Bracket Watch

Top Overall Seed

Kansas

First Team Out

Nebraska

Last Team In

Pittsburgh

It's not easy to be underrated coming off back-to-back No. 1 seeds and four straight second-weekend appearances in the NCAA tournament. Throw in a recent Final Four appearance (2021) and a 2024 conference title in the newly expanded Big 12, and one would think this program would roll right off the tongue among the nation's elite. Instead, some still see Kelvin Sampson and Houston as plucky overachievers from the American Athletic Conference, not the juggernaut that bested an eight-bid Big 12 by two full games in its first winter at that level. Surely, with star guard Jamal Shead moving on, the 2024-25 Cougars are destined to come back to the pack. Yet here they are, a top seed (again) in Bracketology and No. 2 on the overall seed list. With wing Terrance Arceneaux (who's returning from injury), fifth-year guard LJ Cryer and fifth-year forward J'Wan Roberts in the fold, Sampson has perhaps the most dependable veteran nucleus in the country. The poster boy is Roberts, the extremely underrated Cougar who has already anchored 125 wins and an .868 winning percentage. Houston may have been derailed last spring from a Final Four in its hometown, but spending next April in San Antonio would surely make up for it.