Houston projected to play Central Connecticut State by two NCAA bracket projections
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A pair of prominent NCAA basketball tournament projection sites have Houston as the same seed.
Those also have the Cougars in the exact same location playing the exact same team.
In the latest edition of ESPN “Bracketology” expert Joe Lunardi, Houston is projected as the No. 2 seed in the South region, and is matched up against No. 15 seed Central Connecticut State in Wichita.
What Kelvin Sampson said prior to Houston's upcoming Big 12 showdown at Arizona
Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com also has the Cougars as the No. 2 seed in the South in his latest bracket projections, along with Houston taking on Central Connecticut State in the opening round at Wichita.
The only difference between the two sites is the 7-10 matchup on the other side of the opening bracket. Joe Lunardi has the Houston-Central Connecticut State winner advancing to face the winner of the first-round game between No. 7 Clemson and No. 10 Nebraska, whereas Jerry Palm projects the 7-10 game to be Louisville against Vanderbilt.
Citing Houston's play, ESPN basketball expert ranks Big 12 his No. 2 power conference
Auburn, one of four teams to defeat Houston all season, remains the No. 1 seed in the South by both Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm.
Houston remains No. 3 in latest NCAA NET rankings in advance of Saturday showdown
Meanwhile, the Cougars have advanced upward in the college basketball analytics website EvanMiya.com. Houston moves up three spots to No. 7, which falls anywhere from a 1 to a 2 seed, and the Cougars are the only Big 12 Conference team with that distinction.
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Evan Miya uses a pair of metrics to determine a team’s NCAA Tournament seeding: Win Quality and Loss Quality.
Win Quality “measures how good your wins are based on the difficulty of those games,” while Loss Quality “measures how bad your losses are based on the difficulty of those games.”
Houston currently ranked No. 1 team by one college basketball analytics website
Currently, the Cougars have a win quality total of 5.9 and a loss quality of -1.6 for an overall resume quality total of 4.3. Houston is ranked No. 12 in win quality and No. 5 in loss quality.
In Houston’s previous game, the Cougars (20-4, 12-1) downed Baylor, 76-65, Monday night at the Fertitta Center. On Saturday afternoon, Houston will play at Arizona with first place in the Big 12 at stake, and the Cougars will also be at Arizona State on Tuesday.
