From the outside, it’s easy to forget that Houston Cougars guard Kingston Flemings is only a freshman.
Flemings, providing 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting as No. 2 Houston thundered No. 15 Idaho 78-47 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, has built himself a lottery-pick reputation on the court. But for a guy who just arrived on campus earlier last year, there’s a road of experiences left to learn.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson expanded on Flemings, as a person, following the team’s postgame presser in Oklahoma City. Kingston asked the media personnel if he could take his name card from the press table with him back to the locker room, and was met with “no” by the staff – prompting a laugh from his coach.
Sampson spent some time describing the nature of Flemings and fellow freshman, forward Chris Cenac Jr., and the experience before them as Houston cruises into the second round against No. 10 Texas A&M.
“It’s why I wanted to bring these freshmen here – I wanted them to experience this,” Sampson said.
“I like the fact that Kingston thought it was pretty cool his name’s up there. Kid’s going to be a top-10 draft pick; He’s so naive, I mean, he really is so naive, but that’s part of what makes Kingston special. He has no ego, Chris has no ego – none of our guys have egos. I knocked the ego out of them early. That’s always been the strength of our program is we play for each other and our program is more important than any individual and that includes me.”
Flemings has established himself as one of the Big 12’s most-exciting freshmen this season, and the First Team All-Big 12 honoree is part of the very same March Madness field as fellow freshmen stars Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa, among others. The difference is keeping his name and Houston’s in the tourney, and possibly the Final Four.
