college basketball coaches, according to the USA Today database.

With his contract situation settled, Sampson can now focus on bolstering a 65th-ranked recruiting class to help fill the void left by seniors Corey Davis Jr. and Galen Robinson Jr., two of the team's top four scorers.