The Texas A&M men's basketball team wasn't going to be denied. Unfortunately for the Aggie women, neither were the Baylor Lady Bears.

Emotion played a big part in Saturday's two showdowns along the Brazos River.

The A&M men, left for dead in regard to the NCAA Tournament more times than Lazarus, ended the regular season with a stirring 96-86 victory over 15th-ranked Missouri at Reed Arena.

There's no doubt luck has factored into A&M's current six-game winning streak. You don't rally from an 18-point deficit at Nebraska and hit a game-winning 3-pointer without a little good fortune, but what happened against Missouri wasn't a fluke.

The Aggies played hard and smart. They made their own luck. They were clearly the better team on Saturday, a pretty darn good team that's gotten better as the season has progressed.

No matter what happens in Oklahoma City this week at the Big 12 tournament or in the NCAA Tournament, it's been a great season. All you have to do to appreciate it is look at the plight of former A&M head coach Billy Gillispie at Kentucky.

The Wildcats, barring a miracle run through the Southeastern Conference tournament, will have their streak of making 17 straight NCAA Tournaments end. Flags in the Blue Grass state -- at least outside Louisville -- will hang at half mast until the Kentucky Derby.

A&M's basketball flags are flying higher than ever. This will be the fourth straight year both the men and women will make the Big Dance.

Unfortunately, the A&M women weren't able to match the men's six-game winning streak. They also missed a chance to get second place in the Big 12, which might cost the women in seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

A&M had a chance to pass the Lady Bears, who showed the NCAA selection committee they are worthy of a No. 2 seed even without Danielle Wilson, the team's leading scorer and rebounder.

Don't be too hard on the A&M women's team. Baylor won this game more than A&M lost it. The Lady Bears, especially their three seniors, played like it was their last game. You had to admire their emotion.

Just don't look for Baylor to be a factor at the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City this week. The Lady Bears aren't deep enough to win three games in three days.

Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey thinks conference tournaments are for Cinderellas. Her Lady Bears proved all they have to for the NCAA selection committee on Saturday night.

A&M, though, still has work to do.

The Aggies rode a Big 12 tournament title last year to a school-record No. 2 seed. They'll need to do the same again if they want to be mentioned in the same breath as third-ranked Oklahoma and fifth-ranked Baylor.

A&M might be the only team deep enough to handle OU and its rowdy fans in Oklahoma City. And that's providing the Aggies can get past Kansas State, which would like to make amends for a 71-45 home loss to the A&M.

A&M head coach Gary Blair would love to have waited until the title game to face Oklahoma, but he'll gladly settle for the semifinals. It will be a tougher assignment than anything the NCAA selection committee can dish out.

There's a chance that the higher-seeded Aggies will have to play a host team in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, so OU would be a great dress rehearsal for such a situation.

The Sooners -- without injured Whitney Hand -- were denied a 16-0 league record in their 57-56 loss to the Aggies at Reed Arena, so they'll want to show that was a fluke. But if A&M could beat OU for a second time, in what amounts to a home game, that would surely help its NCAA seeding. That also might give A&M another shot at the Lady Bears, provided BU avoids an upset in reaching the title game.

It should be an interesting week for the Aggies in Oklahoma City. The A&M men on Wednesday will face Texas Tech, which would love to end the Aggies' roll. And if A&M gets past Tech, which it should, Missouri awaits for a rematch. That too, would be a great NCAA Tournament preview.

A&M continues to discover that March Madness is a lot of fun when you are one of the teams making the headlines instead of sitting at home reading them.

Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com