No easy roads to Houston for Bears, Frogs and Islanders

The state of Texas landed seven teams in the NCAA Tournament.

But with Houston, Texas and Texas A&M all grouped in the Midwest Region, the prospect of an all-Texas Final Four at NRG is pretty much out the window, unless No. 16 seed TSU gets on a roll in the East Region.

Here’s how the other Texas schools in the tournament are seeded and their prospects for making it to Houston:

Baylor

The Bears (22-10) drew the No. 3 seed in the South.

Baylor, which won the 2021 title, will open against UC Santa Barbara (27-7). After that, potential obstacles on the way to Houston would be Creighton in the second round, No. 2 seed Arizona in the Sweet 16 and then perhaps top overall seed Alabama.

Freshman Keyonte George will likely be the key for the Bears along with LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler. Defense has been the big issue for Scott Drew’s team.

TCU

The Horned Frogs (21-12) are seeded sixth in the West.

TCU will have to wait on its first-round opponent until Arizona State and Nevada play on Wednesday in Dayton as the play-in No. 11 seeds.

The key for TCU, which has shown itself capable of big wins (see victories over Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Texas) is the health of Mike Miles Jr., who missed five games with a knee injury. He returned for last five of regular season but his shooting was off.

Jamie Dixon’s team faces a hard road to Houston with No. 3 Gonzaga looming in second round and No. 2 UCLA and No. 1 Kansas in the Sweet 16.

A&M-Corpus Christi

The Islanders (23-10) won the Southland Conference tournament, played this year in Lake Charles, La., instead of its former home in Katy.

They are in the NCAAs for the second year in a row and have three players from that team back: Trevian Tennyson, Isaac Mushila and Terrion Murdix.

The Islanders open against Southeast Missouri State in a First Four game on Tuesday in Dayton and then would have to take on No. 1 overall seed, Alabama.