Why Texas A&M basketball's loss to Florida may actually help them in NCAA Tournament

Here's how Texas A&M basketball losing to Florida could help them in the long run for March Madness

There's no doubt that Texas A&M basketball blowing an 18-point lead to Florida in the SEC semifinals is a disappointing outcome. However, if I am one thing, it is a guy who looks for the silver linings. Some may call this "toxic positivity": to them, I say "this is a blog about Sports. Please stop bringing stale buzzwords to this Sports blog."

For both of the past two years, Texas A&M basketball has made the finals of the SEC tournament. This has been quite the achievement, as the Aggies have had to defeat several much more skilled opponents along the way both times, just as they did this season. However, the championship game in each of these two instances saw an Aggie team that looked like they were out of gas.

That makes sense. After all, these were marquee matchups on back-to-back (to-back) days, and the Aggies were having to make long runs. Though the 2022 squad was able to carry momentum into the NIT, the 2023 team fell flat on their face directly after a loss to Alabama in the SEC championship.

This time, though, the Aggies are out in the semis. They have done enough to make their way into the NCAA tournament field safely after an extended period where that prospect was in real doubt. They perhaps could have improved their seed line by a modest amount, but likely would not have made their way up to the 7 line even if they won the whole thing.

Staying in the 7-10 matchup may not be the worst thing, either. As much as 8-9 games are usually considered essentially coin flips, 7-10 games have been very similar in recent years. Additionally, the second round matchup, were the Aggies to win, would be much easier: the Aggies would draw a 2 seed (or, I guess, a 15-seed) instead of a 1.

I say these things to say this: this is still an Aggie team with momentum and much improved play here down the stretch. They were unable to carry that over into the Big Dance last year, but this year could be a different story. Here's hoping that's the case.