San Antonio has a special place in Kelvin Sampson's heart, which may add an extra shot of sentimentality to the 2025 Final Four for Sampson and the home state Cougars, who are back in the national semifinals for the first time since 2021.

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

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.