Mine are a size 13 - And Yours? (Big 12 Tourney Day 2)

That's right kids, get out your dancing shoes! The Texas Aggies are going to the big dance for the first time in nearly 20 years.

2006 will represent the first time the Aggies will have ever earned an at-large bid to the tournament. My goodness this team is red-hot right now and playing with a lot of confidence. (more below).

Big 12 Tourney Recap - Day 2

Game 1

Texas knocked off Tech yesterday by a final score 77-70 and the game never felt as close as the final score indicated. Tech hit 11 three pointers to keep it close and to put it in perspective, they only made 22 field goals in the entire game. Texas looked ok, not great, but not bad. They advance to face the Aggies today in the first semifinal game.

Game 2

Texas A&M just squeaked by Colorado 86-53 - (more below).

Game 3

My upset prediction nearly came to fruition as Kansas held off a late OSU rally to win 63-62. The Jayhawks did not look overly impressive and 1st team all big-12 guard Brandon Rush had a terrible game scoring only 6 points. Kansas advances to face the surprise team of the weekend, Nebraska.

Game 4

Nebraska upset our friends from Norman last night in what actually turned out to be a pretty entertaining game. The Huskers won 69-63 and face Kansas in today's second semifinal game.

Big 12 tournament semifinals

Texas vs. Texas A&M - 1:00 today ESPN2
Kansas vs. Nebraska - 3:20 today ESPN2

Aggies Recap

The Aggies fell behind 2 to 9 early before opening it up and absolutely routing Colorado. A&M scored 27 of the game's next 31 points (a 27-4 run) to take a 29-13 lead and the boys in Maroon and White never looked back.

The Buffs did get back within 8 at one point late in the first half at 30-22, but fear not, this was just a minor bump in the road.

Right after halftime the route was on as the Aggies pushed the lead to 20, then 30, then 35 en route to an 86-53 win over a pretty good Colorado team.

Josh Carter (15) and Joe Jones (21) led the way offensively for Old Army.

The Aggies are now 21-7 overall and have won 8 in a row, which is tied for the 3rd longest current winning streak in the nation. Coach Gillispie has this group of cagers playing at unprecedented levels and has them believing not only in themselves, but also in each other.

Yesterday was one of those magical days where everything clicked on both ends of the floor. Not only did they drop an 86 on Colorado, they shot 55% from the field, 57% from behind the arc, and 71% from the free throw line.

Defensively they were amazing as well. Colorado was 18 of 60 on the day and 4 of 25 from deep. Couple that with a 13 of 21 from the charity stripe and you are not going to win very many basketball games.

Another 1st team all big-12 guard, Richard Roby, was also terrible yesterday. He was 3 of 18 from the field and got a technical foul with 7 minutes left after slamming the ball to the floor in frustration. I guess some old fashioned man-to-man defense got to him.

Oh yeah - Colorado opened as a 1 point favorite yesterday. Wow.

Looking Ahead

The Aggies and Longhorns hook up today in the rubber game for the two teams. Texas will be out for revenge and the Aggies will be looking to prove that last week's win over the short-horns was not a fluke.

As you will recall, Texas has no more than their 5 starters and is VERY beatable. If the Aggies can stay hot there is no reason why they can't take down our colleagues from Austin for the second time in as many weeks.

One thing to keep an eye on is that A&M's starters only played an average of 24 minutes yesterday in a blowout win.

Texas had two starters (Aldredge and Tucker) play all 40 minutes vs. Tech and Daniel Gibson played 38 of the 40. Buckman was in foul trouble all day long (5 fouls, no points) and only played 8 minutes while Paulino played 26 minutes.

The Aggies will be in a back-to-back situation for the first time this season.

Texas played in two tournaments early this year and has been in a back-to-back situation twice.

Let's hope the good guys can stay hot and make this weekend even better.

More tonight.

As you were.

-sb