Houston Basketball’s Bracket in Players’ Era 8 Tournament Has Been Set
In this story:
Houston basketball is under a complete roster remodel, and the team will look very different, losing nine players from last year’s roster.
Early on Thursday, college basketball insider Jon Rothstein revealed the bracket for the Players Era 8 Tournament, which will take place on Nov. 17.
Houston will have Rutgers, Florida, and Notre Dame on its side of the bracket. The other side of the bracket will be West Virginia and Auburn, alongside Kansas and UNLV.
Ranking All Players Era 8 Teams From Best to Worst
1. Florida
The Gators rank at the top spot because of all the talent that the team has coming back from last season.
This week, Florida’s star big man Rueben Chinyelu announced that he would be returning for the upcoming season and he is one of the best defensive players in the entire country.
They will also return Boogie Fland, Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon, alongside four new players all with a ton of upside.
2. Houston
Despite losing nine players from last season, head coach Kelvin Sampson simply knows how to be competitive at the highest level each and every season.
With the pickups of Braden East, Corey Hadnot, Delrecco Gilespie and Dedan Thomas Jr., the Cougars have a lot of talent coming into the program.
Houston also returns start forward JoJo Tugler, alongside Mercy Miller and Chase McCarty, and the Cougars have plenty of talent to be one of the favorites to win this tournament.
3. Kansas
Kansas is in a very similar spot as Houston, and they are replacing a lot of talent from last year.
With the additions of center Christian Reeves, Utah forward Keanu Dawes and Toledo guard Leroy Blyden Jr., Kansas rebuilt its roster very well with those three pieces from the portal.
To add to its starting roster are two 2026 high school recruits in Taylen Kinney and the No. 1 player in the class Tyran Stokes.
4. West Virginia
Last season, West Virginia played solid basketball, finishing seventh in the Big 12 Conference.
With the new head coach Ross Hodge going 21-14 in his first season at WVU, the Mountaineers are a sleeper team and could cause problems in this tournament.
5. Auburn
Auburn greatly struggled last year with Steven Pearl in his first season at head coach.
The Tigers also lost several key pieces in the offseason, causing a lot of questions on just how good they'll be this year.
Fortunately, for Auburn, star point guard Tahaad Pettiford will return for next season, and they also have three talented transfers who can start and make an immediate impact.
6. Rutgers
Rutgers has been making noise under head coach Steve Pikiell, and each and every season, they have guys that can straight-up ball.
After losing its star duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey to the NBA Draft, the team hasn’t been quite as good.
While Rutgers has a solid roster next season, they do not have as much talent as most other teams in this tournament.
7. Notre Dame
Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry has been trying to have his team break through since joining the program.
While he has had several teams that could beat top-25 opponents, he hasn't had a roster with enough consistency to take the program to that next level, and it looks to be the same in 2026.
8. UNLV
Finally, UNLV competes in the Mouintain West Conference, and the team is at a severe disadvantage with most of the other schools competing in the SEC or Big 12.
While UNLV could come out hungry and cause an upset, they have the worst roster among he teams in the tournament.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Ashton Grissom is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Media Production with a minor in Marketing and Spanish. He also works for two student organizations: The Cougar and CoogTV. You can find Grissom on his Instagram (@ashtonagrissom8) or Twitter (@ashtongrissom8).