I'm geeked to hear that the boys are close to a deal to play at/in Houston.
The only problem I have with this is that we've played UH in Baseball, Softball, and football since 2006, and perhaps basketball in 2008/09, and other than a two game Softball series in 2007, all of those were in Houston. Of course this year's softball Super Regional location was out of our hands, but I would sure like to see some reciprocation on their part, and have them come to Lafayette. They did come to Lafayette for football in 2004(?), and I'm not sure about their baseball team returning the visit for 2009, but I would hope that if we do sign a basketball deal with them, that it's a 1 and 1 or better, though the article only mentions that a 2008-09 game would be in Houston. Perhaps it's just my imagination, but it seems like it's a little one-sided over the past few years. I would like to see us play them home/away in every sport every year.
I do like that we seem to be developing a relationship with UH. That is a very good school to be friends with because it's close enough for our fans to travel to, we have lots of alumni in Houston, and they are generally pretty competitive in all sports in a conference that is percieved to be much better than the SBC. And, if/when conference realignments come around again, it would be nice if we had them as a friend. It looks like we are developing the same sort of relationship with Southern Miss, playing them in multiple sports every year. And, we have had some dealings with Rice recently (basketball here a few years ago, '08 baseball there and I think they return that in '09. These are all great schools, that are very close to our campus, and that are generally competitive in Athletics.