2nd Generation Ag said:

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I do t think people realize that the SEC will submit the teams they think deserves a spot in the tourney. This came out during Buzz''s first or second year. . The year with Quinton Jackson. The league submitted the teams they thought deserved it. And then we went on the crazy run at the end no one was expecting. . Do the SEC is part of the decision making process

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No

bobinator said:

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That's kind of an oversimplification but yes, a 10-8 record this year could easily be worse than a 6-12 record last year.

By Torvik (which isn't exactly the NET but it's close enough and easier to look up) of their 12 losses last year, 6 were to teams in the top 25. (Also their two non conference losses were both tournament teams.) And then they beat teams ranked 35, 23 (twice), 20 and 17.

We lost two non-conference games to teams that aren't going to make the tournament, one of them by 24 points, and our best win is #37.

But that said there is still a decent chance we make the tournament at 10-8. Texas was one of the very last teams in the field last year and played in the First Four. Nobody is saying we don't make it at 10-8, we just probably won't be breathing easy until we see our name on the screen.

You're too focused on the lack of bad losses thing, the committee has fairly consistently been willing to overlook one or two bad losses if you have several good wins.

Our situation this year is a lot less about who we've lost to than it is who we haven't beaten. Like we were a FOUR seed last year and went 11-7 in league play.

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wins and seeds:
We should go 3-2 in next four plus first tourney game.
If we go 3-1 we may slide by tenn to 4 and then play them in first game of tourney if i understand the format this year. Tenn has the hardest remaining schedule of teams ahead of us.
If we go 2-2 and beat texas we should be 5 seed and then win first tourney game (although I don't love maybe playing ZERO U or ole miss in that game.
Thats 22-10 I think. 8 or 9 seed which is basically same thing. Almost rather be the 10 and play a 7 then a 2.

Imagine what would happen if all the sudden we started raining big beautiful bombs from outside when it gets a little warmer outside!

https://bball.notnothing.net/sec.php?sport=mbb

If we go 3-1 losing to Arkansas and the favorites all win:

bobinator said:

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Nobody cares enough about Texas A&M basketball to have any kind of bias against us. There MAY have been some risidual saltiness against Buzz a few years ago but that's it.

Would be like Missouri claiming some kind of systemic football bias against them.

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But that might be the exact reason for it.

Committee: "Eh, nobody cares about A&M basketball, not a big deal if we leave them out."

And it was them leaving us out that one year that caused Buzz's rant. So...

Bobinator the committee engages with the conference leadership during the process. and vice versa. Sankey wants to get as many teams as he can into the tourney.

That's who they work for. The NCAA runs the tournament and the conferences are their clients.

Please find me a source for this claim. I have never heard of this.

I do think it's funny that of all people, Greg Byrne is on the selection committee this year. I bet he'll have some hot takes to share about the Bediako situation.

I also wonder if Martin Newton (the AD at Samford) has to recuse himself when talking about us or not.

Under the committee rules, I don't think he would have to recuse himself. It would be more or less how he feels about the optics, right?

Yeah he doesn't have to by the rules. Maybe good for us that he's in there.

I don't even get what he'd be saying if it was a thing.

Like the conference has to submit an official ballot of all teams under consideration by the Wednesday before selection Sunday and that's it! No changes allowed!

Really the committee wanted to put us in that year but nope, we weren't on the pre-ballot so no dice.

I vote that everyone just ignore 2nd generation ag from here on out. Don't engage with any of his posts and maybe he'll stop posting. He adds no value to this site, so maybe we start treating him as such

bobinator said:

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I don't even get what he'd be saying if it was a thing.

Like the conference has to submit an official ballot of all teams under consideration by the Wednesday before selection Sunday and that's it! No changes allowed!

Really the committee wanted to put us in that year but nope, we weren't on the pre-ballot so no dice.

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I'm not saying I agree with 2nd genbecause I also have never heard that. But the concept isn't crazy when Big 10 and SEC basically run college football too. Probably 1/4 - 1/3 of the 68 will be from BIG 10 and SEC.

More likely I think commish has their list of way more than should be in because he wants the SEC schools he commishes (new word for ya) to feel like he is going to bat for them.

It is crazy from a mechanics standpoint.

Now, of course the conferences are lobbying the committee. The Big 12 is probably going to be showing their metrics on their stupid LED court during their conference tournament games. And I'm sure every conference is texting their people in the room.

But the idea that there's some kind of official list the conference leadership submits and that part of our being left out in 2022 is because we weren't on the SEC's list is crazy.

cheat sheet:

Win 4- 7 seed
Win any 3- 8 seed
Beat 2 of tu, ky, ark and lose to lsu- 9 seed
Beat LSU and 1 other - 10 seed, pissibly 11
Beat LSU only- 11 seed play in if lucky
Lose 4- out

To be a true lock, I think we need 31 down the stretch. That would likely put us firmly in the top half of the SEC standings and remove most of the bubble talk.
If we go 22, it probably depends on who the wins are against and how we look doing it. A strong win (especially at home vs Arkansas) + avoiding any bad losses probably keeps us in decent shape, but we'd still want at least one win in the SEC tournament to remove doubt.
Anything 13 or worse and we're absolutely relying on the SEC tourney to save us.
Big picture: this team's rsum is solid, but not bulletproof. We've shown we can compete with anyone when we defend and control the glass. The issue is consistency. If we play to our identity these last four games, 31 is very realistic. If we get stagnant offensively, we'll make it harder than it needs to be.
Bottom line: take care of business at Reed, steal one on the road, and we're dancing without drama.

Matt_The_Lawyer said:

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Probably 1/4 - 1/3 of the 68 will be from BIG 10 and SEC.

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Based on the current list on the NCAA website, 22 of the top 44 teams in WAB are from the Big 10 or SEC. It could be argued that if those two conference ONLY get 1/3 of the overall field, we're getting screwed...

Divining Rod said:

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Win 4- 7 seed

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Not that it practically matters, but I think people are undershooting this.

Luke The Drifter said:

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AggieEP said:

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Committee might have hated Buzz. Bucky is a fresh slate and a good story, I would bet that in a comparison with other teams we get a really long look because of the appeal of Bucky Ball and the fact that the committee likes to create compelling matchups.

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This. I don't think the committee typically cares one bit one way or the other about A&M or any other school. I do think they overly favor or hold a grudge regarding some coaches and/or athletic directors.

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Conversely, I wouldn't be shocked if we get the benefit of the doubt given the farce that Bama subjected us all to with the Bediako saga. Not that we'd get credit for a win we didn't earn or anything, but recognition that a couple SEC teams had a curve ball based on a corrupt judge.

But I agree that with 2+ wins (and a win in the SECCT) we should be comfortable on selection Sunday.

Hold me. I'm scared.

Much like the Super Bowl, the NCAAT has become a big enough event that it doesn't matter as much which teams are in the field. 25+ years ago, for the tourney to be a marketing and viewership success, the NCAA badly needed Duke or UNC or UCLA or Indiana or Michigan State to be prominently featured in order to get high ratings. That's no longer the case.

Look at some of the teams who have made the Final Four in the last 25 years. These are not blue blood programs that bring year in and year out success or huge basketball fan bases or huge TV ratings with them.

• Houston
• Auburn
• NC State
• Alabama
• Florida Atlantic
• San Diego State
• Miami, Fla.
• Gonzaga
• Baylor
• Texas Tech
• Loyola-Chicago
• South Carolina
• Oregon
• Wisconsin
• Wichita State
• Virginia Commonwealth
• Butler
• West Virginia
• Memphis
• LSU
• George Mason
• Oklahoma State
• Georgia Tech
• Marquette

bobinator said:

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It is crazy from a mechanics standpoint.

Now, of course the conferences are lobbying the committee. The Big 12 is probably going to be showing their metrics on their stupid LED court during their conference tournament games. And I'm sure every conference is texting their people in the room.

But the idea that there's some kind of official list the conference leadership submits and that part of our being left out in 2022 is because we weren't on the SEC's list is crazy.

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1) there is clearly a "list" whether submitted direct to the committee or thru the press I don't know. But last year Sankey had a list of who should get in. He was on tv during SEC championship games discussing who he submitted.

2) Tenn lost.

PJYoung said:

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https://bball.notnothing.net/sec.php?sport=mbb

If we go 3-1 losing to Arkansas and the favorites all win:

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How bout now

He might have an unofficial list of who he thinks should get in for his talking points during interviews or whatever but that's not even remotely what 2nd Gen Ag was talking about.

Now doesn't matter. Only end of conference play matters. So many possible outcomes still other than Fla is very likely the 1 seed . If we win out we could be as high as the 2 seed . Could even be the 1 seed if Fla lost out and we won out but Fla isn't losing out and we're not likely to win out either .