Sports
The latest Houston Heartbreak? An ‘incomprehensible’ finish in final possession vs. Florida
SAN ANTONIO — How much can one program take? How can Houston stomach another one of these? Another portrait of coming so close, only to see it all recede from view, covered instead by the wrong colored confetti?
On this Monday night in April, it was Emanuel Sharp crouching deep, his hands atop his head, seeing the court around him turn orange and blue. Ja’Vier Francis knelt next to him, refusing to leave his teammate’s side. Kelvin Sampson, the coach, stared from across the floor, hands at his sides. Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. leaned down, offering Sharp a hug from behind.
Houston’s trip to the national championship game was going to end either as the best night in school history or as another chapter in this cruel epic. The antagonist in Jim Valvano’s hero’s quest. The shadow in Fred Brown’s redemption. Even before Monday, the school held a tormenting place in this sport’s history — the record for all-time Final Four appearances without a national championship win.
It was six. Now, after what somehow happened here — a gutting, what-just-happened 65-63 loss to a Florida team that trailed the Cougars by 12 early in the second half — the number is seven.
For a school that plays the part with unenviable periodicity, this one might be the hardest. This ending was supposed to be the one that erased all the others.
“Incomprehensible,” Sampson said later, “in that situation, (that) we couldn’t get a shot, couldn’t get a shot.”
The sequence will live in the depths of the Coogs’ minds for a generation or two.
Down two, 19 seconds left. A timeout called.
How did Houston win 35 games this year? Because in these moments, Sampson talks and the Coogs listen. Then they execute. Then they win. Normal teams don’t go undefeated in road conference games. This one did.
Certain things were made clear in the huddle. The Coogs didn’t need a 3. But they did need to get a shot off with enough time left to have a chance at an offensive rebound. Sampson drew up a play for L.J. Cryer, Houston’s all-everything guard. If the initial action didn’t spring him, Sampson wanted the possession to pivot to an elevator screen for Sharp.
It all developed a little too slowly. Cryer’s look wasn’t there. Now 7.3 seconds remained, and here came Sharp, running from the baseline to the top of the key, rubbing past screener J’Wan Roberts, trying to get free. That screen? Clayton cared not for it. The 6-foot-2 guard darted by and, seeing Sharp rise for what very well could’ve been a game-winning shot and carved a whole damn chapter in the annals of college basketball, leapt into the sky and blocked out the sun.
This, apparently, was when Sharp thought of a potential wrinkle in the play call. If he saw a closeout, he was told to put the ball on the deck and dash to the basket. Go tie the game. Go win in overtime. As associate head coach Kellen Sampson, Kelvin’s son, said later, “Emanuel’s as good a decision maker in closeouts as there is. And he needs little space to get one off.”
Sharp thought the shot was there, but then it wasn’t, and it was all too late. The shooting window closed, and Sharp dropped the ball instead of having it stuffed. There it bounced and bounded. With it, all 75 years of program history. And there stood Sharp, utterly powerless. If he picked up the ball, he would be whistled for traveling.
Under the basket, Roberts turned his back when Sharp rose to shoot, waiting for that possible offensive rebound. It would’ve been the Coogs’ 16th of the night, double what Florida pulled down. But the shot never came.
“I turned back around and it was just bouncing on the floor,” Roberts said.
Florida’s Alex Condon dove to the floor with two seconds on the clock, crashing shoulder-to-shoulder with Francis. The ball squirted away, the final horn sounded and the impossible pain ensued.
Roberts, originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands, went to high school in Killeen, Texas, in order to play college basketball. He committed to Houston as a three-star recruit in September 2018. That was six years, seven months, five days ago. Houston, at the time, was coming off that first NCAA Tournament appearance under Sampson. Since then, Roberts has seen every step of a journey that was seemingly all leading to a final destination at the Alamodome this week.
There was a loss to Kentucky in the 2019 Sweet 16. A canceled NCAA Tournament in 2020. A national semifinal loss to Baylor in the 2021 Final Four. A loss to Villanova in the 2022 Elite Eight. A Sweet 16 loss to Miami as a No. 1 seed in 2023. Another Sweet 16 loss as a 1-seed in 2024, this time to Duke.
When this year’s national semifinal ended with Houston roaring back from 14 points down with eight minutes left to beat those same Blue Devils, it sure seemed like this was it. Monday was to be the last of Roberts’ program-record 173 career games. It was going to be Sampson’s 300th win at the school and 800th win of his career.
Instead, Florida, with its 39-year-old coach, won its third national championship. The others came in 2006 and ’07, when Kelvin Sampson, now 69, was in the midst of moving from Oklahoma to Indiana. What all feels like a millennium ago.
Monday night’s final horn sounded just before 10:15 p.m. local time.
“One Shining Moment” played at 10:38.
At 10:54, the Houston locker room opened its doors, revealing the aftermath. Roberts said it had taken awhile for Sampson to collect himself and address the team. The old coach told this team it would never have gone so far without each player. He pointed specifically to Sharp, a junior with 106 games played at Houston. Then Sampson invited each assistant coach to address the room. Then each senior spoke.
Sharp, according to Roberts, got up and apologized to the team. In reality, the night wasn’t lost on any singular possession. This was a 40-minute rock fight, one filled with moments Houston will want back.
“We ain’t finna blame (Sharp) for that,” Roberts said. “He did a lot of great things. We know how special Emanuel is. I’m going to comfort him as much as possible, and I’m gonna defend his name if anybody tries to make it worse than what it is.”
Sharp never emerged in the postgame locker room. A phone was discarded in his locker.
Outside, the Alamodome emptied and midnight approached.
“What’s today’s date?” Roberts asked, slumped in his locker.
It was April 7.
“June to April, man. A long journey,” Roberts said, thinking back to the 2024-25 Coogs’ first practice. “It’s just crushing. You get to this point and you lose by two points. We had a chance to tie it or win the game. I just …”
Robert paused, conjuring all the voices of Houston’s past.
“I just wish we could run that play again.”
(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
Sports
Austin Reaves nearing return for Lakers as Luka Doncic remains out indefinitely with hamstring strain: report
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In early April, with just five games remaining in the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that star guard Luka Doncic would be sidelined at least until the NBA playoffs.
Doncic’s setback was a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, an MRI confirmed. The reigning NBA scoring champion sustained the injury during an April 2 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers also entered the playoffs without another key member of their backcourt, Austin Reaves.
The shorthanded Lakers upset the Houston Rockets in the opening game of their first-round Western Conference series Saturday. Ahead of Game 2 on Tuesday, the Lakers reportedly received a clearer update on the health of at least one of their injured stars.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves brings the ball up court against the Washington Wizards in Los Angeles on March 30, 2026. (Ryan Sun/AP)
Reaves, who was diagnosed with an oblique strain, appears to be progressing toward a return later in the first-round series if it extends to six or seven games. If the Lakers advance sooner, he could be on track to return for the Western Conference semifinals.
According to ESPN, Reaves recently returned to the practice court for 1-on-1 drills. The 27-year-old will still need to progress to 2-on-3 and then 5-on-5 work before he can be cleared for playoff action, but he appears significantly further along than Doncic, who remains out indefinitely.
Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers controls the ball against the Orlando Magic at the Kia Center on March 21, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
Doncic is unlikely to play in the first round, regardless of the series length. ESPN footage showed him on the practice court on Tuesday, though the six-time All-Star was not doing high-intensity work.
2025-26 NBA PLAYOFF ODDS: SPREADS, LINES FOR FIRST-ROUND SERIES
The Rockets, despite being widely favored in the opening round playoffs series, also contended with key injuries. Kevin Durant missed Game 1 with a knee contusion. He was cleared to play in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. shoots the ball against the Lakers during Game 1 in the NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on April 18, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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LeBron James scored 19 points, while Luke Kennard led Los Angeles with 27 in Saturday’s win.
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Watching junior right-hander Fabian Bravo of Sun Valley Poly High pitch for the first time, there was something strangely familiar about his windup.
When he turned his back to reveal he was wearing No. 32, everything made sense.
He had to be a fan of Sandy Koufax, the 1960s Hall of Fame left-hander for the Dodgers.
Two friends sitting next to me refused to believe it.
“No way,” one said.
“Kids today have never heard of Sandy Koufax,” another piped in.
Only after Bravo threw a three-hit shutout to beat North Hollywood 3-0 was my belief vindicated.
“I come into the back with my arms and it’s a little bit like a Sandy Koufax kind of thing,” he said. “I wear 32 too. He was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and was good in the World Series.”
Koufax was perfect-game good on Sept. 9, 1965, against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, striking out 14.
Bravo started learning about No. 32 when his parents would bring him to Dodger Stadium as a young boy.
“I always saw No. 32 retired on the wall,” he said. “Once I got to know him, I was able to see who he really was. I felt I could really copy him and get myself deeper into history.”
Bravo is no Koufax in terms of being a power pitcher. He’s 5 feet 10 and 140 pounds. Since last season, when he changed his windup to briefly emulate Koufax’s arms going above his head, he has a 12-3 record. This season he’s 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA.
“I saw his windup and he looked like he was calm and composed and I tried it. I felt more of a rhythm. I was able to calm down and pitch better,” he said.
After Bravo’s arms go up over his head in his windup, he also does a brief hesitation breathing in and out before throwing the ball toward home plate.
“My dad always taught me to breathe in, breathe out before I do anything,” he said.
Nowadays, teenagers seemingly don’t pay much attention to greats of the past, from old ballplayers to Hall of Fame coaches. Ask someone if they know John Wooden, kids today probably don’t. He did win 10 NCAA basketball titles coaching for UCLA. And who was Don Drysdale? Only a Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher alongside Koufax from Van Nuys High.
Bravo is fortunate he’s seen Dodger broadcasts mentioning Koufax at the stadium and on TV, motivating him to learn more, which led to seeing his windup on YouTube.
His older brother also wore No. 32, so no one was getting that uniform number other than a Bravo brother at Poly.
There is another Bravo set to arrive in the fall. Julian Bravo will be a freshman left-handed pitcher and wants No. 32.
“While I’m there he’s going to have to find a new number,” Fabian Bravo said.
Julian might also want to help his big brother gain a few pounds at the dinner table.
“My brother takes food from me,” he said.
As for recognizing Bravo’s Koufax connection, it was No. 32 that provided the clue. How many pitchers in the 1970s were choosing No. 32? A lot. And it’s great to see a 17-year-old in 2026 paying tribute to one of the greatest pitchers ever.
Emulating Koufax is hard, but forgetting him is unforgivable.
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Eli Manning retired in 2019 and missed out in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 2025. He was passed over again earlier this year but still fired back at a fan who claimed one of his contemporaries was the better quarterback.
On Tuesday, a social media user floated a theory about former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan, who now oversees football operations as the team’s president, last played in an NFL game in 2022. He announced his retirement in 2024, making him eligible for Hall of Fame consideration beginning in 2028.
“Matt Ryan was a better QB than Eli Manning… people just worship rings. Agree or nah,” the post read.
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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning greets Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan after their game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Oct. 22, 2018. (Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports)
Manning caught wind of the suggestion and weighed in, pointing to the two Super Bowl-winning teams he was part of during his standout run with the New York Giants.
“I will ponder this while I play with my rings…,” Manning wrote in a quote-tweet.
Ryan’s statistical production surpasses Manning’s, at least on paper. He was named NFL MVP in 2016, an honor Manning never earned. Ryan is also the most accomplished player in Falcons history and finished his career with more than 62,000 regular-season passing yards, compared with Manning’s 57,023.
NFC head coach Eli Manning leads a huddle during a practice session before the NFL Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Both quarterbacks were selected to four Pro Bowls, but the key difference lies in championships. Manning won the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011, while Ryan reached it once but fell short. Manning threw for a single season career-best 4,933 during the run leading up to the second Super Bowl title.
Ryan threw for 284 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions to help the Falcons build a 25-point lead in the championship game — a matchup remembered for the New England Patriots engineering the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passes the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Jan. 2, 2022. (Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports)
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The Falcons have reached the Super Bowl twice in franchise history, first in 1998, but the team is still chasing its first elusive championship.
The Giants marked their 100th season in 2024, winning four Super Bowls over the franchise’s century-long history.
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