Auburn and Duke are almost universally regarded as the top two teams in the country as we approach the NCAA Tournament. After all, Blue Devils star freshman Cooper Flagg — the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft — and Auburn senior forward Johni Broome have been in the conversation for National Player of the Year all season and have their teams eyeing No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, running roughshod over just about everybody they've faced this season.
The two programs also lead the NET rankings with a combined record of 21-6 against Quad 1 opponents. But for as good as Duke and Auburn have been with only six losses between the two of them, Houston is close behind in third. The Cougars have already locked up the outright Big 12 regular-season title and set the Big 12 and program record for the most conference wins in a single season (18) on Monday night against Kansas.
Each of Houston's losses have come to teams currently projected in the NCAA Tournament field, while a nine-game winning streak has Kelvin Sampson's team as hot as any in the country right now. With Selection Sunday one week from Sunday, the current predicted efficiency landscape shows Duke, Auburn and Houston grouped pretty tightly as title favorites.
Less than 2 weeks from Selection Sunday, here is the current predicted efficiency landscape in college basketball from https://t.co/cegyfz96ax, split into tiers.
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) March 5, 2025
There's a big gap between the Duke, Houston, Auburn, and the rest of the country 👇 pic.twitter.com/KLcoeaJ05J
Houston is deserving of more respect and continues to prove why
While the Cougars are not a team that is going to win a shootout on most nights, their defense is a force to be reckoned with. Houston leads the country with only 58 points per game allowed, which has been on full display during a nine-game winning streak in which they've each opponent to 65 points or less. It was only the second game of the season, but Houston lost by just five to Auburn on Nov. 9, which shows the potential that's there for the Cougars.
Balanced scoring has made Houston hard to contain on offense as well. Seniors L.J. Cryer (15 PPG) and J'Wan Roberts (11.1 PPG) and juniors Emanuel Sharp (11.8 PPG) and Milos Uzan (10.9 PPG) have led the way all season, and give Houston a multitude of options when points are a premium.
All three teams are in position to be No. 1 seeds and a difficult matchup for anyone that faces them. Houston may not have the National Player of the Year or get brought up as frequently as Duke or Auburn, but the Cougars are dangerous and could be primed for another Final Four run. In each of the last four seasons, Houston has made it to at least the second weekend of the tournament, with a Final Four berth in 2020-21. The Cougars deserve to be among the favorites and will have a chance to prove why in the coming weeks.