The Houston Cougars men's basketball team is ready for a chance at redemption.

Why it matters: After last year's bitter loss to the Florida Gators in the championship game, the Coogs are ready to turn the page and make another deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Driving the news: Houston will face the Idaho Vandals on Thursday in Oklahoma City in the first round. Tipoff is at 9:10pm on truTV.

By the numbers: Houston earned the No. 2 seed in the South Region after reaching the Big 12 Tournament final, losing 79-74 to the Arizona Wildcats, which got the No. 1 seed in the West Region.

• The Cougars are 28-6 heading into the tournament.

The intrigue: Florida is the No. 1 seed in the South Region, setting up a potential rematch in the regional finals.

Catch up quick: The Cougars have earned tournament berths eight years in a row.

• In 2025, they reached their first national championship game since the Phi Slama Jama era of the 1980s. Houston also made it to the Final Four in 2021, the Elite Eight in 2022 and Sweet 16 in both 2023 and 2024.

Yes, but: As the team — and college basketball — has evolved over the years, head coach Kelvin Sampson is increasingly relying on freshman and less-experienced players to contend for this year's title.

• Eight of the 14 players on the roster are freshmen or sophomores, including Pearland native Bryce Jackson.

What they're saying: "This is the first time where we've jumped off the deep end and just depended on freshmen — and we paid the price in a lot of games," Sampson told the Houston Chronicle this week.

• "But I understood it. You just have to accept it. Once you make the decision, you don't get to second-guess it."

Between the lines: Veterans are also playing big roles.

• Fifth-year senior guard Emanuel Sharp is averaging 15.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this season.
• Guard Milos Uzan, also a fifth-year senior, is averaging 11.1 points, 4 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game.

What's next: Houston would face the Texas A&M Aggies in the second round if both teams with their first-round matchups.

The NCAA tournaments for men's and women's college basketball features more than a dozen Texas teams.

Driving the news: The men's tournament tipped off yesterday while the women's begins tonight.

• Here's who's playing aside from the Houston men's team:

Men's tournament

🚨 Texas Tech (5) will face Akron (12) at 11:40am Friday.

🐸 Texas Christian (9) will face Ohio State (8) at 11:15am tomorrow.

👍 Texas A&M (10) will face Saint Mary's (7) at 6:35pm tomorrow.

🤠 Texas (11) beat NC State 68-66 last night in the First Four and will face BYU at 6:25pm tomorrow.

🐎 Southern Methodist (11) will face Miami (Ohio) (11) at 8:15pm tonight in the First Four.

😼 Prairie View A&M (16) will face Lehigh (16) at 5:40pm tonight in the First Four.

Women's tournament

🤠 Texas (1) will face the winner of Missouri State and Stephen F. Austin at 3pm Friday.

🐸 Texas Christian (3) will face UC San Diego (14) at 11am Friday.

🐻 Baylor (6) will face the winner of Richmond and Nebraska at 1pm Friday.

🚨 Texas Tech (7) will face Villanova (10) at 7:30pm Friday.

🐦 UT San Antonio (16) will face UConn (1) at 2pm Saturday.

🪓 Stephen F. Austin (16) will face Missouri State (16) at 8pm tonight in the First Four.

What's next: The men's tournament will culminate in the championship game April 6 in Indianapolis.

• The women's championship is April 5 in Phoenix.

🔥 Authorities will set ablaze portions of the Houston Arboretum today in an effort to control future wildfires. (Houston Fire Department)

⚡️ A group of University of Houston professors say their research could transform how electricity is transported after they broke a superconductivity record. (Houston Public Media)

🧨 A Houston woman says she was hit in the face by a stray firework during an Astros postgame fireworks show last season and is suing for $1 million in damages from the team and an Austin-based company that ran the show.

• Neither the Astros nor the company have formally responded to the lawsuit. (Chron)

👋 Jay here! I celebrated my birthday with dinner at Houston's newest steakhouse, thanks to my doting girlfriend, and had to shout from the rooftops about it.

Dig in: Star Rover opened in the Heights last month as a retro homage to the Texas steakhouse experience.

• Inside, the Texan decor is reminiscent of another famous roadhouse, but seriously elevated. You even get free, twice-baked rolls to start. Plus, there are Skee-Ball machines!

What to order: I started the night with A Perfect Manhattan ($13), a lovely rye and bourbon concoction.

• The 12 oz. ribeye ($63) was the right choice. It was seriously a whopper of a steak and saved well enough to fill homemade burritos the next morning.
• We mentioned it was my birthday and I was delighted to find I did not receive a restaurant-wide sing-along — but they did comp dessert. We split a slice of Chocolate Chess pie ($8) and vowed to learn how to make it ourselves because it was so good.

Pro tip: The restaurant is dark. Really dark.

• Be sure to not use flash photography, like I did accidentally for this dispatch.

The bottom line: Consider this for your next date night. Just practice your Skee-Ball skills before promising to hit a big score.