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PROVO — There was a time when Dave Rose thought his life and basketball career would take him in a dramatically different direction than it did.
A former Houston shooting guard, Rose was a role player and co-captain of the "Phi Slama Jama" squad of University of Houston lore — the one that produced Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1983 national runner-up trophy.
Rose knew he wanted to be a coach, and he had hopes that his career would eventually lead him back to H-town. But after stops at Millard and Pine View high schools and Dixie State College, the returned missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepted a call from former BYU coach Steve Cleveland to come to Provo in 2005.
Rose steadily rose up the ranks, and after a 9-21 season, BYU named him the full-time head coach in 2005 — his first Division I head coaching job.
After a 329-122 record, a national player of the year in 2007, and eight trips to the NCAA Tournament, the rest, as they say, is history.
“My path didn’t lead that direction,” Rose said after BYU’s 105-78 win over Rice on Wednesday. “But the last eight to 10 years, I’ve followed (Houston) with great interest. We’ve had a couple of reunions down there, at the Final Four. I’m really excited to see the new arena, too.”
The Cougars (5-1) will visit Houston in the 2019-20 season, a chance for Rose to reminisce in his old stomping grounds.
But first, the H-Town Cougars will pay a visit to Provo; BYU will host Houston at 4 p.m. MT Saturday, the final game of the on-campus Men Against Breast Cancer Cougar Cup, pitting the red Cougars against the blue Cougars.
Rose’s alma mater got a late start to the season — they’re still playing home games at Texas Southern before opening the brand-new Fertitta Center against Oregon on Dec. 1. But the Houston Cougars are 3-0 after an 82-55 thumping of Northwestern State, a strong start to the season under fifth-year head coach Kelvin Sampson.
The former Houston Rockets assistant has been to 14 NCAA Tournaments in stops at Washington State, Oklahoma and Indiana before he made a career in the NBA from 2008-2014.
Now Sampson is back at Rose’s alma mater — and the one-time team captain couldn’t be happier, even calling Sampson “one of the best coaches ever to coach at this level.”
“I know a lot about where he’s been and what he has done; I’ve had players play for him at Washington State,” Rose said of Sampson. “I’ve had really good friends who have coached with him. Now he’s coaching at my alma mater … he’s turned the whole program around, and got them to the NCAA Tournament last year.
“I have a ton of respect for coach Sampson. He’ll have his guys ready to go.”
The Cougars are led by a trio of double-figure scorers in their first three games of the season, including Armoni Brooks, who averages 20.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.
Houston plays at a pace similar to BYU, averaging 87.3 points per game while holding opponents to 59.0 ppg.
“It should be a fun atmosphere in here on Saturday,” BYU guard TJ Haws said. “And it should be fun for coach Rose, as well. They are a great team, and we’re going to have to play really well. But we’ve had a few good games at home, we have some confidence, and we are in a rhythm. It will be fun.”
After an 86-70 loss to then-No. 7 Nevada to open the season, BYU is on a five-game winning streak, opening the streak with a 75-65 win over Utah Valley and blowing past Northwestern State, Oral Roberts, Alabama A&M and Rice.
The Cougars aren’t the only ones playing well, though. The West Coast Conference jumped out to a 39-14 start Wednesday night, including a trio of unbeaten teams in Loyola Marymount (6-0), San Francisco (5-0) and No. 3 Gonzaga (6-0), which also topped No. 1 Duke 89-87 in the championship game of the Maui Invitational.
That’s a good one for the league,” Rose said of the Zags’ win over the Blue Devils. “Our league has had some great wins; San Diego beat Colorado last night, too. The one thing that we’ve always said about (the WCC) is that it gets some real national attention from Gonzaga.”
The Zags had never beaten the top-ranked team in the country before Wednesday afternoon, though Gonzaga has risen to the top spot before.
Rose knows a little something about that, he deadpanned to end his postgame comments Wednesday.
“I’m glad to see the Zags able to beat a No. 1 team,” he said sincerely, before adding, “We were able to do that a couple of years ago. I’m glad they got to beat one. That’s a good feeling; I know how that feels.”
