NCAA Tournament 2018: Stock Watch for Bubble Teams at Week 16

Cougar Basketball
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Stock up: Houston Cougars
Resume: 21-5, RPI: 19, KP: 19, SOS: 85

It feels like every team in the country has suffered at least one loss since Feb. 8, but Houston is an impressive exception to that rule.

Not only have the Cougars avoided the loss column, but they also picked up two of their best wins of the season along the way, knocking off Cincinnati before throttling Temple on the road.

Rob Gray Jr. is usually the star for this team, but he struggled in both of those games. Rather, it was Corey Davis and Devin Davis leading the way, each scoring at least 16 points in each game. Corey shot a combined 10-of-13 from three-point range, while Devin had a pair of double-doubles down low.

The Cougars have an ugly neutral-court loss to Drexel and a not-great road loss to Tulane on their resume. That’s why they are still in the bubble conversation despite a great record and a total of four wins over teams in the projected field: Cincinnati, Arkansas, Providence and Wichita State.

As long as they don’t shoot themselves in the foot down the stretch, though, they will make the tournament with plenty of room to spare.

Houston is in the projected No. 6/7 seed range with games remaining against Memphis, East Carolina, SMU and Connecticut. The Cougars won’t be able to gain much ground by winning those contests, but they need to avoid taking on bad losses. A 2-2 finish or better should be enough for a bid.

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So we still haven’t done enough to be “in” yet…!!!

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If we lost every single game, including the conference tourney, we’re likely out. If we beat ECU but lose the other three and our first conference tourney game, it gets tougher to call, but I’d bet we’re out, though I think it’s possible we’d make it. I think the 2-2 to completely lock up a bid regardless of results in the conference tourney is probably right. It might get trickier if the losses were the home games since we already have a really bad loss.

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I agree with the assessment, but who the heck is expecting us to go 2-2 with the remaining schedule?

There are a lot of teams that would be “bubble” teams if they go worse than 2-2.

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IMO, we’ll finish the regular season either 25-5 or 24-6. As a team, we are playing the best ball of any team in the AAC and Sampson has the team highly focused.

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I hope Pezman ripped the league but good over not postponing that first Tulane game!

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