Buzz Williams reveals how response to 5-game losing streak prepared Texas A&M for postseason play

Texas A&M enters this weekend squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble and needing some good fortune in the SEC Tournament to get themselves into the field.

For the Aggies, that’s the result of a pretty roller coaster season. There have been some great wins — over top-10 teams Iowa State on a neutral court and against Kentucky at home — but also some tough losses and even a five-game losing streak. However, even during those low valleys in the season, Buzz Williams says his guys never gave up on their ultimate goals.

“There’s multiple times where our guys could have said ‘that’s enough, this is too hard, this is too much, it’s more than we bargained for.’ But they’ve had great resolve. I think that speaks to who they are,” Williams told Paul Finebaum on Wednesday ahead of his team’s first game against Ole Miss Thursday evening.

Conference play featured a big swing of emotions for A&M. At one point they were 6-4 in league play and 15-8 on the year looking like a likely NCAA Tournament team. However, then, a five-game losing streak occurred before the Aggies rolled off three straight to end the regular season and get back into the tournament conversation.

Williams explained of those ups and downs:

“In many respects, when we were 6-4 (in SEC play), I think we had a lot more support than we had when we were 6-9. But to win the last three in a row, to finish 9-9, to even be in this conversation, I think that speaks to character. I think that speaks to work ethic. I think that speaks to the ability to overcome.”

For Williams, his players, and his staff, that theme of overcoming is nothing new. Especially if you remember their runs to the title game on Sunday in each of the last two SEC Tournaments

“The aspect of overcoming, it’s the story of my life and it’s actually the story of most of our assistants and most of our players,” says Buzz Williams.

Texas A&M will certainly have to overcome a little more this week as they sit as the very first team out of the NCAA Tournament in Joe Lunardi’s newest bracketology posted just before the start of the Thursday slate. For A&M, it comes down to beating Ole Miss. Do that and they survive.

Perhaps that victory plus some losses from other bubble teams throughout the week give the Aggies enough to get in. But to be safe, A&M probably has to be thinking about winning two games minimum against Ole Miss then in the quarterfinals against Kentucky, which would be a terrific Quad 1 win.