Oct. 18, 2005

After leading the University of Houston to its best season in a decade, Tom Penders has the Cougars poised to return to a place they have worked hard to get to, but haven't been since 1992. Last season, his first at UH, Penders guided an undersized, often out-manned team to an 18-14 record and a NIT berth.

The 18 wins were more than Houston accumulated in the two previous seasons combined. It also was Houston's first postseason tournament appearance in three years.

He then added the nation's 13th-best recruiting class and now looks to lead the Cougars back to the NCAA Tournament. "I think we definitely will be a contender for the NCAA Tournament," Penders said. "Last year, we set going to the NCAA Tournament as a goal, but realistically, it was a long shot.

"We were one of the top five or six teams in the country who went from being a losing team to a winning team, and we played a tough non-conference schedule. This year, we should be much better offensively, and we have the potential to be a super defensive team." These improvements should translate into more success for the Cougars in 2005-06. The level of success will depend upon how quickly Houston's highly regarded newcomers combine with an experienced group of four returning starters, another part-time starter and three other returning lettermen.

Smith Leads Talented Backcourt
One of the primary strengths for Houston this season will be its backcourt -- despite the fact that the Cougars must replace Andre Owens, who graduated after leading Conference USA in scoring with 18.1 points per game.

The Cougars return a potential All-America and all-Conference USA candidate, Lanny Smith. The junior point guard heads a cast of three returnees who made significant contributions to Houston's success in 2004-05.

"He is one of the top point guards in the country," Penders said. "He averaged nearly 15 points per game, and he is a great passer who will be passing to people who can catch and shoot now."

Under Penders guidance, Smith was one of the most improved players in Conference USA last season. His scoring average increased by over six points per game. He shot eight percentage points higher behind the three-point line and he averaged one more assist per game.

Smith ranked second among Houston's scoring leaders with 14.7 points per game while averaging 4.2 assists per contest. He was Houston's best three-point shooter (40.2 pecent) and stood out on the defensive end with 1.4 steals per game.

Key to Houston's Success
Houston's other returning players in the backcourt are seniors Brian Latham and Chris Lawson. Latham was one of the keys to Houston's turnaround season, emerging as one of the best defensive players in Conference USA.

"Brian Latham had the biggest impact on last year's team," Penders said. "His pride on the defensive end rubbed off onto the other players, and defense became a key point of pride with our team as the season progressed." Latham's 2.6 steals per game ranked 18th nationally and second among Conference USA leaders. He also averaged 8.3 points and 3.3 rebounds.

Lawson was another junior college transfer who started seven games and served as a valuable reserve in others. He played in 31 games overall and averaged 4.8 points per contest before missing Houston's NIT game at Wichita State with a knee injury. His best two games came against then 12th-ranked Washington and former Conference USA foe Charlotte, scoring 18 points in both games.

An Even Stronger Backcourt
Penders also strengthened Houston's backcourt with the addition of four new players. The newcomers are Oliver Lafayette, Tristan Martin, Corey Bloom and Lamar Roberson.

Lafayette was named the National Junior College Division II Player of the Year after leading Brown Mackie College to the NJCAA Division II national championship with a 35-1 record. He averaged 17.4 points, six rebounds, 4.4 assists and 4.4 steals per game. Lafayette was named First-Team All-America and was a member of the NJCAA Division II All-Tournament Team.

Martin was named to the NJCAA Division I All-Tournament team after scoring a season-high 18 points against highly regarded College of Southern Idaho in the second round of the NJCAA Tournament.

That was the third game in which Martin scored 18 points in 2004-05. He averaged 11.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals throughout the season, and is one of two players in Midland College's school history to lead the Chaparrals to back-to-back Region V Basketball Tournament championships.

Bloom is a 6-5 guard who led Brother Martin High School to consecutive Louisiana Class 5A State championships and a No.-four national ranking by The USA Today. Future Stars also ranked him among the Top Five shooting guards in the nation last spring. Bloom averaged 15.6 points per game and scored 21 points in the state championship victory over Thibodeaux.

HoopScoop.com ranked Roberson, a 6-8 guard-forward at Mt. Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C., among the Top 35 fifth-year players in February. Roberson is ranked among the nation's overall Top 38 high school recruits and was named to the Al1-National Prep Invitational Team in 2005. He went to Mt. Zion after playing one season at Dominguez High School in Long Beach, Calif., where he was named the Section Co-Player of the Year after averaging 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

Up Front
Houston's returning frontline players are headlined by seniors Ramon Dyer and Sergio de Randamie. Redshirt sophomore Andrew Francis, Darrius Brannon and transfer Sam Anderson also join them up front.

Last season, Dyer emerged as a consistent scoring threat (9.8 points), and led "Ramon was the biggest surprise of last year's returning players, and he really worked hard last summer to continue his improvement," Penders said.

"He developed into one of the best forwards in Conference USA last year. He just had to play too many minutes. He won't have to do that this year, which should help him."

Another returning starter, de Randamie, started 17 games and played 26 games at center despite playing most of the season with a stress fracture in his left foot.

"I look for Sergio to contribute a lot more this season," Penders said. "He is a player everyone respects because he played in pain all year, and always gave a 100 percent. He just couldn't jump or run because of his broken foot. I don't know many basketball players who can put up numbers without being able to do those two things."

de Randamie averaged one point and nearly two rebounds per game. His best effort was an eight-rebound, five blocked shots effort in a late-season game against former C-USA rival TCU. He also scored a season-best four points in four other games.

Francis averaged nearly two points and two rebounds before missing the last eight games with a double hernia. Brannon joined Houston's roster in January and averaged 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. Anderson joins Houston's roster as a walk-on after playing football at Eastern Michigan and serving in the U.S. Navy.

More Frontline Firepower
Penders expects the additions of junior-college transfers Jahmar Thorpe and ichard Young, along with freshman Emmanuel Adeife, to bolster Houston's frontline.

Thorpe (6-6, 225), was named a NJCAA First-Team All-Region II and First- Team All-Bi-State Conference selections after leading Region II in scoring (18.1 points) and rebounding (11 rebounds per game) as a sophomore at Western Oklahoma State College. Thorpe went to

Western Oklahoma after playing his freshman season at Caldwell College, a NCAA Division II school in New Jersey. He was named a Second-Team All-Metropolitan Division II honors after averaging 17 points and eight rebounds.

Missing Commodity Last Season
Young and Adeife provide Houston with a pair of shot-blocking specialists at the post position. Young, a two-time First-Team All-Suncoast Conference selection, set a school record at Hillsborough Community College with 210 blocked shots. He also averaged 12 points and 8.3 rebounds as a sophomore.

Adeife, who signed with Houston during the early signing period in November, was listed among the Top 20 seniors in Florida by FloridaHoops.com. He helped Dillard High School reach the Regional Finals in the Class 5A State Tournament with a 22-3 record. averaging 12 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots per game.

More Balanced Attack
Penders is hopeful this new combination of seasoned veterans and highly talented and versatile newcomers will give his team a more balanced offensive attack.

"Last year, we depended on two players (Smith and Owens) to carry the offensive load, " Penders said. "This season, I think we have five or six players who can average in double figures." This year's recruiting class includes new scoring threats in Lafayette, Thorpe, Martin, Roberson and Bloom. Those five new players along with Young and Adeife, should make Houston even stronger defensively, and strong defensive play was a key ingredient to Houston's winning record last year.

Even Stronger Defensively
"I think we also have the potential to be a super defensive team," Penders said. "Last year, we knew Brian Latham was a good defensive player and he turned out to be one of the best defenders in Conference USA. Lanny Smith also was one of the best defensive point guards in the country.

"Tristian Martin may be the best defensive guard I have ever recruited, and Jahmar Thorpe is a physical player who loves to shut people down and rebound. Lamar Roberson has long arms and can guard both the guards and forwards, and Oliver Lafayette is a very good defensive player. Richard Young set a school record for blocked shots, and "Tree" (Adeife) is a good shot blocker as well.

"When you have four outstanding defenders on one team, and add the other people who are solid defensively, you have a chance to be outstanding on the defensive end."

Locked and Loaded
The Cougars will need a more balanced offense and stronger defense if they want to reach the NCAA Tournament.

As he has always done, Penders has provided his 2005-06 squad with a highly competitive schedule. Houston plays non-conference games against Arizona, UNLV, Rhode Island, South Alabama, along with intrastate rivals Sam Houston State, North Texas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. In addition, Houston faces a new-look Conference USA schedule which includes East Carolina, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane and UAB being joined by new schools Marshall, Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UCF and UTEP.

"This year, we have at least three teams who can be Top 25 caliber teams," Penders said. "Memphis and UAB are definitely Top 25 caliber teams. I think we have the potential to get there, and everyone who has seen the WAC, tells me UTEP has the potential to be a ranked team. In addition, UCF has won 20 games in the last three years and played Connecticut and Pittsburgh tough in the NCAA Tournament each of the last two years."

After watching his team surprise almost everyone last season, Tom Penders and Cougars enter the 2005-06 season with the expectation of playing in their first NCAA Tournament in 14 years.