Dealt a double whammy
A&M gains motivation after being handed No. 2 seed, first-round matchup on UT court
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M coach Gary Blair offered an opportune three-word response when informed during a press conference Monday night the Aggies would play their first game of the NCAA Tournament in Austin.
“I’ll be damned,” an incredulous Blair said.
An hour earlier, he had learned his Aggies, who won the SEC regular season and lost only two of their 25 games, had been tabbed as a No. 2 seed instead of a top seed. A&M anticipated being named one of the top four seeds of the 64-team tournament for the first time in program history.
Now the Aggies, ranked fourth in the final Associated Press regular-season poll, will enter the NCAA Tournament being held entirely in South Texas with a Lone Star State-sized motivator. And play their first game on the floor of a despised rival in the University of Texas, to boot.
The Aggies (23-2) will face No. 15
seed Troy (22-5) at 5 p.m. Monday in the first round. The winner of A&M-Troy will play either No. 7 seed Iowa State or No. 10 Michigan State in San Antonio. North Carolina State is the No. 1 seed in the Aggies’ region.
“We’re not upset with this. We wanted to be a (one seed), but we came up short against Georgia,” said A&M center Ciera Johnson, referencing the Aggies’ loss in the semifinals of the SEC tournament. “If you don’t handle business, that’s what happens. You have to realize the consequences of that.
“We need to get back to doing some of the smaller things that we overlooked (late) in the season. We’re ready to get back out there and start playing again.”
The opening round of the NCAA Tournament is being held in San Antonio, San Marcos and Austin because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rest of the event will be in San Antonio. The Final Four is scheduled for the Alamodome from April 2-4.
A&M won a national title a decade ago under Blair, but this has still been a season of some firsts for the Aggies. They won their first SEC regular-season championship before bowing out of the SEC tournament with the setback to No. 10 Georgia in Greenville, S.C. — a loss that apparently cost them a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re going in, and we’re ready to play,” A&M guard Kayla Wells said. “Like coach Blair has said, any one of those eight teams from the one and two seeds could have been a one seed. It’s really wide open right now. Yeah, maybe we deserved a (one seed), but maybe the other team deserved it, too.
“(Our) motivation is losing to Georgia. We’re wanting to get out there and play again and play as hard as we can and leave it out on the floor.”
A&M is exceptionally balanced on offense, with five players averaging in double figures, led by guard Aaliyah Wilson’s 12.6 points per game. Troy won the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
“I’ve kept up with Troy the last three to four years, not only this year,” Blair said. “I kept up with Troy (this season) and had them down as a No. 15 seed. I didn’t necessarily have us as a two seed … (but) I know how committees work. And a lot of times it’s, ‘What have you done for me lately, and who are you competing with?’ ”
Troy coach Chanda Rigby has led the Trojans to three NCAA Tournaments in her nine seasons guiding the program.
“They just keep getting sweeter,” Rigby said of appearances in the national spotlight.
The Aggies, who believe they were disrespected as a No. 2 seed starting play in the Longhorns’ arena, are bent on showing they can compete for a national title minus prolific scorer Chennedy Carter, who would have been a senior this season.
A year ago, after the NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the pandemic, Carter opted to bypass her senior season and declare for the WNBA draft. The Atlanta Dream selected her No. 4 overall, highest in program history, and the Aggies pressed on without Carter.
Blair said there is no way he’ll glance past Troy to either Iowa State or Michigan State, based on the one-anddone aspect of the NCAA Tournament.
“Every game is a championship,” he said.