{"id":657951,"date":"2026-03-14T12:51:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/657951\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T12:51:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:51:21","slug":"where-texas-am-lands-after-sec-tournament-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/657951\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Texas A&M lands after SEC Tournament loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

COLLEGE STATION \u2014 Texas A&M basketball<\/a>‘s 20-point loss Thursday to Oklahoma<\/a> in the SEC Tournament might leave a sour taste, but the\u00a0Aggies should get a chance for redemption when it counts most.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Aggies ended the regular season on a two-game winning streak, finishing 21-10 with an 11-7 conference record under first-year head coach\u00a0Bucky McMillan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

While A&M’s time in Nashville, Tenn., may have been brief and one it’d prefer to forget quickly, its entire body of work in\u00a0McMillan’s first season should still secure the Aggies a spot in the 68-team field.<\/p>\n

Here’s what fans should keep in mind ahead of Selection Sunday.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Our prediction and what you need to know about Texas A&M baseball vs Oklahoma<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan talks to Texas A&M Aggies guard Ruben Dominguez (9) before he subs into the game during the second half of Lone Star Showdown, Jan. 17, 2026 at the Moody Center in Austin. Texas A&M won the game 74-70.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Texas A&M basketball’s NCAA Tournament r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u00a0<\/p>\n

McMillan has been clear from the beginning that his team has deficiencies. With the lack of height forcing forwards like Rashaun Agee<\/a> and others to guard and rebound against centers, the A&M head coach acknowledges that his team must adapt their style of basketball to have a chance.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Thursday’s loss to Oklahoma revealed the team’s shortcomings when it failed to play to its identity. The normally reliable 3-point shooting Aggies struggled from beyond the arc, making just 26% of their 31 attempts and scoring a season-low 63 points.<\/p>\n

“We got to call it what it is,” McMillan started following Thursday’s loss. “We’re not loaded up with tremendous size. When we go out there, the first half of a basketball game and (shoot) it 22% from three versus a team that makes 40% from three, we’re going to have to really finish at the rim and do the other things well. We didn’t do that.”<\/p>\n

Despite the weaknesses the head coach is often willing to discuss, this is a team that, when hot, has proven it can compete with anyone in college basketball. Road wins over\u00a0Auburn<\/a>, Texas<\/a> and Georgia <\/a>have shown the Aggies are battle-tested against tournament-caliber teams. Even a double-overtime loss to Tennessee<\/a>, a last-second defeat to Alabama<\/a> that was one rimmed-out shot away from going to overtime, and a one-point loss to Missouri<\/a> demonstrate that on any given night, A&M can compete\u00a0with quality\u00a0opponents.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

“So we’ve seen highs and lows with this team,” McMillan said. “Hopefully in the next one, going forward, we play an A-plus game, because you’re going to have to play an A-plus game this time of year.”<\/p>\n

McMillan, for his part, is 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament, making his lone appearance in 2024 with Samford.<\/p>\n

A team that started the year with only one scholarship athlete and a head coach hired just\u00a0three days before the\u00a0transfer portal window opened\u00a0still matched last year’s conference win total. Aggies finished 23-11 in 2025, going 11-7 en route to earning a four-seed in the\u00a0NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

Although the SEC isn’t as strong overall as last year, winning more than 10 games in arguably the best college basketball conference should be considered tournament-worthy.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

“We got to be us. You could see us turn around this next game, and we could sit here making 40% of threes and say, ‘Man, how did y’all get beat by 20 in the SEC Tournament?,’ McMillan said. “That happens when we got a bunch of guys playing an A-plus game. So that’s what we got to get back to, giving them confidence to do that.”<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Texas A&M basketball vs Oklahoma: Aggies fall to Sooners in SEC Tournament<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas A&M Aggies forward Rashaun Agee (12) talks to his team ahead of the Texas Longhorns\u2019 game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena in College Station, Feb. 28, 2026. Texas won the game 76-70.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Latest Aggies bracketology projection<\/p>\n

As of Friday morning, A&M appears somewhat comfortably in the NCAA Tournament field, per one leading\u00a0bracketologist.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Even after its 20-point loss, the\u00a0Aggies still remain off ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s<\/a> bubble watch.<\/p>\n

“Bucky McMillan’s squad is not exactly a ‘lock,’ but five Quadrant 1 victories combined with a top 10 ranking among SEC teams in our r\u00e9sum\u00e9 rating (low 40s nationally) still gives the Aggies an 77% at-large chance,” Lunardi wrote<\/a>. “They still have an edge over other SEC bubble hopefuls as they await Selection Sunday.”<\/p>\n

In his latest projection, Lunardi has A&M as a nine-seed in the West\u00a0region, facing eight-seeded UCLA. He lists\u00a0VCU, Missouri, SMU and Texas in his “last four in” category, a group that would likely need to win in Dayton to secure a spot in the field of 64.<\/p>\n

A&M is even separate from his “last four byes.” That group includes North Carolina State, Santa Clara,\u00a0UCF and Miami Ohio.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Lunardi’s group of “first four out” includes Oklahoma, Auburn, New Mexico and San Diego State. The “next four out” group lists Indiana, Stanford, Cincinnati and Seton Hall.<\/p>\n

With A&M’s impressive win over Kentucky<\/a>, followed by a hard-fought triple-overtime victory<\/a> on the road against LSU in the last week of the regular season, it seems like that might be enough to get them into the field.<\/p>\n

The question now is: Where will they play and who will they play?<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Reach Texas A&M beat reporter Tony Catalina via email at Anthony.Catalina@statesman.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEGE STATION \u2014 Texas A&M basketball‘s 20-point loss Thursday to Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament might leave a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,8714,217,7456,37588,231,772,1400,1544,12753,83919,54533,54208,54721,47674],"class_list":["post-657951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-bucky-mcmillan","tag-college-basketball","tag-march-madness","tag-men-s-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-ncaab","tag-sec-basketball","tag-sec-basketball-tournament","tag-sec-men-s-basketball","tag-texas-a-m-aggies-men-s-basketball","tag-texas-am-aggies-basketball","tag-texas-am-basketball"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116227624117787095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}