Joni Taylor's Aggies receive a No. 11 seed in 2024 NCAA Tournament
Joni Taylor’s year-two Aggies are dancing.
On Selection Sunday, the NCAA women’s basketball committee awarded Texas A&M (19-12, 6-10) an at-large berth in the 68-team field.
As the No. 11 seed in Regional 1 Albany, A&M will face No. 6 seed Nebraska (22-11) in Corvallis, OR, later this week.
Dates and times will be announced later.
The NCAA Tournament berth marks a remarkable turnaround for Taylor.
One season ago, her injury-riddled squad only won two conference games, finishing last in the league with a 9-20 record.
This year, A&M battled through significant injuries but still managed to finish ninth in the SEC without starting point guard Endyia Rogers.
With Rogers sidelined, A&M lost five of its last six to end the regular season. Those contests were dropped by an average margin of 11.8 points.
The fifth-year guard, who averages 12.5 points per game, returned to the court in Greenville for A&M’s first matchup in the SEC Tournament.
Displaying what a healthy squad is capable of achieving, the Aggies cruised past Mississippi State 72-56.
That win brought on Dawn Staley’s top-ranked Gamecocks.
Aicha Coulibaly scored a career-best 32 points as A&M fell to South Carolina in the Gamecocks’ fifth-closest margin of victory all year, 79-68.
The pair of performances in the conference tournament was apparently all the committee needed to see, as the Aggies have now earned a bid to the Big Dance.
This is the fifth time Taylor will participate in March Madness in her nine seasons as a head coach.
Prior to Taylor, Naismith Hall of Fame coach Gary Blair guided A&M to a national championship in 2011 and 15 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
The Aggies are dancing for the first time since 2020-21, when they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.