SAN ANTONIO (AP) — All Kelvin Sampson could do was stand there, hands on hips with a blank look on his face, as the ball bounced loose and Houston’s latest chance at a national title bounced away, too.
The coach who has commanded all details over a 36-year career of wins, losses and a few Final Fours couldn’t do anything about this one. The last-second blunder ended in a 65-63 loss to Florida on Monday night.
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Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., rear, knocks the ball away from Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) during the second half in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. (1) jumps to knock the ball from Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) during the second half in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) and Joseph Tugler (11) hug in the locker room after Florida beat Houston in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Houston's J'Wan Roberts (13) loses the ball as Florida's Alijah Martin (15) and Rueben Chinyelu (9) defend during the second half in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson yells during the first half against Florida in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson yells during the second half in the national championship game against Florida at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson points during the first half against Florida in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson leaves the court after Florida beat Houston in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
It took years for the 69-year-old coaching lifer to turn Houston into one of college basketball’s top programs again – one built on defense, toughness, rebounding and doing things a certain, hard-nosed way. Sampson rehabilitated his image too, the pariah who nobody understood becoming an almost-lovable beacon for how to connect with players and do things the “right” way.
But there was no escape from the anguish this time, from squandering a 12-point second-half lead to that final-play turnover that sent Sampson into the offseason stuck on win No. 799 in a winding-road career.
“There’s always going to be naysayers and negative nellies and all that stuff, but that’s where your faith and your family is way more important than any of that stuff,” Sampson said outside Houston's locker room in the Alamodome. "And protecting these kids, I care more protecting them right now to make sure they know what a great year they had. What an awesome, awesome, awesome year they had.”
The game ended with Houston (35-5) — which finished at No. 2 in the final AP Top 25 poll Tuesday — unable to even get up a shot on its last two possessions, a fact Sampson called “incomprehensible.” On one, Emanuel Sharp drove the right side but had the ball stripped and lost it out of bounds with 26.6 seconds left and Houston down one.
Moments later, Houston had its second chance to go ahead. The ball again went to Sharp, who tried to fire a 3-pointer on the catch only to see a hard closeout by Florida star Walter Clayton Jr. coming his way.
Stuck in the air, he tried to dribble the ball to avoid a turnover and was forced to let it bounce, the ball hitting the court with about 4.5 seconds left and then continuing to bounce for another 2-plus precious seconds. Finally Florida's Alex Condon dove for the ball, sending Houston's Ja'Vier Francis to the floor and killing the final moments of the Cougars' title dream.
Moments later, as the confetti started to fall for the Gators, Sampson walked with his head down to the edge of the court as though trying to make sense of what had just happened. He descended the steps, then started making his way up the lane through the heaviest concentration of red-clad Houston fans in a painful march to the locker room.
“I wanted it so bad for him,” said Houston big man J'Wan Roberts, who played five seasons for Sampson after a redshirt year. “So, so, so bad. And it hurts. Coach Sampson, the role that he played in my life, I can’t even put into words.”
It was nearly the highlight of a career that started as a Michigan State graduate assistant under Jud Heathcote. His path ran through Washington State, Oklahoma — where he guided the Sooners to the 2002 Final Four — and Indiana before his career ran into a ditch there due to an NCAA probe and triggered this successful second act.
Along the way, the two-time Associated Press national coach of the year has rolled with the rapidly changing college landscape. Players can move freely through the transfer portal and profit from their athletic fame through use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
“In his mind, he’s like, ‘Look I’ll deal with whatever is told to us,'" Houston athletic director Eddie Nuñez said. "More impressive than anything else for me is seeing him and how unbelievable he has been in being agile and understanding how to evolve. Everyone says he’s old school but the reality is, he gets it and surrounds himself with his son and other people who can help him with NIL, revenue share. Whatever’s laid out, we’ll do it.”
And yet, Sampson still talked at the Final Four in a way befitting his early coaching days at tiny Montana Tech.
“I love coaching basketball, I love teaching,” Sampson said. "I don't know what I would have been good at had I not been a coach because that's the only thing I've ever been. But I think I would have enjoyed being a teacher, too, because I enjoy teaching stuff and seeing kids learn and apply it, have success with it. I choose to focus on that stuff more so than the portal.”
Ousted from IU due to an NCAA probe into Sampson making too many recruiting phone calls, he received a five-year show cause penalty in 2008 that kept him out of the college ranks until his return at Houston in 2014.
Sampson found refuge there after spending his exile in the NBA, while he offered the school the dream of reconnecting with its history tied to the famed Phi Slama Jama era in the 1980s — which before this year had marked the program’s only two trips to the NCAA title game — behind a coach with a proven record for winning.
By his third season, Sampson had the Cougars back in March Madness. They won 33 games in his fourth, then two years later had the Cougars back in the Final Four in 2021 — the program’s first since Hakeem Olajuwon and coach Guy Lewis led them to the 1984 title game before falling to Patrick Ewing and Georgetown.
The Indianapolis bubble run of four years ago eliminated any doubt about Houston’s arrival as a national power. It's all rooted in Sampson’s vision, built in his image by demanding an unyielding fight and work ethic going back to his upbringing in eastern North Carolina.
His team had put that on display all season, most recently with an improbable comeback in the final minute to stun Duke in Saturday’s national semifinals. Then came Monday night's finale, leading just about the entire way and keeping Clayton under control after the Gators star had torn through March Madness.
The Cougars just couldn't finish it out on a night when they shot just 34.8%, including 6 of 25 from 3-point range, putting too much weight on the defense to carry them home.
“I'm just proud of the way we fought all season,” leading scorer L.J. Cryer said.
And in the end, Sampson couldn't find the answer. Instead, he spent 20 extra minutes after his postgame news conference talking it all out with reporters, an unusual sight for the losing coach on the final Monday night of the season.
“Disappointing,” he said. “But we didn't lose in the first round. We didn't lose in the CBI. We lost in the national championship game, to the best team the SEC has. We fought them tooth and nail down to the end, and I'm proud of my team.”
This story has been corrected to show Houston had twice made the NCAA title game, not once.
AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., rear, knocks the ball away from Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) during the second half in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. (1) jumps to knock the ball from Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) during the second half in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) and Joseph Tugler (11) hug in the locker room after Florida beat Houston in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Houston's J'Wan Roberts (13) loses the ball as Florida's Alijah Martin (15) and Rueben Chinyelu (9) defend during the second half in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson yells during the first half against Florida in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson yells during the second half in the national championship game against Florida at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson points during the first half against Florida in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson leaves the court after Florida beat Houston in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The second murder trial began Tuesday for Karen Read, who is accused of causing the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend but whose supporters contend is being framed for a murder she didn’t commit.
Prosecutors say Read backed her SUV into John O’Keefe after dropping him off at a party and returned hours later to find him dead. Defense attorneys say she was a victim of a conspiracy involving the police and they plan, as they did in the first trial, to offer evidence pointing to the real killer.
Nine men and nine women were chosen to serve as the 12 jurors and six alternates.
Read has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. A mistrial was declared last year after jurors said they were at an impasse. The second trial will look much like the first, with the same judge, many of the same witnesses and several of the prominent defense attorneys.
Read had worked as a financial analyst and a Bentley College adjunct professor before being charged in the death of O’Keefe, who was 46 when he died. The 16-year police veteran was found unresponsive outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer.
After a night out drinking, prosecutors say Read, who is 45, dropped O’Keefe at the house party just after midnight. As she made a three-point turn, prosecutors say, she struck O’Keefe before driving away. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.
As at the first trial, prosecutors will try to convince jurors that Read’s actions were intentional. They are expected to call witnesses who will describe how the couple's relationship had begun to sour before O'Keefe's death, including his brother and sister-in-law, who testified that Read told her the couple had argued in Aruba after she caught O’Keefe kissing another woman.
The defense is expected to portray the investigation into O’Keefe’s death as shoddy and undermined by the close relationship investigators had with the police officers and other law enforcement agents who were at the house party.
Among the key witnesses they will call is former State Trooper Michael Proctor, who led the investigation but has since been fired after a disciplinary board found he sent sexist and crude texts about Read to his family and colleagues. He is also on the prosecution's witness list.
Proctor’s testimony was a key moment during the first trial, when the defense suggested his texts about Read and the case showed he was biased and had singled her out early in the investigation, ignoring other potential suspects.
They also are expected to suggest Read was framed, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside the home during a fight with another partygoer and then dragged outside. In the first trial, defense attorneys suggested investigators focused on Read because she was a “convenient outsider” who saved them from having to consider law enforcement officers as suspects.
Ahead of the second trial, the two sides sparred over whether Read's lawyers will be allowed to argue that someone else killed O'Keefe. Judge Beverly Cannone ruled Monday that attorneys can't mention potential third-party culprits in their opening statements but will be allowed to develop evidence against Brian Albert, a retired police officer who owned the Canton home, and his friend Brian Higgins. Lawyers cannot implicate Albert's nephew, Colin Albert, the judge said.
A town-commissioned audit of the Canton Police Department released March 30 found several mistakes with the investigation but no evidence of a cover-up. It suggested that first responders should have photographed O'Keefe where he was found before he was moved and that all interviews of “critical witnesses” should have been done at the department after O'Keefe was taken to a hospital.
Soon after the mistrial, Read's lawyers set out to get the main charges dropped.
They argued Judge Cannone declared a mistrial without polling the jurors to confirm their conclusions. Defense attorney Martin Weinberg said five jurors indicated after the trial that they were only deadlocked on the manslaughter count and had unanimously agreed that she wasn’t guilty of second-degree murder and leaving the scene, but that they hadn’t told the judge.
The defense said that because jurors had agreed Read wasn't guilty of murder and leaving the scene, retrying her on those counts would amount to double jeopardy. But Cannone rejected that argument, as did the state's highest court, a federal court judge, and an appeals court.
Prosecutors had urged Cannone to dismiss the double jeopardy claim, saying it amounted to "hearsay, conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.” Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally argued that the jurors never indicated they had reached a verdict on any of the charges and that the defense had ample opportunity to object to the mistrial declaration.
The second trial will likely look similar to the first. It will be held in the same courthouse before the same judge, and dozens of Read's passionate supporters are again expected to rally outside. The charges, primary defense lawyers and many of the nearly 200 witnesses will also be the same.
The biggest difference will be the lead prosecutor, Hank Brennan. A former prosecutor and defense attorney who was brought in as a special prosecutor after the mistrial, Brennan has represented several prominent clients, including notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, and experts think he might be more forceful than Lally was in arguing the case.
Prosecutors are likely to rely on eyewitnesses from the scene in the early days of the trial, counting on testimony from police officers and firefighters who recalled Read making comments that implicated her in the killing.
They also are likely to introduce evidence of a broken taillight on Read’s SUV that prosecutors argue was damaged when she hit O’Keefe and possible DNA from O’Keefe found on her vehicle.
The defense’s goal is to raise doubts about the prosecution case and plant the seed that she was framed. They are expected to introduce evidence of a sloppy police investigation, including the failure to search the house and mistakes in the police log.
They also are expected to suggest that a hair found on the taillight was planted and the police investigation was marred by a conflict of interest.
Karen Read, third left, and her defense team, Victoria George, from left, David Yannetti, Read, Alan Jackson, Elizabeth Little, and Robert Alessi introduce themselves to potential jurors as jury selection continues for the murder retrial of Read, in front of Judge Beverly J. Cannone in Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, April 14, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Karen Read with her attorney Alan Jackson during jury selection in the murder trial of Read at Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Nancy Lane/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan introduces himself during jury selection in the murder trial of Karen Read at Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Nancy Lane/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Karen Read's attorneys Elizabeth Little, left, and Robert Alessi introduce themselves during jury selection in the murder trial of Read at Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Nancy Lane/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Attorney David Yannetti whispers into the ear of Karen Read during jury selection in the murder trial of Read at Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Nancy Lane/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Karen Read with her attorneys David Yannetti, left, and Alan Jackson during jury selection in the murder trial of Read at Norfolk Superior Court, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. Read is accused of striking her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in 2022. (Nancy Lane/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Defense attorney Robert Alessi introduces himself to prospective jurors during jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Karen Read, left, speaks with her defense attorney Alan Jackson during jury selection for Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Defense attorney Alan Jackson introduces himself to prospective jurors during jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Karen Read, center, sits with her defense team during jury selection for Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Karen Read, left, and her defense team introduce themselves to prospective jurors during jury selection for Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Prosecution attorney Hank Brennan introduces himself to prospective jurors during jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Judge Beverly Cannone addresses prospective jurors during jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A Massachusetts State Police officer talks with supporters of Karen Read, who gathered prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read, outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as Turtleboy, walks towards court prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Prosecution attorney Adam Lally, right, arrives for jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Prosecution attorney Hank Brennan arrives for jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Supporters of Karen Read gather during jury selection for the trial of Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
