Texas A&M basketball faces Ole Miss in SEC Tournament tonight; win could flip Aggies’ NCAA tourney fortunes
I’ve made a lot of the vacillating projections for this Texas A&M basketball squad’s NCAA tournament chances this season, especially over the past few weeks. The time for speculation, though, is growing dimmer and dimmer: in only a few short days, we will finally have our answer as to whether the Aggies have made the Big Dance.
You’d want things to be a bit more secure by this time, but the chips have fallen this way. Just like the nature of the game itself, this has been a season of runs—four-game losing streak here, five game winning streak there, another five game losing skid, and on and on.
Tonight’s game, though, with what the Aggies have yet accomplished, could be the clincher. Texas A&M basketball faces off with Ole Miss at 6 PM CT tonight. Joe Lunardi, in his projections that came out earlier this morning, said that a win gets the Aggies in… “for now.” Ole Miss, currently 92 in the NET, would be another Quad 2 win for the Aggies (currently 6-3 in such games).
However, the Aggies are right on the cut line. That means, just like in 2022, a bid-stealing conference Cinderella could knock the Aggies out if they win this one but fail to advance any further. To feel comfortable, in other words, you are going to have to fell the mighty Kentucky Wildcats once more.
There’s not much more to preview in the way of the Ole Miss Rebels. The last game for both teams was against each other, after all. The Rebs are functionally out of the running for a tourney bid outside of winning the conference tournament, which would be quite a hill to climb.
Last time, it was the hot shooting of Manny Obaseki and the pesky Aggie defense that led to a big blowout in favor of the Ags. Will Chris Beard’s squad be better-prepared for the Ags this time? Can Obaseki keep up his stellar play? We’ll have to see.
The ideal scenario for the Ags is a respective no and yes, of course. A nice, stress-free tourney game where we see the reserves take the floor for the final five minutes would be just what the doctor ordered for Texas A&M basketball fans. Let’s hope this streak of improved execution continues for the Aggies tonight.