Texas A&M has been named the 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament against the Saint Mary's Gaels. They may not be a mainstream blueblood like Duke or North Carolina, but Saint Mary's will be a handful.
Randy Bennett has coached the Gaels for over two decades and has won multiple conference championships. Usually, only Gonzaga stands in their way, but the Gaels lost in the WCC semifinals against Santa Clara this season. Even though it's the WCC against the SEC, the Aggies are still embracing the underdog role.
Bucky McMillan doesn't care what seed his team is. He loves being an underdog, and that's what the Aggies will be for the majority of the tournament.
Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M are embracing the underdog role
The Aggies don't have their best player, Mackenzie Mgbako, and they haven't had him for most of the season, but that didn't stop the Aggies from being the best in the SEC at one point. After the Florida loss, they started to fall apart.
Texas A&M head coach Bucky McMillan: "I'm competitive, confident, and I have an underdog spirit to me. We're a No. 10 seed in this tournament so I hope our guys are competitive, confident, and take on that underdog spirit in this tournament."
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) March 18, 2026
To be fair, the Florida Gators have been one of the hottest teams since conference play started, but the Aggies have been an underdog team all season long. They weren't supposed to be here, according to Joe Lunardi's predictions from before the season started.
Texas A&M guard Rylan Griffen on A&M's underdog mentality: "I think it helps us, but that's how we should be going into all of these games. They're all single elimination. So we have to come out with a different type of edge and play like our life is on the line, because it is."
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) March 18, 2026
Maybe like the 1980 hockey game between the Soviets and the Americans, nine times out of 10, the Soviets might win nine, but the great thing about March Madness. It's one game to decide who moves on.
One CBB personality is already giving the Aggies a chance to advance to the Sweet 16. Beating Saint Mary's is doable, but to beat No. 2 Houston would take a perfect game. This is a team full of underdog guys as it is, but this has been a team with no expectations all season long.
The Ags must continue that if they want to move on to play on Saturday.