The NCAA Tournament favorite might not be from the ACC, or the SEC either...

March Madness does not care how good your team was during the regular season. The teams that are playing the hottest brand of basketball are often rewarded for it in both their conference and NCAA Tournaments. And while teams like Auburn and Duke proven all year that they have ability to win it all, there may not be a program better equipped to go on a deep run than Kelvin Sampson's Houston Cougars.

Houston just completed Cougar-on-Cougar warfare by dismantling BYU in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, 74-54. The top-seeded Coogs will now play No. 3 Arizona on Saturday evening in Kansas City for its league's automatic qualifying bid. Along with the Big Ten and the SEC, the Big 12 is expected to get a boat load of at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament. But amid all the hype around other title contenders, Houston is the team no one is talking about.

Heading into the conference tournaments, the AP decided that the Cougars were the No. 2 team in the land, trailing only Duke and right ahead of SEC contenders Auburn, Florida and Alabama. Houston is probably going to get one of the four No. 1 seeds heading into March Madness. Rapidly approaching 30 wins on the season, the Cougars could be a problem for just about anyone this March.

Given that BYU is going to comfortably making the tournament at-large, this stat is jaw-dropping:

We are looking at a team who could make the Final Four, possibly winning its first title in program history.

Houston Cougars are gelling at the right time ahead of March Madness

We remember Phi Slama Jama of old with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon doing extraordinary things on the collegiate hardwood in the early 1980s. While Houston never won a national championship during that run, the Cougars made it to three straight Final Fours from 1982 to 1984. Now under Sampson, Houston is experiencing their second great run as a college program.

The Cougars have made the NCAA Tournament every season since 2018 under his watch. They have made it to the last five Sweet 16s. Houston made it to the Elite Eight in 2021 and 2022, making it all the way to the Final Four in 2021. This program has reinvested its dividends under Sampson and could reap the benefits of that with one of the most well-rounded teams out there.

Of course, Houston could still flame out early. Then again, recent history under Sampson would suggest otherwise: Whenever you are filling out your bracket, you should move Houston all the way to Sweet 16 before even thinking about it. From there, you may move them a few rounds further than that. This team is playing with fire and is not going to slow down.

To think Sampson has yet to win an NCAA Tournament in his illustrious career is almost bonkers, y'all.