NCAA Basketball: Ranking the Sweet 16 teams in 2022 NCAA Tournament

9. Houston (#5 seed)

Last season Houston made it all the way to the Final Four, but things are certainly different this season. First of all, the Cougars had a comically easy region, defeating four double-digit seeds last year on their way to that Final Four. Next, consider that two of the Cougars’ starters were lost for the season back in January. Still, this has looked like one of the country’s best squads, surviving even after those two big losses.

Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark may be gone, but Houston is still churning out the impressive wins, starting with their opening round 82-68 victory over 12-seed UAB. Kyler Edwards had 25 points and 7 rebounds as the Cougars led from start to finish against their former conference foe. Their performance two days later was far more impressive, handing 4-seed Illinois a 68-53 defeat with a solid offensive push late in the game. Taze Moore (21 points) and Jamal Shead (18 points) were unconscious in the victory, a very nice defensive effort, especially against the bigs of the Illini.

The analytics love Houston, but they didn’t exactly have a plethora of impressive wins during the regular season. The way they handled Illinois was certainly impressive and perhaps proof that they deserved better than a 5-seed in this Tournament. The way that other players have picked up the slack after those two major injuries has been impressive, and this team might just have enough firepower to make more noise in March. A formidable foe in Arizona awaits and it’s going to take even more magic and defensive intensity to knock off the South region’s top seed.