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ESPN’s Joe Lunardi weighs in on what Texas A&M needs to do to make NCAA Tournament
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Heading into Texas A&M’s first 2022 SEC Tournament game, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had the Aggies in the “Next 4 Out” group of NCAA Tournament bubble teams. Buzz Williams’ squad has since notched wins over Florida, another bubble team, and Auburn, the SEC Tournament’s No. 1 seed. Despite 2 big wins, Lunardi still has Texas A&M as a “Next 4 Out” team in his 2:25 a.m. ET Saturday bracketology update.
A few hours after the bracket update, Lunardi appeared on “Marty & McGee,” saying Texas A&M likely needs to win 2 more games to secure a spot in the Big Dance.
So Lunardi just said on Marty and McGee that A&M probably isn’t getting in unless it wins the SEC Championship.
Uh, OK.
— Connor O’Gara (@cjogara) March 12, 2022
For teams on the bubble at this stage, making the field of 68 often depends on a lot of things out of their control (what goes on in other conference tournaments). Still, for Texas A&M, it’s frustrating to not make a significant move after 2 big wins. Making the NCAA Tournament by winning the conference tournament is usually for teams that were completely off the bubble radar heading into the conference tournament.
Texas A&M can always hope for some chaos elsewhere to help. Lunardi’s “Last 4 In” are currently Wyoming, Michigan, SMU and Xavier. His current “First 4 Out” are Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Wake Forest and Dayton. Texas A&M is atop the “Next 4 Out” list.
There’s always the chance, too, that the NCAA Tournament selection committee has a more favorable view of Texas A&M’s resume.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
