Just over 48 hours after Texas A&M was left out of this year’s NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday, Aggies coach Buzz Williams delivered an emotional statement in which he lamented his team’s exclusion from the field of 68, saying it “defies logic.”
The nearly eight-minute long speech came after Texas A&M claimed a 74–62 win over Alcorn State in the opening round of the NIT. The Aggies are a No. 1 seed for the tournament after being one of the first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament bracket.
As he sat down for his postgame press conference, a clearly emotional Williams warned reporters that he had prepared some thoughts on his team’s snub from the Big Dance. He did make clear that he would not be answering further questions on the subject after reading his statement.
“We were and are completely devastated and heartbroken,” Williams said. “Sad is the wrong word, because it doesn’t completely express the totality of our emotions.”
Texas A&M (24–12) finished the season on a seven-game win streak. Three of those victories came at the SEC tournament over Florida, No. 4 Auburn and No. 15 Arkansas, which was a run that led many to believe that the program had played itself into March Madness.
However, the Aggies never heard their name called on Selection Sunday, which prompted their coach to a deep dive of the data that teams are evaluated with. Williams said he spent hours trying to understand “how those 12 SEC competition-only wins weren’t enough,” especially when the other four SEC teams that won more conference games than Texas A&M were given a 4-seed or better.
Williams also said that his research focused on who was on the selection committee and how those members were chosen.
“I wanted to make sure that I studied it all with the lens they do, so that I could better understand how what we did this season wasn’t enough. I wanted this understanding so I could have an explanation for our players, their parents and coaches, and be accountable in my relationship with each of them,” he explained.
“After studying all this nonstop the last two days and looking at it from every vantage point,” he continued, “it defies logic that we are not in the NCAA tournament.”
Williams continued to get emotional while giving his statement, particularly when speaking about the players who decided to stay at Texas A&M this season with their extra year of eligibility. He said that despite “repeated pleas,” he had not received any data-based reasoning for the Aggies omission from the tournament, causing him to “lose all respect and faith in the system and those that are in it.”
“The process is obviously flawed, and it is apparent that there is way more included that is unseen and unknown in the selection of the 36 at-large teams than what the public is made aware of,’’ Williams said in concluding his statement. “Until there is complete transparency and accountability, the system will stay broken and this will continue to happen.”
