Buzz Williams shares his mindset entering Selection Sunday

Texas A&M entered the SEC Tournament needing to do some work in order to make the NCAA Tournament. Even with wins over Ole Miss and Kentucky, there was then still a question mark after they lost to Florida in the semifinals due to what took place in leagues across the country last week.

However, in the end, the Aggies made it into the field as an at-large bid. At 20-14, they sit as a No. 9 seed, good for the No. 34 seed overall at several spots ahead of the final spot, and will start their appearance in the South Region in Memphis.

On Monday, Buzz Williams spoke at a press conference about how it felt to earn the spot. He said his feelings were a bit detached, especially as of late, as he delegated those thoughts to his staff. In the meantime, he himself was focused on preparing the Aggies the best ways that he knew how.

“I kind of quit paying attention to it over the last three weeks,” said Williams. “Josh is probably the most educated on our staff. He’s very involved in our non-conference scheduling. A lot of that stuff that HDI does for us over the last two and a half years has been helpful. Coach Layer has done it since we’ve been here.”

“They keep me abreast but, over the last three weeks, I hadn’t asked any questions,” Williams explained. “I felt it was just kind of taking me away, emotionally, from, maybe, what I could do better in regards to helping the team.”

However, after they saw their name slot in, Williams admitted that there were plenty of emotions to go around. He didn’t feel like they were nervous going in but, once it was done and they had made it, it became a moment that he remembers as well, if not more so, than any of his other tournament selections in his career.

“I don’t know if angst would be the right word. But, similar to what (Manny Obaseki) was just saying, it was very raw emotion last night,” said Williams. “That was my 10th selection show as a head coach. Not that I don’t remember the first nine. But that was more real, more emotional, more raw than the previous nine.”

Texas A&M was not in a good spot as far as postseason standing at the end of February. They had already made up for a 10-7 start with a 5-2 stretch from January 20th to February 10th. Then, from there, they dropped five straight over the next two weeks.

While they won three straight to end the regular season, the Aggies still needed to help themselves in Nashville. A win over Ole Miss was a nice start in the second round. What likely truly sealed the deal for them, though, was their 97-87 win over Kentucky in the quarterfinals. That was their second victory over the Wildcats of the year after they’d beaten them in College Station. They still fell to the Gators in the semis but, based on their seed, they had done enough to make their case to be back in.

Texas A&M earned their moment to be in March Madness. That now will start against Nebraska inside FedExForum on Friday with the winner all but likely to take on No. 1 Houston in the Round of 32.