Yale is actually taller than A&M on average. There is zero doubt in my mind that Bez will put the clamps on Taylor and that Taylor will chuck up a ton of shots regardless. If the bigs can at least limit the damage on the offensive glass I think Yale will find a way to win. Stylistically, A&M also lets opponents put up a ton of threes and allows assisted baskets at the second-highest rate in the country. Off-ball screening to set up Poulakidas on the catch will be critical.
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Good news: Wapo analytics guy picks Yale as one of three prime upset possibilities:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/03/16/upset-picks-march-madness-first-round/
Bad news: His track record is awful.
Seems to me that Yale has more than a good chance to win this.
When A&M shoots and misses, Yale will need to go up with both hands and grab the ball, as well as keep A&M from doing so. 
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I watched some of Texas A&Mâs game against Texas and oh my goodness, is their offense egregious. I donât think I saw them cut or set an off-ball screen once. Their whole offense is ISOs, elementary pick-and-rolls, and post-and-kicks. Compare that to Cornellâs complex and energetic Princeton/motion hybrid. I just cannot for the life of me understand why Buzz Williams is OK with this being his offense.
they play the way i used to crush gotcha gamesâŚthrow it off the backboard get it and lay it in. rinse, repeat
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Iâm talking myself more and more into Yale. Kenpom wrote an article about why the SEC âMAYâ be a bit overrated. To summarize, an outstanding OOC boosts all teams in the conference season. TAMU seems to be a beneficiary of this. Their OOC is nice but nothing earth-shattering. Losses to UCF and Oregon. Wins over Creighton, Purdue, Ohio St, Texas Tech were all close.
A lot of the media covering these games bring up they we donât have Danny Wolf anymore therefore canât compete with TAMU. Danny was fine last year in the tournament but his gravity/presence was more valuable than his actual game. 33 minutes, 13 points on 15 shots.
Feels like the game comes down to can Poulakidas create separation from great, long defenders and can we rebound? Big test for Samson.
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Plus those two primo NC wins (Purdue, TTU) came on the backs of outlier shooting performances. Against TTU, A&M had a guy who normally shoots 24% go 3/4 from 3, which represents 20% of his total makes from 3 on the year. If a team that canât shoot decides to hit shots against you, theyâre going to be hard to beat (just like SDSU taught us last year).
But if they brick a bunch, wellâŚ
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i do think yall have it wrong.
you are supposed to talk abt how great they are in whatever their strengths actually are including their fabulous conference loaded with 5 year players statistically and nil rich with free agent acquistions year to year.
to further it bet the spread on them. you might lose 2x still (money, game is tight but still a loss) but you typically ensure a cardiac arrest for the favorite and a chance to get it done.
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also,
do us all and the cause a favor and give @barstoolyale a quick follow and some positive affirmation on x.
i know the young man well and he is on a roll but needs to feel the love.
his latest gif is priceless.
Ignoring the obvious factors that will hopefully swing in Yaleâs favor (JP getting hot, Bez locks down Taylor IV, Yale forcing A&M to shoot threes), I worry that Samson and the other âbigsâ will get beat on the long rebounds. Itâs been an issue recently, and quite frankly, watching how A&M converts three point misses into put-back shots in prev games is scary as hell.
this!
it is elite and you see it on tape the metrics and frankly the roster construction writ large.
buzz ball.
Never mind, Barstool Yale kindly reminds me that we have the better backcourt. Weâre ready for TAMU. Great chance for Yale to surge deep in the bracket
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that kid is passionate. i hope we have his moxie when it matters
See, the beauty of that is that Yale spent a month getting wasted on long rebounds, and I think Ivy Madness shows that they adjusted to that very well. Let Wade Taylor jack up terrible one-crossover ISO threes, I have faith that our guys are going to box as they ought to. (Not saying weâll win the rebounding battle of course, but watch the Texas film â the Horns did a great job in the first half putting a body on a body and limiting second chances. It can be done!)
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neat shooting guides above by eise87
to your point, I think itâs still likely that TAMU dominates on the offensive glass as a product of Taylor IV isoâs and basic PNRâs (maybe at worst a +10 differential in favor of TAMU). However, Yale forces opponents to take a lot of threes due to Yaleâs defensive intensity. Coming in at 68th at a 48% 3PA rate% would be a pain against good three teams, for instance Cornell.
However, against TAMU, might be a strategy to follow for the Dawgs. If they shoot the way I expect them to shootâŚ, hope Samson shows out against TAMU (btw I watched him once at Lake Highlands with future Texas star Tre Johnson, Iâm sure Tre would appreciate a good performance from his former hs teammate)
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this is an excellent interview with JJ.
his description of the A&M offensive system is classic. I called it âgotchaâ which is a colloquailism for what you Yanks call âknockoutâ
I know big hands on a phone with spellcheck and the southern vernacular make reading my posts like navigating a Mark Twain novel for some
James also properly calls Buzz a bit of a basketball âsavant.â I agree.
Yale getting in a practice on Tuesday and Wednesday is good news.
I have many A&M friends and a fair share of TAMU game day experiences here in the South. Theyâre a generally classy bunch, but a bit short-sighted when it comes to their team and its capabilities. But I guess thatâs all sports fans to a point
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i like this point you made.
I spoke to a fervent Aggie over lunch yesterday. He said they were leaving for the game Monday because they got knocked out of the SEC tourney early and had a few days off. Buzz used to coach at CSU and feels you need 72 hrs to acclimate to 5200 ft.
i checked and watched the spread but their flight was delayed until today. so besides the rest days we are even.
as for Aggie irrationalityâi always point to Jimbo Fisherâs arrival when they bid him away from FSU. he was handed a pair of national championship boots. They were ugly. He was fired after h signing a big 2nd deal and took $76mm to the bank in the process.
Buzz is good though.