Men's Basketball Sports

Cougars hold No. 3 seed after shakeup at top

Houston’s depth players will be key to keeping it undefeated through the remaining games of the season. | Ahmed Gul/The Cougar

With just five games remaining in the regular season, the men’s basketball team is all but guaranteed to hear its name announced on Selection Sunday in fewer than four weeks.

Of the nearly 200 brackets throughout Bracket Matrix, a website used to rank and organize bracketologies from across the land, the Cougars are averaged to land a No. 3 seed.

The most accurate bracketology of all those on Bracket Matrix, Bracketville, put Houston as the No. 3 seed in the South. The Cougars would face No. 14 seed UC-Irvine in the opening round. With a win, they would take on either No. 6 seed Maryland or No. 11 seed Arizona State.

Of the active brackets on Bracket Matrix, the fourth most accurate, Syracusefan7, again lands UH as a No. 3 seed in the South region.

The Cougars would open the tournament with an in-state matchup against No. 14 seed Texas State and could advance to meet either No. 6 seed Wisconsin or No. 11 seed Alabama.

TeamRankings, a website that runs thousands of simulations everyday to decide bracketology seeding at the end of the season, has the Cougars averaged at a No. 2 seed.

Interestingly, TeamRankings deems UH more likely to land a No. 1 seed, 31.8 percent chance, than a No. 3 seed, 19 percent chance.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi slots UH as a No. 3 seed as well, this time in the West region. In this scenario, the Cougars would again take on No. 14 seed UC-Irvine with the potential to meet either No. 6 seed Iowa or No. 11 seed VCU.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports also has Houston as a No. 3 seed in the South region. In this bracket, UH would again open the tournament against No. 14 seed Texas State and, with a win, would take on either No. 6 seed Virginia Tech or No. 11 seed Lipscomb.

USA Today follows in the South regional commonality, as UH is projected as a No. 3 seed against No. 14 seed Radford. With a victory in the opening game, Houston would meet either No. 6 seed Maryland or No. 11 seed Arizona State.

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