Buzz Williams gives honest assessment on if win over Tennessee means anything for postseason resume

The Aggies are rolling. Texas A&M’s men’s hoops team has now won three in a row and just thumped No. 6 Tennessee 85-69, which is a massive win for their NCAA Tournament resume.

But don’t bring up the Big Dance to Aggie head coach Buzz Williams! In his postgame press conference following the victory over the Volunteers, he immediately fired back at a reporter who asked about the significance of the win in terms of March.

“No. We’ve had this conversation. Not being a jerk. We’ve had this conversation,” he said after the question, recounting the last couple of years of his team’s relationship to the tournament.

“Well, I guess we didn’t have it the first year because we were in Nashville when the tournament got canceled. We didn’t have it in our second year because you guys were on Zoom and we didn’t play in February. And then when we were 4-8 in conference play in year three, nobody was even talking about the NIT. And then whenever we played (Tennessee) last year, we were 12-2 when they were 11th in the country and we were still a No. 7 seed.

“So I have literally said ‘no’ to every possible distraction because I just think you’re on a hamster wheel and it doesn’t solve anything.”

Looking back at the Aggies’ history with the NCAAT under Williams, he’s right the first year was canceled, a bummer, especially since A&M didn’t get a chance in the SEC Tournament after finishing sixth in the conference. However, their resume likely wasn’t going to be enough unless they won the league tourney.

In 2020-21, A&M’s season was in fact marred by pandemic-related cancelations, and they went just 8-10. The next year, 2021-22, The Aggies suffered a brutal start to SEC play, then rebounded with an amazing run of seven straight wins all the way to the SEC title game, but lost and narrowly missed out of the NCAA Tournament.

2022-23 also featured a rocky start but Texas A&M had its best year yet under Williams, finishing No. 2 in the SEC while earning their first NCAAT Tournament appearance under him as a No. 7 seed. Of course, they lost to a hot Penn State team in round one.

This year, there’s far too much time to tell whether A&M will make the tourney for a second straight season. But either way, Buzz Williams isn’t concerned about that topic at the moment.