In March, there are good places to be and not-so-good places to be.

A good place to be in March? The couch. In front of a TV. Or at a bar. In front of a TV.

A not-so-good place to be in March? On the bubble.

Go figure that getting off the bubble in a bad way actually means you get to be where the rest of us are — the couch.

Heading into the SEC Tournament, there were 3 teams (Florida, Texas A&M and South Carolina) that were realistically on the bubble. It felt like all 3 were going to need at least 1 win and possibly more to be a lock to make the field.

Heading into Sunday, here’s what their situations look like:

Florida — Out

Florida was essentially playing in an NCAA Tournament elimination game with the Aggies. It’s not that the winner was guaranteed a spot, but it felt like the loser was out. Both Florida and A&M entered the week on Joe Lunardi’s “next 4 out” group. Credit the Gators for showing a lot of late fight, but ultimately, it was another frustrating loss at the end of a frustrating regular season.

The problem for Florida is quality wins. Since the start of the new year, that Auburn win is the only victory against a tournament-bound team. Just 3 Quad 1 wins will be a tough sell. That’s why the Gators didn’t get the benefit of the doubt like Alabama, which was wildly inconsistent but also beat Gonzaga, Baylor and Houston.

The Gators had opportunities and simply didn’t take advantage of them. Excluding 2020, this will likely be the first time that Florida is left out of the NCAA Tournament since Mike White’s first year in 2015-16.

Will that be how the White era is bookended? Stay tuned.

Texas A&M — In

Hand up. I doubted the Aggies these last couple of weeks. Badly. Like, I doubted the Aggies so much that less than 2 weeks ago, I wrote a story about a feat that was on the table for every NCAA Tournament-hopeful team in the SEC … and I didn’t include the Aggies. In my defense, those chances looked slim a short 2 weeks ago, and usually teams who lose 8 consecutive conference games (!) don’t have a prayer of making the NCAA Tournament. I mean, they were 4-8 in SEC play on Valentine’s Day.

Instead, A&M took down Florida in that aforementioned NCAA Tournament elimination game and then beat Auburn, which marked the Aggies’ first win vs. an AP Top 5 team since 1982. That’s darn impressive. This is why you poach a household name like Buzz Williams. Auburn couldn’t buy a bucket against an A&M team that wanted it more.

Do the Aggies need to perhaps work on perhaps not getting too tight late in games? Yes, but despite allowing Florida AND Auburn back in, both were hard-fought victories. This is how you rise to the occasion as a bubble team:

Even though a team like Indiana also took down a 1-seed and got to the conference tournament semifinals and Buzz Williams’ old team Virginia Tech won the ACC Championship, there’s no doubt that the Aggies deserved to make the field after a monumental Quad 1 win on Friday.

I say that all because Joe Lunardi went on “Marty and McGee” on Saturday morning that A&M wasn’t in the field simply by reaching the semifinals, and that it “probably” needed to win the SEC Tournament in order to make the field.

Yeah, about that.

Arkansas was nothing like the first 2 games. It was a beatdown … against one of the hottest teams in the country. Quenton Jackson was a monster, A&M’s guards defended like their lives depended on it and Williams reminded everyone why he’s one of the better coaches in the country.

Finishing the season by winning 8 of 9 games to earn a place in the SEC Tournament championship is an absurd accomplishment. It’s not just a “let’s reward the hot team” take to say A&M deserves a spot in the field. Reaching 23 wins is no small feat, especially when the majority of those games came against SEC competition.

But sure, let’s hear that the Aggies are still “first 4 out.” Remember, Lunardi entered the weekend by putting A&M in the “next 4 out” category. The fact that winning 3 games, 2 of which being against top-15 teams on a neutral site, barely changed his projection of the Aggies is telling. Consider that a reminder of why his word shouldn’t’ be gospel.

There’s zero doubt that the Aggies deserve to be dancing.

South Carolina — Out

I mean, let’s be honest here. South Carolina wasn’t getting in without a run to Sunday. It was always going to take multiple Q1 wins to rise that much down the stretch. That, of course, didn’t happen. Instead, a blowout loss to Mississippi State on Thursday was all she wrote for the Gamecocks.

Will it be all she wrote for Frank Martin? Who knows. One NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years would be enough to can most coaches, but when that 1 NCAA Tournament was a Final Four berth, well, that’s a little different. Martin has been widely respected in the industry for the last 15 years. It shouldn’t be a given that he’s fired. At the same time, we’ve seen across the league at football-focused schools how quickly it can turn around with the right coach in place. South Carolina might be feeling pressure to mix things up and move on from Martin.

Either way, South Carolina’s bubble burst in anticlimactic fashion in Tampa.