Championship Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich himself serving burgers and Dream Shakes at the new Rudy T's diner concession stand at Toyota Center for opening night. Tomjanovich has his diner hat and red Rudy T's apron on to the delight of the fans.

The H-Town Basketball Tipoff, which @PaperCityMag first broke the news of, is already up to tables sold for nearly 550 people for its inaugural event next Wednesday afternoon. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, Fran Fraschilla and every Houston area college coach (both men's and women's) are slated to be there. Along with the Top 15 boys and girls high school basketball players in the Houston area. PaperCity has learned that a new Coach of the Year Award and a new Girls High School Player of the Year Award will be revealed at this first of its kind H-Town basketball extravaganza too. "I grew up in Big 5 country where you have Temple, St. Joe's, Villanova, Penn and Drexel all playing each other," H-Town Basketball Tipoff orchestrator Mike Pede tells PaperCity. "Playing together. . . Basketball just doesn't get enough love. No one really thinks about basketball until January 1st. "So I'm trying to get them to think about basketball in October."

Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris on Houston coach Willie Fritz: "Just a ton of respect for how he does it. Just reminds me of my dad - a little bit of an old school coach - just growing up like that. He's a guy that sticks to his guns. "(Fritz)'s teams are tough. They're gritty. They know what their plan is and they go out there and they execute. Really well coached on all three sides of the ball." Eric Morris' dad is longtime Texas high school basketball coach Ray Morris who retired with nearly 600 wins and won the state championship in 2004 with Eric Morris as one of his star players. Morris was responding to a @PaperCityMag question on Fritz.

One of the best postgame moments of Houston's win over Oklahoma State was UH wide receiver Koby Young running up the stairs into the stands to celebrate with the student section. Young even borrowed a few students' phones and filmed videos of him and the college kids having fun, leaving some unforgettable memories on those devices. "He's a special dude," UH quarterback Conner Weigman says of Young. "Special personality. Special talent. I can't say enough good things about Koby. He was a captain for us this week. What an honor it was for him when he got named the captain. "I don't think he stopped smiling for 30 minutes." It turned out to be a special night for Young in many ways. And he made sure the UH students felt like a big part of it.