By Brant Daughtry

On to the Next

One down, ideally five to go.

Houston is a tough test.  Kelvin Sampson is a good coach, and is in his 9th year with the Cougars. He’s a Tournament veteran, with 17 appearances to his name. He’s also got a couple of Final Four appearances, one of them coming at Houston. He’s a great coach with a great team, reflected by their status as a number 1 seed.

This is a team that’s built on defense. They have the number 2 scoring defense in the country, holding opponents to an average of 56.4 points per game. They’re ranked 1st in NET, and have played their way to a 32-3 conference record. This is a team that wins, and wins their way. They’ve held several teams to 50 points or less, and even though that’s their weaker competition, it’s darn impressive. This is a team that is fine winning ugly rock fights.

Players to Watch For:

Guard Marcus Sasser, #0- Sasser is the guy on offense for Houston. He’s one of two players that averages more than 30 minutes per game, and scores 16.7 points per game, best on the team. He’s very dangerous from three, shooting 38% on the year. While he’s not the only danger from the Cougars, he’s by far the most dangerous. Something to note though, Sasser has been dealing with an injury to his groin lately, and went down in the Cougars’ first round game and didn’t come back. If he does play, he’ll be very limited.

Auburn didn’t play well for all 40 minutes against Iowa, but it played well enough. That team was way too talented to not go on a run at some point. It git dicey, but Auburn held on and finished a close one. Johni Broome put up an insane performance, and Auburn will need more of that going forward. Scoring, rebounding, and defending were all stellar. Wendell Green, despite the criticisms of some fans, showed off how clutch he could be in the final few minutes. When it was necessary, the guys stepped up. You’re going to need a lot more of that.