Texas A&M basketball, forged in fires of injury-plagued stretch, can be championship squad with healthy final run
Texas A&M basketball is putting together maybe the best season Aggie fans have ever seen on the hardwood. Buzz Williams's squad has been stellar throughout this year, busting stereotypes and knocking off big names in the basketball world all season.
Though the Aggies have faced what stacks up as one of the most difficult schedules in the entire country— certainly one of the most difficult A&M has ever played as a program— they have still put together a considerable number of wins. That's the kind of thing that the committee will look at favorably when Selection Sunday rolls around.
The most impressive part is that they've done this while navigating one of the most unlucky spate of injuries we've seen in Buzz's time in Aggieland. The Ags have been relatively healthy in several years under Buzz— they've just undergone inexplicable losing streaks anyhow.
But nearly every loss this season has come with the Aggies missing one or more rotation players— starters, more often than not— for a large stretch of the game (or the entire thing). Zhuric Phelps missed game one against UCF. Wade Taylor was out for the Alabama and Kentucky losses. Solomon Washington was forced to leave early against Texas, before the Longhorns' comeback gave them the win.
If the Aggies can properly recover from that injury bug and roll into March with a fully healthy squad, it'll be a scary sight for the rest of college basketball. Buzz's teams have only gotten better as the year goes on throughout his tenure in College Station, so it stands to reason that this one will improve as March and April progress.
This A&M team has a chance to reach some rarified air. A final four could indeed be in the cards if things go right— and I like where they're headed.