Houston Cougars basketball picked to be No. 1 seed in March Madness preview show

In what was a dress rehearsal for Selection Sunday, the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee on Saturday morning unveiled its top 16 teams through games played as of Feb. 17. The Houston Cougars basketball team was projected to be a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region.

UH was also considered the No. 2 overall team in the country per the committee. Alabama was picked as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

If the tournament started on Saturday, Texas would be the No. 2 seed, Tennessee would be the No. 3 seed, and Xavier would be the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region along with Houston.

Saturday’s NCAA March Madness Preview show served as a sneak peek at where the selection committee believes the top teams stand just 22 days away from Selection Sunday.

For Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson, the seeding and preview shows are nothing more than spectacles created for fans and media to talk about. Regardless of what seed Houston is projected or given, Sampson said it is all about matchups in the NCAA Tournament.

“At the end of the day, for us in the arena, doing the bleeding, and the sweating and the fighting, we don’t care,” Sampson said when asked about the selection show on Friday. “It’s all about your matchup in your bracket more so than your seed.”

“I’ve never lost sight of hard it is to make the tournament. I’ve had a team that’s been a one-seed. I’ve had two seeds, three seeds; it’s the same to me. You can lose to anybody you play,” the head coach added.

All-time, the Cougars have been a one-seed only once in their history, back in 1983. The other one seeds in Saturday’s preview show were Purdue and Kansas, to go along with Alabama and Houston.