Texas A&M Men's Hoops Team Is Staking Its Claim

The Texas A&M Aggies are arguably playing the best basketball in the SEC in the last month outside of that team in Lexington. The 16-6 Aggies are on pace to make the NCAA tournament and are increasingly likely to finish the season ranked for the first time since 2011. These heights are in reach year ahead of schedule thanks in part to the play of backcourt mates Danuel House, Alex Caruso, and Jalen Jones. The entire team gets credit for being ranked as a borderline Top 40 defense, per Kenpom.

The Aggies have won seven of their last eight, with the sole loss coming at Oxford against an Ole Miss team currently experiencing its own five game win streak. The Aggies' current run started with a double overtime loss to Kentucky—a game they probably should have won considering they went 16-for-30 from the free throw line. Since then they've won four road games, including a game on the road against an LSU squad that is one of the SEC's most talented teams.

A&M is now ranked 34th in the RPI, and it finds itself comfortably within the top 60 that typically make the postseason. Their strength of schedule is poised to get harder going forward, and they'll have the opportunity to increase their ranking. First up: they meet Georgia on Wednesday night, and if the 'Dawgs have Marcus Thornton back, the game should be even more competitive. In the future there will be a game against revenge-minded LSU, the toughest road test in the SEC against Arkansas, and two games against a Florida squad that that may pose match-up problems for A&M.

The Aggies have built themselves a solid foundation, and they can build on it in the last four weeks of the season. If they are capable of doing so, they'll be ranked heading into the postseason and would probably be the SEC highest seeded team after Kentucky. The road to building upon their success begins Tuesday night against a tough, well-coached Georgia team.