The Texas A&M women’s basketball team will host Wright State, Rice and Marquette during the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Reed Arena.
The announcement, originally scheduled to be revealed on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. eastern time at the NCAA Selection Show, was leaked before the show could take place.
ESPN released a statement and said the brackets would officially be released at 4 p.m. before they had the regularly scheduled show at 7 p.m. to avoid any confusion from the leaked brackets.
“In working with the NCAA to prepare for tonight’s Women’s Selection Special we received the bracket similar to years past,” ESPN said in a statement. “In the midst of our preparation, the bracket was mistakenly post on ESPNU. We deeply regret the error and extend our apology to the NCAA and the women’s basketball community. We will conduct a thorough review of our process to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.”
A&M concluded their regular season and SEC Tournament run with a 24-7 record and will enter their 14th straight NCAA Tournament. This is the sixth time in eight years, and the second consecutive season that the Aggies will host both the first and second round games of the tournament.
The Aggies, who are playing in the Chicago Region bracket, will host Friday through Sunday at Reed Arena.
No. 5-seed Marquette will face No. 12-seed Rice in College Station on Friday at 1 p.m. A&M will then host No.13-seed Wright State at 3 p.m on Friday. The two winners of each matchup will face each other on Sunday to see who advances to the NCAA Regionals in Chicago from March 29 through April 1.