Oct. 14, 2005
Houston - It has not taken second-year head coach Tom Penders long to gain national attention for his University of Houston men's basketball team as the Cougars are ranked among the nation's top 24 teams according to ESPN's Peter Newmann.
Newmann has the Cougars ranked 24th, one of two Conference USA teams in his poll. He selected Duke as his preseason top-ranked team, with Texas, Villanova, Gonzaga and Oklahoma rounding out his Top Five teams. Newmann ranked Michigan State No. 6, with his other Top 10 teams being Connecticut, Boston College, Memphis and Louisville. They are followed by Kentucky, West Virginia, Stanford, UCLA, Iowa, Alabama, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Kansas, George Washington, Iowa State, Miami, Arizona, Houston and Nevada.
Houston is ranked 36th overall out of 40 teams by a pool of ESPN experts that includes Andy Katz, Pat Forde, Doug Gottlieb, Jay Bilas, Fran Franchilla, Joe Lunardi, Ed Greney, Jeff Shelman, Dave Revsine, Rece Davis, Newman, Nick Loucks, Howie Schwab, Dan Steir and Andy Glockner.
Houston began its preseason practice officially Friday night in Hofheinz Pavilion with Penders welcoming back four starters and three lettermen from last season's 18-14 team. Seven highly talented newcomers that make up one of the nation's Top 13 recruiting classes join them.
The returning starters include junior point guard Lanny Smith, a preseason All-Conference USA selection, along with seniors Brian Latham, Ramon Dyer and Sergio de Randamie. Other returning players include senior guard Chris Lawson, a part-time starter from last season, redshirt sophomore Andrew Francis and senior forward Darrius Brannon.
The new Cougars include junior college transfers Oliver Lafayette, Tristan Martin, Jahmar Thorpe and Richard Young, combined with freshmen Emmanuel Adeife, Corey Bloom and Lamar Roberson.
Houston opens the 2005-06 season on November 22, when the Cougars play host to Florida Tech. The Cougars will battle against two other preseason nationally-ranked teams. Houston plays host to No. 8 Arizona on December 3 at 6:00 p.m., and ends the regular season at No. 13 Memphis on March 4. The Cougars also play home games against Sam Houston State on December 10, North Texas on December 23, Rhode Island on December 27, McNeese State on December 31 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on January 7 before opening their Conference USA schedule with a game at Rice on Jan. 11.