Some people saying arguably these two, contradictory things.
"The NCAA screwed us by putting Iowa State in our bracket. They should be a 1 seed!"
"Sampson shouldn't be COY! The B12 was overrated and he got killed by an Iowa State team that beat nobody!"
To be clear, I think Hurley should have won. I also think Sampson is a great coach, and they* overcame a lot this year.
Recommended edits have been made above. Thanks, as always, for the opportunity to serve.
I don't know who these people are (btw, I think that would be helpful to readers for a number of reasons we could discuss), and I don't know if they're currently making the first claim (which might warrant some verb tense shifts).
I'm leaving your quoted characterizations undisturbed, only toning down what you labeled "essentially" to a more supportable "arguably."
I don't see anything oppositional in declaring Sampson a great coach who met a number of challenges in crafting a successful season, so I eliminated "but" as the contraction that best links consideration of both coaches. Your disposition on Hurley affected my decision here. It seems clear that your more important point of emphasis is that you are 'essentially' (note single quotation marks as an indication of lighthearted ribbing) right, and the "same people" are wrong, or at least more so by comparative degrees.
As a personal preference, I don't think the
emphasis belongs with Sampson/Houston's "overcoming," which more surely would have applied if the in-game loss of Shead hadn't resulted in Houston's Sweet 16 loss.
Still, I've kept it as written because there were (I believe) 2 pre-season roster losses and another in-season player loss that may reasonably have capped Houston's ceiling. I recognize these circumstances as being comparable to what Geno Auriemma has to deal with this year, and have sympathy on that matter. Then again, Geno's coaching performance this year didn't rise to his consideration as a CotY finalist. For some, that's apples & oranges (or maybe better,some body parts that would survive the p-filter), but it's a not-unexpectable observation that a fan of both UConn programs could make, even if it's not relevant to what you've written. In other words, this paragraph has reflected some collegially offered personal opinion differences rather than any suggested edits to improve expression of your chosen point of view, which has been my mission here.
* I wasn't sure what to do here, because you had used the pronoun "he" earlier in your post, but I wanted to retain the possibility that "they/them/their" are Kelvin Sampson's chosen pronouns. If that's not the case, then "he" should apply, OR otherwise "his team overcame."
