College basketball rankings: Houston’s Jamal Shead goes from picking up trash to arguably best PG in nation

Two seasons ago, back when Jamal Shead was merely the seventh-leading scorer on a Houston team headed to the Elite Eight, a video of the then-sophomore point guard went viral following an 83-82 loss at Alabama.

Do you remember the video?

After Houston’s Reggie Chaney angrily and intentionally dumped over a garbage can on his way to the locker room, Shead stopped, grabbed the garbage can, set it back upright and began to refill it with the spilled trash.

“Thank you, sir,” you can hear one Alabama fan say.

At the time, it was just a viral video — and I honestly haven’t thought much about it since it surfaced in December 2021. But as the years have rolled on and Shead has become arguably the best point guard in college basketball, what we’ve learned is that the video was an awesome and accurate reflection of the young man Elvin and Lysa Shead have raised. Everybody just raves about Shead’s work ethic, commitment, demeanor, everything. Kelvin Sampson did it again late Monday after Shead scored 26 to lift the Cougars to a 73-65 win over Iowa State.

“Jamal Shead paid his dues — and those are the guys that, when it comes time to step up, you can depend on,” Sampson said. “He was the guy that was not going to let us lose tonight.”

Houston’s fourth-straight victory means Sampson’s program is now alone in first in the Big 12 standings with just five regular-season games left. The Cougars remain No. 3 in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Their next game is Saturday on the road against a Baylor team that’s No. 6 in the Top 25 And 1 heading into Tuesday night’s game at BYU.