Houston is a top seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, but they will have to beat Duke, Kentucky, and Marquette in the South Region to reach their first Final Four since 2021.
The Cougars (30-4) were given the reward on Sunday after winning the Big 12 regular-season title and making it to the conference tournament title game before losing to Iowa State. They will play against No. 16 seed Longwood, the Big South champion, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the first round on Thursday.
Houston has been a No. 1 seed three times in school history, including the 1983 team that reached the national championship game and last season when they lost to Miami in the Sweet 16. If the Cougars make it past the first weekend – a Longwood win would bring a matchup with either Nebraska or Texas A&M – they will only need to head up Interstate 45 to Dallas for the regional.
The Cougars will try to bounce back after the heavy loss to the Cyclones in the Big 12 title game. It was the largest defeat margin for a No. 1 team since UCLA beat Houston by 32 in the 1968 Final Four. Houston had an 11-game win streak before the loss.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said after the Iowa State loss that, “We’ll pick ourselves up. We’ve had a great year. Obviously 40 minutes is not going to define three months, but we’ll get some guys treatment and healthy and get back at it.”
The South Region also includes No. 2 seed Marquette, who will have standout Tyler Kolek back after he missed the Big East Tournament due to an oblique injury. The Golden Eagles (25-9) reached the Big East title game before losing to UConn.
Kentucky (23-9) is the No. 3 seed in the region and will open against No. 14 seed Oakland. Duke (24-8) completes the top-four seeds in the region and will face No. 13 seed Vermont in the first round in Brooklyn, New York on Friday.
KOLEK CONCERN
Marquette coach Shaka Smart cautiously expressed hope on Sunday that Kolek, the 2023 Big East player of the year, would play in the NCAA opener. Kolek has been absent in Marquette’s last six games due to an oblique injury. The Golden Eagles will face No. 15 seed Western Kentucky (22-11) on Friday in Indianapolis.
“The plan is for him to play, but he’s got to go through a progression this week,” Smart said Sunday.
Smart shared a story that after the team came back from New York following the Big East title game, Kolek was already going back into the gym to do some ball handling.
“So he has a level of excitement and passion because he feels like he’s going to play. Now we’ve just got to check the boxes we need to check so he can,” Smart said.
Marquette went 3-3 in Kolek’s absence, with two of the losses coming to UConn and the other at Creighton.
The Golden Eagles also have other injury issues. Oso Ighodaro sat out the last seven minutes of the Big East championship game as he appeared to hurt his knee, and Stevie Mitchell was wearing a brace on his right shoulder during that game.
Smart anticipates that both will play on Friday.
POWER CHAMPION
In the South Region, there is only one team from a strong conference that won its conference tournament championship. This team would not have made it to the NCAAs if it hadn't been for its tournament success.
N.C. State, the No. 11 seed in the region, had a surprising run to win the ACC tournament by winning five games in five days, including upsetting rivals Duke and North Carolina in the semifinals and finals. This was N.C. State’s first ACC title since 1987.
The Wolfpack will play against No. 6 seed Texas Tech in Pittsburgh.
30 CLUB
Four teams have at least 30 wins as they enter the NCAAs. Two of these teams are in the South Region.
Houston is one of those teams. The other is James Madison, the winner of the Sun Belt Conference tournament and the hottest team entering the NCAAs. James Madison, the No. 12 seed, will face No. 5 seed Wisconsin on Friday in Brooklyn.
The Dukes had a 31-3 record, defeated Arkansas State in the Sun Belt championship game, and have a 13-game winning streak. James Madison began the season with a 14-game win streak before their first loss.
This is James Madison's sixth NCAA appearance and the first since 2013. The Dukes can score well, averaging 84.4 points per game, which is ninth nationally.
