OKLAHOMA CITY – Texas A&M women's coach Gary Blair has bragged all season about how much he likes his basketball team.

He likes it even more after watching the 10th-ranked Aggies win five of their final six games, including victories over three ranked teams – Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas State. The loss was at No. 7 Baylor in the regular-season finale.

"We're playing our best basketball of the year," Blair said.

The late-season surge has Texas A&M thinking about a repeat of last year, when the Aggies became the first No. 4 seed to win the Big 12 tournament, helping them grab a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

They're in the same position this year as a No. 4 seed, and Blair again is sensing something special.

"This team right now is ready to go to the playoffs, and this team wants to go to the Big 12 tournament," he said. "Where other teams are worried about injuries or losing their seeding, we're trying to improve our seeding and improve our basketball team. We're not trying to hold on, we're trying to go on."

Seniors Takia Starks and Danielle Gant are at the core of the Aggies' success. Starks is the go-to player in the clutch, handing Oklahoma its only conference loss with a layup in the final seconds Feb. 23.

Gant, an Oklahoma City native who was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year this week, is the driving force behind a Texas A&M defense that ranks third in the nation in turnover margin, 10th in steals and 16th in points allowed.

Six teams – Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Kansas State and Texas – went .500 or better in league play this season, which is an automatic ticket to the NCAA Tournament when you play in the nation's top RPI conference. But unless there's a major surprise and a lower-seeded team wins the tournament, the invitations will stop there.

Texas Tech and Kansas had a chance to make the field if they could get to seven wins, but both finished 6-10. No Big 12 team has made the NCAA Tournament with that record.

Several teams will be playing for seeding this week. Oklahoma appears to have a lock on a No. 1 NCAA seed, but any of the other teams could play their way up or down the seedings this week.

Texas is the No. 6 tournament seed for only the second time. The last time the Longhorns held that position, they advanced to their only Big 12 championship game in 2000.

3: Wins over top-10 teams this season for Baylor, the most in school history.

5: Career triple-doubles for Kansas State point guard Shalee Lehning, which is tied for third place in NCAA history.

.680: Winning percentage for Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament, which ranks just ahead of Iowa State's .667.