Jim Nantz Is Putting Himself Back On The Road To The Final Four To Watch His Beloved Houston and Kelvin Sampson In Indianapolis — A PaperCity Exclusive

INDIANAPOLIS — Jim Nantz is putting himself back on the Road to The Final Four, determined to see his beloved University of Houston play for a berth in the national semifinals. So the iconic voice of CBS Sports plans to leave his house in Nashville at 6 am Sunday morning to make the four-hour-plus drive to Indy where Kelvin Sampson’s No. 1 seed will play No. 2 seed Tennessee Sunday afternoon at 1:20 pm central time. Nantz has his ticket and knows he’s going to be sitting next to UH basketball great Otis Birdsong in the section right behind UH’s bench.

“Just feel like taking in a road trip,” Nantz tells PaperCity. “I just feel like being on the road to the Final Four. I want to be authentic. So I think I looked it up — two hundred and 90 miles. Here I come.”

A big part of Nantz wanted to be in Indianapolis for Houston’s thrilling 62-60 win over home-state Purdue in the Sweet 16, but his 11-year-old daughter Finley had a track meet on Friday and his 9-year-old son Jamo has a number of youth baseball games this weekend, none of which he wanted to miss. As frequently as his CBS responsibilities have him away on the weekends, Nantz treasures all the dad time he gets. In fact, he talked to PaperCity while in the car going to Jamo’s second baseball game of the day Saturday night.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson had texted Nantz just 15 minutes before when he heard his friend would be coming to Indianapolis for Sunday’s Elite Eight battle.

Nantz and Jamo, who is crazy about this 33-4 Houston basketball team, watched that thrilling win over Purdue. Seeing the game decided by that inbounds play Sampson drew up with UH’s unicorn power forward JoJo Tugler passing the ball back to the inbounds man Milos Uzan for a drop in right at the rim with 0.9 seconds left, Nantz’s mind went to the coach who’s changed everything for the University of Houston.

“My first thought was all about Kelvin,” Nantz says. “I thought that was a chance for those who don’t know already to see what a brilliant coach he is. For him to draw up that play. To have practiced it the day before. Man, his team responds. They just know what they’re doing. They play so hard. It’s a reflection of the coach.”

Call it a Hall of Fame moment for Kelvin Sampson, who clearly belongs in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame whether he gets that national championship or not.

“That was not our best performance,” Nantz tells PaperCity of the Purdue game. “And we still figured out a way. It should bode well for tomorrow and the rest of the way. It’s an old cliche I would hear through the years, all the years that I called the NCAA Tournament. I would say that I must have heard it used by one of my analysts through the decades a good 25 times at least.

“That to win a national championship you have to survive a game like that when you’re not in peak form. And that’s what Houston did. But it was tough not being there and just hanging onto every second of it from afar.”

“Just feel like taking in a road trip. I just feel like being on the road to the Final Four. I want to be authentic. So I think I looked it up — two hundred and ninety miles. Here I come.” — Jim Nantz

Inside Jim Nantz and His Son Jamo’s Growing UH Bond

So Nantz plans to be there for every step of the way that Houston keeps dancing now. He plans to bring his son Jamo to the Final Four in San Antonio with him to watch those games if UH can beat a tough Tennessee team tomorrow and advances. Back in the Alamodome where he called four Final Fours, part of the 354 NCAA Tournament games and 94 Final Four games Nantz called during his unparalleled college basketball run. He’ll be in the stands with his fellow Cougar fans, wearing UH gear, cheering his heart out. Right next to his longtime friend Otis Birdsong. Starting with this Sunday Elite Eight game.

“Just a couple of old Houston guys,” Nantz laughs. “And we’re going to have at it. We’re going to get into this game.”

Tennessee will have Peyton Manning in Lucas Oil Stadium with the UT product’s statue right outside the door of the Indianapolis Colts’ home. But now Houston can raise the Volunteers with Jim Nantz.

Jim Nantz is particularly struck by how far this season’s Kelvin Sampson team has come, how far no-longer-new point guard Milos Uzan has come since the beginning of the season.

“I love that kid,” Nantz says. “I’m just so impressed by him. And to see his development is just another reflection on great coaching and how valuable it is. I really do believe those three losses early in the year — and I watched them all, Auburn, Alabama and San Diego State — and (Uzan) was new to the system and he was recovering from that (broken nose) injury which would shake anyone.

“And look, he won the game for us (against Purdue). And not just because of the last shot last night. We had a lot of guys who were off. You know (All-American guard) LJ Cryer wasn’t feeling well. Milos has been better by the week. He’s done so well. He’s got a classy way of leading. So impressed.”

The excitement in Jim Nantz’s forever recognizable voice is unmistakable. He’s more than ready for his road trip to see his Coogs and Kelvin Sampson. Here he comes.