March Madness Bubble Team: Houston

The Houston Cougars are having a solid season on the basketball court, going 18-8 straight-up and 9-5 in conference play. With four games remaining the Cougars have an excellent chance to get to 20 wins, but will it be enough?

USA Today’s Jeff Sagarin has Houston rated No. 46, while Sonny Moore has the Cougars ranked No. 53. There are going to be 32 teams to receive automatic invites to the NCAA Tournament, leaving Houston on the bubble right now. Wednesday’s game with Connecticut could be big, as the Cougars have beaten up on weaker teams, but struggled against better ones.

The Cougars are 0-3 against teams ranked in Sagarin’s top 25 and 0-4 against teams ranked in his top 50. They’ve lost both games to SMU and dropped their first game against Cincinnati. A home loss to Harvard doesn’t help the Cougarsone bit. Nor do wins over the likes of Liberty, South Dakota and Prairie View A & M.

From a bettor’s standpoint, the Cougars have been good bets as favorites, going 11-7 against the spread. But Houston is 0-4 as an underdog, which isn’t the sign of a tournament team.

SMU and Cincinnati are both almost assured of making the field of 68, but it’s big question if three American Athletic Conference will get in. Unless the Cougars advance to the finals of the conference tournament and pick-up at least one quality win, it’s unlikely. The Cougars may well get to 20 wins, but still be relegated to one of the other minor tournaments.