Longtime CBS college basketball broadcaster Jim Nantz has never shied away from his allegiance to the University of Houston. And perhaps predictably, Nantz remains quite high on his alma mater’s chances heading into the 2024-25 college basketball season.
This past season was the first time that Nantz, who had been the leading voice of the NCAA Tournament for CBS from 1991-2023, got to enjoy March Madness for the first time as a fan, which granted him the opportunity to be in attendance in the stands with his family throughout Houston’s NCAA Tournament run last season.
Hello friend.
Jim Nantz gets to watch his Houston Cougars play in the NCAA Tournament as a fan in the stands now. 🏀🎙️👏 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/OefQfnW3G2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 25, 2024
Despite going into last year’s tournament as a one-seed, Houston would come up short in the NCAA Tournament in a Sweet 16 loss to Duke. But despite the team’s inability to get over the hump in recent years under head coach Kelvin Sampson, Nantz again believes that Houston will be a force to be reckoned with this coming season.
“I think it’s just great respect to see we’re No. 4,” said Nantz in a conversation with Greg Rajan of the Houston Chronicle. “Although I don’t know there’s anybody better than us. But you’ve got to go out and earn it.”
Nantz went on to share his reasoning for being so optimistic, which is the proven track record of success from Kelvin Sampson.
“What makes me optimistic? Kelvin, Kelvin and Kelvin,” said Nantz. “And on top of it, we have everybody back except for — and that’s a big exception — except for Jamal (Shead). The commitment that these kids have to want to come back and win a championship, L.J. (Cryer) and J’Wan (Roberts), it’s impressive. To think that Houston went into the conference last year and won the regular by a couple games, reached No. 1 status in the AP poll, it’s amazing. It’s just great to see where we are with the program and what Kelvin has done. He’s the best.”
Even if Nantz didn’t truly believe Houston was a National Championship contender, he would likely never let you know he felt that way. Not only is he a 1981-graduate from the university, but he also got his career in sports media started by serving as the school’s P.A. announcer.
For that and all of the success Nantz went on to have, he was actually honored by the program last March by hanging a banner with his name on it in the Fertitta Center.
Now that Nantz no longer covers college basketball, he can now fully embrace his bias for the Houston Cougars program like every other fan. But his praise for the program may actually be warranted, as the Cougars enter the 2024-25 season as the No. 4 ranked team in the Preseason AP Top 25 polls.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.