GAME NOTES: The Kelvin Sampson era of Houston basketball commences on Friday.

Sampson, back in the college ranks after a five-year absence, leads the Cougars into Murray State to face a veteran Racers squad in the season opener for both programs.

While controversy surrounded Sampson's recruiting tactics in the past, his team's results spoke for themselves. He has reached 13 NCAA Tournaments during his 25 years as a head coach and brought Oklahoma to the Final Four in 2002.

Originally, Sampson had a nice roster to work with at Houston, but the transfers of TaShawn Thomas (Oklahoma) and Danuel House (Texas A&M) leaves a lot more work to do in terms of roster construction. Thomas merely led the team in scoring (15.4 ppg), rebounds (8.1 pg), blocks (2.7 pg) and steals (1.2 pg) last season, while House (13.6 ppg) was the second option offensively. Neither has an immediate successor. Sampson will lean on Jherrod Stiggers (11.2 ppg) and L.J. Rose (8.9 ppg, 5.5 apg) to keep the team rolling on offense. McLean (2.6 ppg) played 28 games last season, but his minutes were limited. Expect more exposure for the 6-foot-8 forward, especially on a team desperate to improve on the glass. The Cougars ranked last in the AAC in rebounds (34.6 pg) last season.

Sampson's first test is a daunting one, as the Racers, the reigning CollegeInsider.com Tournament champions, are picked to finish first in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Racers' roster is almost completely intact, as they return their top four scorers from last season's 23-win club. That includes standout sophomore point guard Cameron Payne (16.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 185 assists), who led the way in scoring as a true freshman. Second-leading scorer and second-team All-OVC member Jarvis Williams (14.9 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 60 blocked shots) is back for his senior season. Williams was an absolute monster in the post and on the glass for Murray State, which has a relatively small lineup this season (Williams, at 6-foot-8, is the tallest player the team has). Former Clemson guard T.J. Sapp was a sensational sixth man for the Racers when he became eligible to play last December, and should see an increased role.

Houston, which has not played the Racers since 1955, has won nine of its last 10 season openers, but Murray State is more experienced, more talented and playing at home.