17. Houston Cougars - 8-3
The Cougars started out ranked in the top 5 of the polls but have struggled against the toughest part of the schedule. Losing to Auburn and Alabama is nothing shameful, but the loss to San Diego State made Houston go 1-2 in the Players Era Tournament. To this point, the top wins are over Butler and Notre Dame.
On offense, the backcourt duo of LJ Cryer and Emanuel Sharp leads the team at nearly 15 ppg and both shooting over 40% from three-point range. Terrance Arceneaux is another double-digit scorer, with Oklahoma transfer Milos Uzan (8.8 ppg and 5.1 apg) filling in the role that former Big 12 Player of the Year Jamal Shead left behind.
The defense isn’t the issue at Houston, ranking first nationally at just 55.3 ppg. But the offense has, at times, struggled against better teams. The frontcourt rotation of J’Wan Roberts, Joseph Tugler, and Ja’Vier Francis is great on defense but doesn’t provide a ton of scoring output.
The Cougars have a four-game win streak entering Big 12 play. Their first opponent is Oklahoma State on the road, followed by home games versus BYU and TCU. The first month of games is probably as easy as a Big 12 team can have, so they’ll need to stack up wins before things get difficult on the schedule.