COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M basketball‘s 20-point loss Thursday to Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament might leave a sour taste, but the Aggies should get a chance for redemption when it counts most.
The Aggies ended the regular season on a two-game winning streak, finishing 21-10 with an 11-7 conference record under first-year head coach Bucky McMillan.
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While A&M’s time in Nashville, Tenn., may have been brief and one it’d prefer to forget quickly, its entire body of work in McMillan’s first season should still secure the Aggies a spot in the 68-team field.
Here’s what fans should keep in mind ahead of Selection Sunday.
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Texas A&M Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan talks to Texas A&M Aggies guard Ruben Dominguez (9) before he subs into the game during the second half of Lone Star Showdown, Jan. 17, 2026 at the Moody Center in Austin. Texas A&M won the game 74-70.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
Texas A&M basketball’s NCAA Tournament résumé
McMillan has been clear from the beginning that his team has deficiencies. With the lack of height forcing forwards like Rashaun Agee and others to guard and rebound against centers, the A&M head coach acknowledges that his team must adapt their style of basketball to have a chance.
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Thursday’s loss to Oklahoma revealed the team’s shortcomings when it failed to play to its identity. The normally reliable 3-point shooting Aggies struggled from beyond the arc, making just 26% of their 31 attempts and scoring a season-low 63 points.
“We got to call it what it is,” McMillan started following Thursday’s loss. “We’re not loaded up with tremendous size. When we go out there, the first half of a basketball game and (shoot) it 22% from three versus a team that makes 40% from three, we’re going to have to really finish at the rim and do the other things well. We didn’t do that.”
Despite the weaknesses the head coach is often willing to discuss, this is a team that, when hot, has proven it can compete with anyone in college basketball. Road wins over Auburn, Texas and Georgia have shown the Aggies are battle-tested against tournament-caliber teams. Even a double-overtime loss to Tennessee, a last-second defeat to Alabama that was one rimmed-out shot away from going to overtime, and a one-point loss to Missouri demonstrate that on any given night, A&M can compete with quality opponents.
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“So we’ve seen highs and lows with this team,” McMillan said. “Hopefully in the next one, going forward, we play an A-plus game, because you’re going to have to play an A-plus game this time of year.”
McMillan, for his part, is 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament, making his lone appearance in 2024 with Samford.
A team that started the year with only one scholarship athlete and a head coach hired just three days before the transfer portal window opened still matched last year’s conference win total. Aggies finished 23-11 in 2025, going 11-7 en route to earning a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Although the SEC isn’t as strong overall as last year, winning more than 10 games in arguably the best college basketball conference should be considered tournament-worthy.
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“We got to be us. You could see us turn around this next game, and we could sit here making 40% of threes and say, ‘Man, how did y’all get beat by 20 in the SEC Tournament?,’ McMillan said. “That happens when we got a bunch of guys playing an A-plus game. So that’s what we got to get back to, giving them confidence to do that.”
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Texas A&M Aggies forward Rashaun Agee (12) talks to his team ahead of the Texas Longhorns’ game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena in College Station, Feb. 28, 2026. Texas won the game 76-70.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
Latest Aggies bracketology projection
As of Friday morning, A&M appears somewhat comfortably in the NCAA Tournament field, per one leading bracketologist.
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Even after its 20-point loss, the Aggies still remain off ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s bubble watch.
“Bucky McMillan’s squad is not exactly a ‘lock,’ but five Quadrant 1 victories combined with a top 10 ranking among SEC teams in our résumé rating (low 40s nationally) still gives the Aggies an 77% at-large chance,” Lunardi wrote. “They still have an edge over other SEC bubble hopefuls as they await Selection Sunday.”
In his latest projection, Lunardi has A&M as a nine-seed in the West region, facing eight-seeded UCLA. He lists VCU, Missouri, SMU and Texas in his “last four in” category, a group that would likely need to win in Dayton to secure a spot in the field of 64.
A&M is even separate from his “last four byes.” That group includes North Carolina State, Santa Clara, UCF and Miami Ohio.
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Lunardi’s group of “first four out” includes Oklahoma, Auburn, New Mexico and San Diego State. The “next four out” group lists Indiana, Stanford, Cincinnati and Seton Hall.
With A&M’s impressive win over Kentucky, followed by a hard-fought triple-overtime victory on the road against LSU in the last week of the regular season, it seems like that might be enough to get them into the field.
The question now is: Where will they play and who will they play?
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Reach Texas A&M beat reporter Tony Catalina via email at Anthony.Catalina@statesman.com.