College Basketball

NCAA Tournament Bracket Forecast: Houston moves up to No. 1 seed

Updated Jan. 15, 2023 6:57 p.m. ET

Houston is back at the No. 1 spot in this week's AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll. After running off nine straight wins and going 5-0 to start American Athletic Conference play, the Cougars are also moving up in the latest NCAA Tournament projections from FOX Sports bracket forecaster Mike DeCourcy.

Kelvin Sampson's team joins Alabama, Purdue and Kansas as 1-seeds in DeCourcy's latest bracket forecast, which was released on Friday.

Arizona, Gonzaga, UCLA and Tennessee make up the No. 2 seeds in DeCourcy's projections. The Zags moved up to the 2-line following an impressive road win over BYU on Thursday night. Mark Few's squad has now won 10 games in a row after starting the season 5-3.

UConn, which appeared on the top-seed line in Tuesday's projections, dropped to a No. 3 seed following an 82-76 loss to Marquette. The Huskies have dropped three of their past four games after starting 14-0. Texas, Kansas State and Xavier also appear as No. 3 seeds.

Arkansas, Iowa State, Virginia and Miami (FL) make up the No. 4 seeds.

When it comes to conference representation, the Big Ten leads the way with nine bids, followed by eight from the ACC. The Big 12 has seven teams represented, while the SEC has six. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 and Big East each have four teams. The American has three teams, while the Mountain West and WCC each have two teams represented.

Looking at teams on the bubble, DeCourcy has West Virginia, Utah, UCF and Iowa as the last four teams in, with Northwestern, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and Indiana on the outside looking in.

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