The top-seeded Houston Cougars have been knocking on the door in recent seasons and now appear primed to make a championship run.Houston has reached the Sweet 16 the past five times the NCAA Tournament has been played. That includes a Final Four appearance in 2021 and the Elite Eight in 2022.Last season’s run was sabotaged when All-America point guard Jamal Shead badly sprained his right ankle and missed the final 26 1/2 minutes of a 54-51 loss to Duke in the Sweet 16.This season, the Cougars feel more battle-tested than ever after going 19-1 in the Big 12 regular season and then winning three more games to claim the conference tournament title. They won at least 30 games for the fourth straight season and are the class of this region.The second-seeded Tennessee Volunteers were one of the better teams in a Southeastern Conference that was full of top-flight teams. The Volunteers run into offensive hiccups at times, so they clearly fall in line below Houston.No. 3 seed Kentucky, No. 4 seed Purdue and No. 5 seed Clemson are also in this bracket. And you can’t overlook No. 8 Gonzaga, which has made nine straight Sweet 16s.Purdue lost to UConn in last season’s title game but doesn’t have the same pizzazz, though they still have the same passing wizard in point guard Braden Smith.TOP SHOTThe old-school coaching methods of Kelvin Sampson resonate with the Cougars, who play their traditional tough defense along with a team-first offensive approach. Four Cougars score in double digits — led by L.J. Cryer’s 15.2 average — and Houston ranks second nationally in scoring defense at 58.5 points per game.Tennessee will go as far as point guard Zakai Zeigler (13.8 ppg, 7.3 assists) can take the club, because leading scorer Chaz Lanier (17.7) is prone to inconsistency. Kentucky beat a lot of good teams but is short-handed as point guard Lamont Butler (shoulder) is ailing and shooter Jaxson Robinson (wrist) is done for the season.Guess who doesn’t want to be asked about his first opponent being a double-digit seed? That would be Purdue coach Matt Painter, who saw his Boilermakers lose to such seeds in three straight NCAA tournaments (twice in the first round) prior to last season’s dash to the title game.GAMES TO WATCHNo. 4 Purdue vs. No. 13 High PointThere was the embarrassing loss to No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023, the humiliating setback against No. 15 Saint Peter’s in 2022 and the improbable defeat against No. 13 North Texas in 2021. Even back in 2016, there was the stunning double-overtime loss to No. 12 Little Rock. Rest assured High Point wasn’t overly mad to get pitted against Purdue for its first-ever NCAA Tournament game.The Panthers overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half in the Big South title game while rallying to beat Winthrop. High Point has won 14 consecutive games and hasn’t lost in two months, so the players have the proper confidence level to slay a Big Ten program known for taking low-caliber opponents lightly.No. 8 Gonzaga vs. No. 9 GeorgiaIt will be a battle of Bulldogs in this affair with the Gonzaga edition falling a couple notches from its perch in recent seasons. However, the Zags were hot down the stretch with four straight wins and nine of their past 10. Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference tournament title by playing the game at Saint Mary’s (sloooow) level.Georgia won four straight games late in the season — including an upset of a Florida team that earned a No. 1 seed — so a first-round SEC tournament loss to Oklahoma had no effect on its NCAA hopes. The presence of star freshman Asa Newell gives Georgia a strong chance at beating the Zags.No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Utah StateUCLA went 4-4 to close the season and was routed by Wisconsin in its first game of the Big Ten tournament. The Bruins torched Southern California by 27 in its regular-season finale, so there’s no telling which version might show up. A strong game by Tyler Bilodeau, who leads the Bruins with 13.6 points per game, would help their chances.Utah State is in the tournament for the third straight season under a third different coach. That alone is pretty impressive. The Aggies also went 4-4 down the stretch with the last three setbacks coming by 17 points to Boise State and 27 and 11 points to red-hot Colorado State. Ian Martinez (78 3-pointers) loves to fire away.GET TO KNOWBraden Smith, PurdueThe Big Ten player of the year has top-level instincts as a point guard and holds the school record of 732 assists though he is only a junior. Smith also is second on the team in scoring at 16.1 points while making a team-high 78 3-pointers.Otega Oweh, KentuckyThe 6-foot-4 guard averages a team-best 16.2 points and has notched 12 20-point outings. He’s always looked to in the clutch and drove the length of the court against three defenders for a buzzer-beating basket to slay Oklahoma (his former program) in the second round of the SEC tourney.