Houston, we have a favorite

One week from Selection Sunday. That’s a good feeling (even with an hour less of sleep).

Let's get to Saturday’s news.

1. Houston makes its case the team to beat

HOUSTON — Houston isn’t flashy. It isn’t trendy. And it’s playing style sure isn’t sexy.

But it’s hard to deny that Saturday’s 76-46 win over No. 14 Kansas was a wildly impressive win that should impress the NCAA Tournament seeding committee and a few casual fans, too. It was the first time Kansas suffered a 30-point Big 12 loss since 2000, and the first time it’d scored less than 50 vs. a league foe since 1982. Sure seems sexy as hell.

Kelvin Sampson just shrugs.

“I don’t care about that,” Sampson said. “I just want my kids to compete, do the things we ask them to do to the best of their ability. If we continue to win, we’ll get rewarded. We don’t try to be sexy. We just play Cougar basketball.”

It seems to be working. Sampson and his players celebrated Saturday on the floor of the Fertitta Center, posing for pictures with fans and for nearly an hour afterward.

So why aren’t the Cougars (28-3, 15-3 in Big 12) just as lauded on a national stage? They’re popular with computers — No. 1 across every advanced metrics site — and AP voters. Yet UConn is the reigning champs and almost certainly will be the most popular pick to win the NCAA Tournament. Purdue features the reigning NPOY. Tennessee’s got an NBA-caliber scorer. North Carolina’s got the Nike cachet. And so on.

Houston? It’s merely closing in on its third-straight season with at least 30 wins, and just won the Big 12 outright — the sport’s best and deepest conference — in its first season since coming from the AAC. Why not Houston?

“Today, we had it going on both ends,” senior LJ Cryer said. “Coach says all the time, ‘We’re not a sexy team.’ We’re gonna go out there and play defense, muck the game up. When we play that way, we come out with wins more often than not. For us, it’s not about being sexy. It’s about sticking to our identity.”

That identity’s worked all season, but never more so than against the Jayhawks (22-9, 10-8), the only team to beat Houston in the last 15 games. It crushed KU from the tip, leading 34-9 after 15 minutes, and holding KU to just 33.3% from the field with 18 turnovers.

Last month, Kansas only missed 14 shots all game. On Saturday, it made 18 shots total. Were the Jayhawks full health? No. Hunter Dickinson left with a dislocated shoulder and Kevin McCullar sat out the second half as he continues to recover from a bone bruise. But as coach Bill Self noted afterward, those injuries weren’t what doomed Kansas.

That was Houston. And when it comes to matching up against the likes of UConn, Purdue or Tennessee — the other projected No. 1 seeds, two of which Kansas has beaten this season — Self doesn’t doubt the Cougars’ ability in any of those matchups.

“Houston’s gotta be one of the favorites,” Self said. “I hope they’re the No. 1 overall seed going into the tournament. I personally think that they deserve that winning our league in dominant fashion. Kelvin’s got a team.

“You put those three guards against any guards in the country, they could have great success. (J’Wan) Roberts to me is as good of a big as there is. (Javier) Francis is really good.”

Saturday may have been Houston’s peak — it held Kansas to .69 points per possession, a season low, not to mention it tied a season-high with 11 made 3-pointers — but there’s more to come. And maybe they’ll even snag some new believers along the way.

2. OK, so how’d the other powerhouses fare?

Not every would-be No. 1 seed played as well as Houston.

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