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Bracketology 2023: Duke, Penn State, Marquette and Utah State among biggest winners

By Tristan Freeman

Mar 11, 2023; Chicago, IL, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions guard Jalen Pickett (22) reacts during the second half of a basketball game against the Indiana Hoosiers at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2023; Chicago, IL, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions guard Jalen Pickett (22) reacts during the second half of a basketball game against the Indiana Hoosiers at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports /
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SEC Basketball
Bracketology Texas A&M Aggies guard Tyrece Radford Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports /

Texas A&M Aggies

A year ago to this day, Texas A&M made a run to the SEC title game and nearly stole a bid. It turned out that they needed the auto-bid to get in, due to a poor regular season. This year looked like the same thing after suffering a pair of Quad 4 non-conference losses. However, the team decided to win 17 of the last 20 games.

That includes the past two games in the conference tournament, starting late thanks to a double-bye earned from a 15-3 regular season record. Their first opponent was Arkansas, who may have been a 10 seed but has plenty of talent. The Razorbacks got off to an early lead but Texas A&M stormed back in order to get the 67-61 victory.

The team followed that up on Saturday against one of the last bid thieves remaining in Vanderbilt, coming off an upset over Kentucky. This time around, the Aggies were the ones that got off to a big start and in fact, led by 24 points at halftime. They were able to hold on for the 87-75 win and advance to the finals to play Alabama in the SEC championships.

Although beating the Crimson Tide isn’t going to matter since the Selection Committee will already have the Aggies seeded, expect it to be around the 6-7 seed range after this week. After digging such a hole in the non-conference, they found a way to not only avoid the bubble but also potentially the 8-9 seed range as well.

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