I think Yale is going to have put up a season high in attempts and makes to even keep this game close because they're going to be trouble on the other end. Every time they've played a team even remotely athletic they've gotten in serious foul trouble.

Purdue shot 32 free throws against them, Minnesota shot 26, Rhode Island shot 31. You're not going to beat us fouling us that many times. We might be the worst free throw shooting team in the tournament but trips to the free throw line still have a higher value for us than our regular shots.

We are going to annihilate Yale

If Phelps can penetrate off the dribble without losing control, I don't think they have enough shotblockers as what we faced in conference. Hope he can get to the rim easily or get fouled

fatdad84ag said:

---

If Phelps can penetrate off the dribble without losing control, I don't think they have enough shotblockers as what we faced in conference. Hope he can get to the rim easily or get fouled

---

We make every team look like they have 3 Dikembe Mutombos. It's impressive how many shots we get blocked

We've talked about this before but our blocks against is such a consistent outlier that it has to be intentional. Not that we're intentionally getting blocked, but that we're teaching our guys that we don't care about blocks or when in doubt go ahead and put it up.

I'm sure the data on this shows that the offense retains possession on most blocks so it's not a terrible result.

I expect us to pressure them more than we typically do and use the depth of our bench and altitude to wear them down. An up tempo game plays to our athleticism and should cause them problems

5 Dollar Footlong said:

---

You could just substitute Nebraska for Yale and you have last year's doom thread. Bad match up, will Penn St. the hell out of us, etc....etc....
And then the game was played.

---

We were smoking hot against them. We can beat anyone when we play like that.

Method Man said:

---

MarcAg said:

---

dcg4403 said:

---

Like our region overall but Yale is the exact team made to defeat this Aggie team. I sure hope they can keep em from going wild from the 3 point line.

Far more worried about Yale than even facing Auburn.

---

The myth among Aggies is Yale is just bombing threes. They shoot less threes than almost everyone we have played this year. They are just efficient when they do shoot it.

---

Will they shoot more against us since they'll be open?

---

Will they be open? We give up fewer open threes this year than we have the past couple of years due to improved athleticism and depth leading to fast closeouts in rotation.

But when we do give up open threes it's usually either off guys beating us on the perimeter and forcing us into rotation and/or skip passes to the corner. I don't know that they have the type of quick handlers to break down our perimeter defense, and their shot chart shows they don't take a lot of corner threes.

IMO if you're worried about this matchup it's not their three point shooting you should be concerned about, it's that they don't turn it over a lot (although they do turn it over more when matched up vs more athletic P5 schools) and they are a disciplined and effective defensive rebounding team.

But I'm not one who thinks this a bad matchup nor am I more concerned about Yale than I would be any other 13 seed.

We earned an " easier " first round game than we have had to play in years past. Unless you are a 1or 2 seed you don't get a mismatch type game but at least we aren't up against a Gonzaga or UCLA caliber team in round 1. After the first game you have 5 tough games to win it all. That's why the tournament winner is recognized as the national champs. Enjoy it, we aren't likely to make the Finals but I expect this bunch to be very competitive ( like last year's squad was )

bobinator said:

---

Quote:

---

I just don't really agree with this at all. We haven't lost to a bad team all season. Our worst loss was in game one on the road, without Phelps, to a team statistically better than Yale. I think a lot of people here are not fully grasping just how good of a schedule we played this year.

---

Been saying this for a month and people just don't absorb it. We lost to bad teams last year. We lost to bad teams the year before.

But Yale would be our worst loss this season by an order of magnitude. UCF is our worst loss, and like you said that game was on the road, in the first game of the year, without Phelps, against a team better than Yale anyway.

After that, our worst losses are to Texas. One on a last second shot and another in double overtime.

This "we can lose to anyone" thing is just something people have made up.

---

I think the "lost to bad teams" thing is not that we lost to actual bad teams but that we lost to teams who are not as good as us

But the only 2 that weren't road games were vandy at home and tu in the sec tournament

Everyone loses on the road to teams not as good them

I also think people are just thinking of the last few years where we really did lose to some bad teams. And we lost to Vandy who normally is a bad team but isn't this year which might be throwing people off also.

As always for the 2025 Ags:
Limit our turnovers (say, 10 or fewer for game)
Pound the offensive glass (OReb rate > 40%)
Get to the bonus first each half
Make more FTs than Yale attempts

Let math work its magic

bobinator said:

---

We've talked about this before but our blocks against is such a consistent outlier that it has to be intentional. Not that we're intentionally getting blocked, but that we're teaching our guys that we don't care about blocks or when in doubt go ahead and put it up.

I'm sure the data on this shows that the offense retains possession on most blocks so it's not a terrible result.

---

We like to shot put a lot of shots from way down at our shoulders. Henry and Solo love to shot put the basketball

Coleman could score 15 a game if he'd pick up Taylor's hesitation move. Coleman is actually really good at like that one dribble drive layup from the high post, but against bigger defenders he needs a half beat hesitation to clear out a little more space for it. He doesn't even have to let himself get run over, he just needs to hold up long enough that the defender has to get back on their heels for a second instead of just waiting to take flight to swat it into the fourth row.

Yale should be easy game...win early and plot against likely Michigan

We could beat Michigan...

The following week will be against Auburn...getting past Auburn would be epic.

I'm not even sure what to call Solo's shot. It's not pretty but if he were to pump fake every now and then use his athleticism to get near the cup, he might have a better shooting percentage.

Solo can shoot fine if he can jump and then shoot in that order. When he's doing both at the same time it's like he creates some kind of gravity bubble around himself where the laws of physics no longer apply.

bobinator said:

---

Quote:

---

The following week will be against Auburn...getting past Auburn would be epic.

---

I think people need to hope we don't play Auburn if we make it that far.

---

Yeah, I know we beat them in the regular season but I expect a much different, hungrier Auburn team if we meet them in the sweet 16

If we get there, I'm hoping Louisville or creighton takes them out first

Here are the 3 March Madness teams NOT being talked about enough:

Agree? @TomCrean #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/wETqU3q4PY

— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) March 18, 2025

NyAggie said:

---

bobinator said:

---

Quote:

---

The following week will be against Auburn...getting past Auburn would be epic.

---

I think people need to hope we don't play Auburn if we make it that far.

---

Yeah, I know we beat them in the regular season but I expect a much different, hungrier Auburn team if we meet them in the sweet 16

If we get there, I'm hoping Louisville or creighton takes them out first

---

Not that you ever expect the 8/9 seed over the 1, but the committee didn't do Auburn many favors. Creighton is a balanced and disciplined squad and Kalkbrenner is an elite front court guy- his matchup with Broome is gonna be great TV. Likewise, Lexington will be a quasi-homecourt environment for Louisville and Chucky Hepburn is a great clutch guard.

God I love March.

I'm primarily worried that they call the game so tight that our guys foul out playing defense.

I hope Buzz and the coaches will be able to adjust the way we defend if we get in early foul trouble.

On the other hand, I believe I read somewhere that Yale defends pretty well without fouling.

BTHO Yale!!!

They defend without fouling when they're playing crappy teams. They had foul issues in their games against good teams. Especially shooting foul issues. Purdue, Rhode Island and Minnesota all shot at least 26 free throws against them.

Hope we are in "good team" mode then - and not in "crappy team" mode!

dtk9119 said:

---

Ivy league teams always show out in the tournament.

---

Results history:

2024: Yale defeated Auburn in 13/4 matchup.
2023: Princeton defeated Arizona in 13/4 matchup, followed by Missouri.
2022: Yale lost by 20 to Purdue in 13/4.
2021: Covid
2020: Covid
2019: Yale lost to LSU by 5.
2018: Penn lost to Kansas by 16.
2017: Princeton lost to Notre Dame by 2.
2016: Yale defeated Baylor
2015: Harvard lost to North Carolina
2014: Harvard defeated Cincinnati
2013: Harvard defeated New Mexico
2012: Harvard lost to Vanderbilt
2011: Princeton lost to Kentucky on last second shot
2010: Cornell defeated Temple and Wisconsin

They have done quite well overall.

Fanatic15...Drs2B! said:

---

Hope we are in "good team" mode then - and not in "crappy team" mode!

---

If we attack the paint like we have been, we'll be okay.

The caveat is that if we're playing behind and the guys start getting trigger happy, but I doubt it, A&M has done a really good job of making other teams go on dry spells too.

Agree. I hope Payne gets the ball early and often. Not sure Yale had anyone who can stop him.

He will also get fouled alot - helping us get to the bonus early.

Until last game l, I thought his free-throw shooting was much improved in conference play. Hopefully he shakes that tu game off and gets back to making at least 2/3 of his foul shots.

it is possible that all sweet 16 will be filled at least one SEC team in play..

The committee kind of effed us by placing A&M in the same pod as Auburn side..

Sher Thing said:

---

dcg4403 said:

---

Far more worried about Yale than even facing Auburn.

---

---

Insert *"WTF" blonde mullet and stache* gif

dtk9119 said:

---

Ivy league teams always show out in the tournament. This A&M team has been playing BAD basketball the last month (with the exception of Auburn). Have ZERO confidence that trend will change on Thu. Even if they somehow get past Yale, Michigan awaits in the next round.

---

I don't actually know the answer but do they always show out, or we happen to see an Ivy League team every now and then shock everyone?

Muy said:

---

dtk9119 said:

---

Ivy league teams always show out in the tournament. This A&M team has been playing BAD basketball the last month (with the exception of Auburn). Have ZERO confidence that trend will change on Thu. Even if they somehow get past Yale, Michigan awaits in the next round.

---

I don't actually know the answer but do they always show out, or we happen to see an Ivy League team every now and then shock everyone?

---

Try scrolling up about 5 posts. Ivy league teams appear to punch above their weight class relatively frequently.

If Ags play smart and in control - and don't panic and try to match them, 3-pointer for 3-pointer, but instead stick to feeding our bigs in the paint, then I think we will emerge victorious.

BTHO Yale!!!