What the Latest ESPN Bracketology Report Says About the Houston Cougars
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Now that the Houston Cougars have suffered three losses in a row for the first time as a Big 12 member and for the first time since the 2016-17 season, there is undeniably an immediate impact on where they stand in the projected field of 64 across multiple boards.
On Tuesday, following No. 5 Houston's 69-56 loss to No. 14 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse behind second-half offensive and turnover woes, ESPN analyst and renowned NCAA tournament "Bracketologist" Joe Lunardi bumped the 23-5 overall Cougars back to a projected No. 2 seed.
On Feb. 20, Lunardi listed Houston as the final No. 1 seed out of the Midwest region at the United Center in Chicago following its late 70-67 loss to Iowa State four days earlier.
But continuing to lose out in a three-game AP top-15 gauntlet, including a conference title-implicative 73-66 loss to Arizona on Feb. 21, ultimately can factor into a significant drop for the Cougars in terms of seeding, especially since, currently, all their regular-season Quad 1 opportunities wrapped up with a 7-5 record.
Although Lunardi projects a seeding drop nonetheless for Houston, there may be one blessing in disguise for the Cougars as a No. 2 seed that can prove favorable towards reaching a second consecutive Final Four for the first time since the Phi Slama Jama era.
Houston means Cougars are one day closer
While seeding plays an important factor in determining the strength towards placement of a team in a region for the big dance and how far that team has the potential to go, location is the one saving grace where a home crowd can bring home energy to a neutral site finals spot not too far from campus.
Lunardi played advocate towards the Cougars being closer to home in his latest projection in putting them in the South region, where the second-weekend final will be played at Toyota Center in Downtown Houston.
Before, even if Houston earned the top overall seed to be able to select its region, it would've had no part in selecting the South region seeing how it was a host school for the finals site.
But now that the university relinquished its hosting duties and handed them to Rice University, Houston has a chance to play for a spot at home in the second weekend.
The quadrant Lunardi projects Houston in currently before reaching the finals site is an opening-round matchup with an auto-bid No. 15-seed Portland State at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, with an intriguing No. 10-seed vs. No. 7-seed matchup of Texas and Wisconsin, respectively, opposite of the Cougars.
With the next Bracketology report releasing Friday, Feb. 27, it'll be interesting to see if Lunardi continues to favor Houston's spot in the South region, permitting the Cougars optimize the win column again as three regular-season games and the Big 12 tournament remain.
Michael Carrara is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He attends the University of Houston, where he is a journalism major and a marketing minor. He is also a sports writer and reporter for the Daily Cougar, having covered baseball as an NCBWA member. You can find Michael on all major social media channels, including X on @michaelcoalec.