Wade Taylor opens up on Texas A&M's improvement from last season
This time a year ago, Texas A&M was full of anger and disappointment. Despite making a run at the SEC Tournament but losing in the championship, the Aggies were left out of the NCAA Tournament. Nobody in College Station was happy with the decision and held onto the feeling for over 365 days.
Flash forward to Sunday and it’s a completely different feeling. Texas A&M did lose to Alabama in Nashville but heard their name called in the Field of 68. A much improved regular season has helped head coach Buzz Williams. Having players such as Wade Taylor has helped in a humongous way.
“We’ve improved a lot,” Taylor said. “Coach preaches to us every day about being resilient, staying together through the ups and downs. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs through these last 65 days.”
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The past two months for Texas A&M have been full of competitive SEC games. For awhile, it seemed as if Taylor was going to help lead his team to at least a share of the conference regular season championship game. The Aggies ultimately fell short but you cannot deny the progress of the program.
Compare to the 2021-2022 season four straight wins to close out the regular season were off the backs of losing nine of 10 in the SEC. Williams was campaigning to the committee for his team to get in for a reason in March 2022.
Wade Taylor excited for upcoming NCAA Tournament
Even with the progress, there is an uphill battle coming in the NCAA Tournament. Only ruled a seven-seed despite a good SEC record, Penn State will be the Round of 64 opponent. Taylor believes there will be momentum for Texas A&M in Des Moines despite Sunday’s loss.
“I’m excited for what the future holds,” Taylor said. “We’ve been through a lot. We can carry that on for momentum going to the next game too.”
Most everyone will be looking ahead to a potential Round of 32 game but Penn State finds itself in a similar situation as Texas A&M. Both lost in their respective conference tournament championship game and potentially feel underseeded.
Improvement was made by the Aggies by just making the NCAA Tournament. However, they will feel as if they can make a serious run into the second weekend. Taylor will be one of the key figures along the way, hoping to continue his first-team All-SEC form.