Do the Texas A&M Aggies want to keep on dancing or not? Despite being the No. 10 seed, they largely wiped the floor with the No. 7 Saint Mary's Gaels in their first-round game of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night. Bucky McMillan's team took advantage of Saint Mary's being down its best player right before tipoff due to an illness. Thus, Texas A&M prevailed rather comfortably, 63-50.
While Texas A&M was one of the more difficult teams to beat in SEC play, the Houston Cougars are a rough matchup for anyone in any round. The Big 12 juggernauts are the No. 2 seed in the South Region, with an eye on getting back to the Final Four under Kelvin Sampson's watch. Even though anything and everything can happen when it comes to March Madness, Texas A&M is up against it...
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, No. 2 Houston will be laying 10.5 points to No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday evening. The associated moneylines are Houston -600 and Texas A&M +430. The projected point total for this game comes in at a combined 142.5 points. If that were to somehow hold true, we may be looking at a final score somewhere in the range of Houston 76.5, Texas A&M 66. That is tough.
Not since 2018 have the Aggies advanced to the Sweet 16. That is what is at stake in this ball game...
Bucky McMillan will make himself a lot of money with a win over Houston
Although Texas A&M does not have the most robust history on the hardwood, the Aggies have been an NCAA Tournament regular over the last decade. This is their sixth trip to March Madness since 2016. Given that they had only made it 12 times prior to that, this is a bit of a golden age for the program. That being said, 2018 is coming up on a decade. A&M has never been past the Sweet 16...
Admittedly, there are levels to this. While Texas A&M is more than capable of getting past Houston, only one of these teams has a realistic shot at winning a national title this year. Houston was a bucket away from beating Florida for it all a season ago. The Big 12 is loaded at the top, so Texas A&M better be ready for Sampson has in store for them. U of H did not have to flex at all vs. Idaho Thursday night.
In the end, McMillan is a rising star in the coaching profession, while Sampson is a hall-of-fame-level head coach who has done seemingly everything in the sport short of winning a national title. While Texas A&M could potentially knock off the Cougars in the Round of 32, a Sweet 16 berth is probably not going to happen. Then again, it is why March is so special. It is about getting hot at the right time.
At this time, Texas A&M needs to play with the same composure it did vs. Saint Mary's to beat U of H.