“We earned it,” said senior guard Marcus Sasser. “We have a got team and it’s tournament time. Anything could happen. This is what we’ve prepared for all season and it’s here now. We have to go out and play like it’s our last game, because it might be.”
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The University of Houston locked in a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament over the weekend, being named the top seed in the Midwest region after wining the American Athletic Conference regular season and making it to the postseason championship game.
For the Cougars, it is only the second time in history that they have competed as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the first time since 1982-83.
The Cougars first No. 1 seed in 40 years comes after a regular season where they went 31-3, and earned a game against Northern Kentucky, the No. 16 seed after winning the Horizon League. Houston will face Northern Kentucky on Thursday in Birmingham Ala.
“When you get a No. 1 seed, that’s reflective of the respect they give your program,” said Univeristy of Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson. “Our kids earned the right to be a one seed and I’m proud of them.”
It won’t be an easy path for the Cougars though, as the Midwest Region also includes No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Xavier, No. 4 Indiana.
“I just watched Northern Kentucky play Cleveland,” Sampson said. “They’re a good team, I got reminded they beat Cincinnati and Cincinnati is pretty good. You have your work cut out for you every game in the tournament.”
The first two rounds of the tournament in the Midwest region will be played in Alabama, before the sweet 16 and elite eight is played in Kansas City for the region. The winners of that come back to Houston to play in the Final Four at NRG Stadium.
Houston will move on to play the winner of Auburn and Miami in the second round, and if they both made it could face the University of Texas in the elite eight.
Houston was ranked in te final AP poll of the season as the No. 2 team in the nation behind Alabama. The other teams to earn No. 1 seeds along with Houston were the Crimson Tide, Purdue and Kansas.
“We earned it,” said senior guard Marcus Sasser. “We have a got team and it’s tournament time. Anything could happen. This is what we’ve prepared for all season and it’s here now. We have to go out and play like it’s our last game, because it might be.”