Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M Basketball are officially in the NCAA Tournament. After being the last power 5 coach hired, weeks late to the transfer portal, and only having one returning player who almost never saw the floor, Coach McMillan defied all of the preseason expectations and put together a team that has won 21 games in year 1 and made his first NCAA Tournament as a power 5 head coach.
The Aggies officially are a 10-seed and will be taking on the 7-seed, Saint Mary's in Oklahoma City on Thursday. The winner will likely take on the Houston Cougars on Saturday barring a massive upset.
The Gaels are a very solid team with 27-5 overall record this year and only 2 losses in their conference. They also have non-conference losses to both Vanderbilt and Boise State. Within their conference, the Gaels have two notable wins over Gonzaga and Santa Clara while they also have a loss to Gonzaga and 2 losses to Santa Clara. Their only win over a power conference team this year was early against Virgina Tech, a non- tournament team.
Texas A&M set to face off with St. Mary's in first round of NCAA Tournament
This is a tough but doable draw for the Aggies. They are known as a slower paced team that does things the right way. They are a fairly tall team with two 7-footers, they shoot the ball well, and rebound well, but things could be very different against the pace that the Aggies will likely bring to the table.
The Gaels have now made 5 straight NCAA Tournaments. During that time, they won 3/4 of their first-round games against two 12 seeds and Vanderbilt, a 10 seed, last year. They never made it to the sweet 16 in that stretch. Their lone first-round loss during their current streak came two years ago to 12-seed Grand Canyon.
The Aggies will need to be hot shooting the ball to beat the Gaels, and they will need to limit their mistakes. If they manage to make it through their first-round matchup, they'll likely get the Houston Cougars. Houston is a monster defensively but can be very hit or miss shooting the ball. The Path for the Aggies certainly isn't impossible, but they'll have to show up and play their brand of basketball if they want a shot.
If the Aggies somehow manage to make it through their first two games, they'll get a little bit of a reward to play in Houston against a likely 6-seed UNC or 3-seed Illinois. Check back on Wednesday for our full preview of Thursday's matchup against the Saint Mary's Gaels.