BYU Recap

Well, well, well. Welcome back Josh Carter. I guess that telephone conversation you had with Coach Gillispie worked. I do not know what the two of you talked about, but I am certainly glad you and the former Aggie coach had the conversation.

The 9th seeded Aggies took down the 8th seeded BYU Cougars by a final score of 67-62 on Thursday evening at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Josh Carter tied his career high with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including an awesome 6-of-10 from downtown. Carter also did a great job tonight of both slashing to the basket and posting guys up with his back to the basket.

I think it goes without saying that Carter was simply awesome on Thursday night, and it could not have come at a better time.

I don’t know if Josh is going to be able to have that kind of night again on Saturday evening when they play UCLA, but I know this much, I am going to enjoy what we all saw tonight for at least the next couple of days.

The Aggies also got great performances from big men Joe Jones (10 points, 12 rebounds) and Bryan Davis (11 points, 7 rebounds).

The two-headed Aggie point guard was also very efficient tonight. Sloan and Kirk combined for 16 points and 11 assists while going a combined 6-for-13 from the field.

Kirk hit a HUGE shot for the Aggies when he knocked down a three-pointer with 26 seconds left to push the Aggies’ lead back to 6 points at 66-60. The shot from Kirk was big because only 33 seconds earlier the Cougars had cut the Aggie lead to only three points when Jimmer Fredette knocked down his own three-pointer for BYU.

The bucket by Kirk came on a great assist by Beau Mulbach who drove to the lane, drew the defense in and kicked the ball back out to the wing finding a wide open Kirk.

The Aggies’ starting five (Kirk, Sloan, Carter, Davis, Jones) were huge on Thursday and accounted for 63 of the Aggies’ 67 points. Kirk, Carter and Sloan each played 35+ minutes in the game and had great energy over the course of the entire game.

I thought BYU played ok, but the game had a feel to it that for some reason it should not have been nearly as close as it was. The Aggies seemed to do a great job rotating and helping tonight on the defensive end of the floor, and the Cougars did not get very many wide open looks.

Leading the BYU effort was swingman Jonathan Tavernari. The big Brazilian played 32 frustrating minutes and scored 15 points on 6-of-15 from the field. The guy who struggled the most tonight was guard Jimmer “don’t call me James” Fredette. Fredette only scored 10 points on 4-of-11 from the field including 2-of-8 from the three point line.

The Aggies jumped out to an 11-0 lead over the first 6 minutes of the game before BYU began to chip away. The Aggies went through one of their spells where they went 5+ minutes without scoring a point, but the good news was that they had enough in the bank that it did not hurt them too badly.

BYU closed out the first half on an 11-3 run that tied the game at 29 as the two teams headed to the break.

The second half was wildly entertaining as the two teams went back and forth for the full 20 minutes, and until Dominique Kirk hit the before mentioned three-pointer with 26 seconds left, neither team held more than a four point lead.

In the end, there was just too much Josh Carter and too much Dominique Kirk for the Cougars to handle. I thought the Aggies showed great balance on the night and did a great job of keeping the game in front of them and at a tempo where they are more comfortable playing.

Turgeon has done a great job with these guys as of late, and this new wrinkle where they are slowing down the game seems to be paying great dividends. When I talk about slowing the game down, I am talking about the Aggies running through multiple sets on the offensive end, not forcing things, making sure the big men touch the ball. They are also not putting up a shot until there is less than 10 seconds on the shot clock.

It might not be the prettiest thing to watch, but you can not deny that it has really allowed this team to play some very effective basketball over their last four games.

Up next for the Aggies will be the #1 seed UCLA Bruins, a team many people across the country have picked to win it all this year.

We will have much more for you guys tomorrow when we take a closer look at the Bruins and how they will match up with the Aggies.

I hope you guys enjoyed the game tonight. There are not but a small group of teams that can say they have won 3 straight first round NCAA tournament games. There are 9 teams that have a chance to do so this year:

Georgetown / Indiana / Memphis / North Carolina / Pittsburgh / Tennessee / Texas / Texas A&M / UCLA

Of those 9 teams, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and UCLA have already accomplished that feat.

OK – That’s it for tonight. What a game for the Aggies!!!!

We’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.

Carry on.
-sb

Saturday/Sunday - Big 12 Recap

Apparently I sent out Saturday’s note three times – wow – sorry about that. I kept getting an error message that said “your message was not sent, please try again later.”

The Aggie Hoops Report – Brought to you by G-Mail!

Anyway.

Let’s take a quick look back at Saturday’s and Sunday’s action in the Big 12 semifinals and finals.

#1 Texas 77
#4 Oklahoma 49

This was actually a very entertaining game in the first half as both teams were playing to their strengths. Texas was dropping in three point buckets like it was no problem. Oklahoma was getting a great performance from freshman sensation Blake Griffin.

At some point around the 16 minute mark of the second half, Oklahoma decided that they did not want to be taken seriously anymore. The game was tied at 36 a piece when OU shut things down for the weekend.

Texas went on a 41-to-13 run to close out the game and march right into Saturday’s championship game against the second seeded Kansas Jayhawks.

Texas was led by AJ Abrams who had 24 points including 7 of 12 from behind the arc. Oklahoma was led by Blake Griffin who had 20 points and 13 rebounds.

#2 Kansas 77
#6 Texas A&M 71

I will say this about Saturday afternoon’s game - the Aggies have absolutely no reason whatsoever to hang their heads after the performance they put forth in front of what equated to a home crowd for the 5th ranked Jayhawks.

Turgeon’s Aggies came out and played their guts out and actually had great energy for a group of guys playing their third game in three days.

It makes what they did on Saturday night even more impressive when you consider that Donald Sloan, who still has to be reeling from the death of his mother on Thursday, injured his ankle and did not play for nearly the entire second half on Saturday.

Furthermore, do not forget to take into account that DeAndre Jordan only played 4 minutes on Saturday as he was still feeling the effects of the stomach virus that plagued him all weekend.

What happed over the weekend was that we saw two guys in particular step up in a major way. Junior Elonu and Beau Mulbach both were simply outstanding for three straight games, and without the efforts of either of them the Aggies would not have been able to show nearly as well as they did.

Elonu notched 5 points and 4 rebounds on Saturday, but he was also very effective on the defensive end of the floor in helping to slow down the Kansas big men.

Mulbach had one of his best games as an Aggie against KU by adding 11 points including 2-of-3 from behind the arc. Mulbach also should receive some credit for his efforts on the defensive end of the floor where he spent time guarding Kansas guys that played all three perimeter positions.

Bryan Davis was also very impressive on Saturday when he knocked down 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Davis also hit the shot of the tournament when he grabbed the ball in front of the Aggie bench and threw up a blind one handed fall away three pointer that banked in off the glass. It was pretty funny. Davis trotted down the floor like it was exactly how he drew it up.

Good stuff.

Anyway – The Aggies’ effort on Saturday afternoon was spoiled by Brandon Rush’s career high 28 points. Rush and the Jayhawks were just too much for the Aggies.

In the end, as we said above, I think the Aggies showed that when they are on top of their game, they have the horses to run with just about any team in the nation.


#1 Texas 74
#2 Kansas 84

In Sunday’s final, Kansas ended up knocking off Texas in a very entertaining game.

Kansas was led by Mario Chalmers’ 30 points on a very impressive 10-of-15 shooting from the field. Brandon Rush also added 19 points on 6-of-9 from behind the arc.

DJ Augustin paced the ‘Horns with 20 points and 9 assists.

Rush was named the tournament MVP with Mario Chalmers (KU), DJ Augustin (UT), AJ Abrams (UT) and Damion James (UT) rounding out the All-Tournament Team.



It was a great weekend in Kansas City. If any of you guys ever get the chance to go, do not let that opportunity pass. It is always a great time, and Kansas City put on a heck of a show this year.

On Wednesday night or Thursday morning we will have a full preview of the A&M / BYU game. The Aggies got a very tough draw by being slotted as the 9th seed in the west. If the Aggies can get past BYU they will have a date with UCLA in Anaheim. YIKES!!!

Have a great week – this is one of the best weeks of the year!!!!!

Carry on.
-sb

Friday Recap

Here is a quick look back at all four games from yesterday's action at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.

#1 Texas 66
#9 Oklahoma State 59

The Cowboys led at the half 43-42 before Texas came out of the break with a furious 14-0 run to make the score 56-43 in favor of the Longhorns.

Oklahoma State's Terrell Harris then sparked a 12-2 rally for the Cowboys that made it a game again at 58-55. The two teams actually settled in and played a very entertaining half of basketball. Damion James set the tempo inside for the Longhorns with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Our friends from Austin were just too much for the Cowboys to handle in the end, and Rick Barnes' group took down the Cowboys 66-59.

Ibrahima Thomas led the Cowboys with 19 points. DJ Augustin led the 'Horns with 24 points behind the strength of a 5-for-7 day from behind the arc.

#4 Oklahoma 54
#12 Colorado 49

Stretch.

Yawn.

In a terribly boring game the #4 seeded Sooners outlasted the surprising Buffaloes by a final score of 54-49. Colorado shot 32 percent from the floor, and the Sooners were only a touch better at 34 percent.

That's about all you need to know about this game.

Richard Roby finished out his 10 year career at Colorado with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Tony Crocker led the Sooners with 12 points.

#4 Oklahoma takes on #1 Texas at 1:00pm today.

#2 Kansas 64
#7 Nebraska 54

Kansas looked about as bad as they could have in the first half of this game as Nebraska pounded their way to an ugly 27-22 lead at the break. Nebraska actually had a 9 point lead with 1:21 left in the first half.

The game was extremely physical, and both teams were running their mouths at each other nearly the entire night. The smack reached its pinnacle in the second half when Nebraska's Ade Dagunduro layed a hard foul on Kansas' Sherron Collins. Collins got a technical for retaliating, and the Nebraska bench was also assessed a technical foul on the play. It was fun to see both fan bases think that their team's guy did nothing wrong.

In the end, Kansas did what they do best by playing suffocating full court defense and sharing the ball on the offensive end. 5 guys from Kansas had at least 9 points, and Sherron Collins led the way with 13. Dagunduro led the 'Huskers also scoring 13 points.

#6 Texas A&M 63
#3 Kansas State 60

Well. Now the Aggies know what it feels like to win two games in the same Big 12 tournament. The Aggies headed to Kansas City this year sporting an all-time 1-11 record in this event. This year alone they are now 2-0 after taking down Kansas State last night in what was essentially a home game for the Wildcats.

Turgeon's approach to this game was similar to what they were able to do against Iowa State one day prior. The Aggies slowed down the game by making the most out of every possession and continuously working the ball inside.

The Aggies also did a great job of throwing their full suite of big men at K-State's player-of-the-year Michael Beasley. It seemed like Beasley was very frustrated with what the Aggies were able to do with him early in the second half. Beasley still managed to score 25 points and grab 9 rebounds, but he had to work pretty darn hard all night long.

The Aggies were led by Dominique Kirk who had what has to be considered his greatest offensive night ever in an Aggie uniform. Kirk scored 19 points behind the strength of a 5-for-7 night from downtown.

Bryan Davis and Josh Carter also had decent nights as they added 11 and 10 points respectively. Carter still struggled shooting the ball (3-for7 and 1-for4) but he hit two HUGE free throws with 7 seconds left to seal the win for the Aggies.

Two of the most important guys on Friday night had to have been Junior Elonu (18 minutes, 7 rebounds) and Beau Mulbach (15 minutes, 5 points). The two reserves played a huge role in helping the Aggies to put defensive pressure on the perimeter (Mulbach) and on the interior on Beasley (Elonu). DeAndre Jordan returned from the stomach virus he has been battling to manage 5 minutes.

I can't tell you guys enough how much better the Aggies looked on Friday night. It was easily their best stretch of basketball since the beatdown of Tech back on February 27th.

The Aggies will face the Kansas Jayhawks for the second time in a week today at 3:30.

If you live in a Big 12 market you will find the game on your local ESPN Plus affiliate (i.e. bootleg 51 in Houston). If you do not live in a Big 12 market you will find the game on ESPN2.

The Aggies have already secured a spot in the NCAA tournament, but playing well or beating KU sure would help from a seeding perspective. The Aggies need to find a way to get out of the 8/9 spot in which most projection services have them.

OK - We'll have more for you guys later today or tomorrow morning.

Enjoy your weekend.

Carry on.
-sb

Friday Afternoon Update - Big 12 Tournament

Howdy guys - Greetings from Kansas City.

First things first, the brand new Sprint Center in downtown KC is an awesome building. The city built the arena on spec in hopes of being able to lure a NHL or NBA team to move to Kansas City. If the city can be patient I don't see how this building will be able to stay without an anchor tenant for too long. It is a great place that sets up nicely and has tons of seats with great views in the lower bowl.

OK - Here are a couple of quick notes from the day's first two games.

#9 Oklahoma State 76
#8 Texas Tech 72

The OSU Cowboys overcame a very slow start and held on late to take down the Red Raiders 76-72 in the first game of the day. Freshman James Anderson led the Cowboys with 18 points and hit a pair of HUGE free throws with 4 seconds left to seal the deal for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys jumped out to a 6-0 lead before they missed their next 10 shots. The Red Raiders took advantage of the ice-cold OSU shooting and scored 14 straight points to take a 14-6 lead about midway through the first half.

Both teams finally settled in after the half and played some very entertaining basketball for most of the 2nd frame. The Cowboys were able to take advantage of Tech's miscues in the final 3 minutes and will take on the top seeded Texas Longhorns tomorrow morning at 11:30.

Byron Eaton and Terrell Harris added 12 points a piece for the Cowboys.

#5 Baylor 84
#12 Colorado 91
(Double Overtime)

Everyone's favorite "overtime" team, Baylor, was at it again this afternoon. Colorado let Baylor hang around, and the game went into double-overtime before the Buffs were finally able to make history by becoming the first ever 12 seed to win a game in this tournament.

Colorado led by as many as 15 points in the second half, but Baylor came roaring back to make a game of it and force the overtime periods. By losing the game Baylor may have very well just played their way into the NIT, which in all actuality would be a bad blow for the Big 12.

Richard Roby had 32 points and 12 rebounds for the upstart Buffaloes. Also playing VERY well for Colorado was Marcus Hall who added 25 points. Colorado was able to kill the Baylor defense with a non-stop dose of backdoor cut after backdoor cut.

Colorado will take on Oklahoma in tomorrow's second game.

On the slate for tonight is the Nebraska/Missouri game and the Aggies' game vs. Iowa State. There is a lot of Red and Gold in this town, and I would suspect it will feel like a home game for the Cyclones.

The A&M vs. ISU game is on ESPN2 ~8:30.

We'll have much more for you guys later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Carry on.
-sb

Baylor and Kansas Recap

Howdy guys - Once again I have fallen way behind with the newsletter this year. Are you tired of hearing that yet? I am terribly sorry.

Well, it was an interesting week for the Aggies. On Wednesday last week they won a huge game at Baylor 71-57 in handing Baylor their most lopsided loss of the season. In that game, Donald Sloan and Josh Carter each scored 17 points to lead the way for the Aggies.

The game at Baylor was full of controversy as the Aggies’ tough defense caused all kinds of problems for the Bears. The frustration from the court even spilled over into the stands as the fans at the Ferrell Center were throwing objects onto the floor on two or three independent occasions. There were also a handful of technicals given out after a hard pick from Joe Jones knocked Tweety Carter to the floor.

The game ended on a very controversial (and polarizing) play when Donald Sloan threw down a very acrobatic showboat dunk with 1.8 seconds remaining.

The dunk in and of itself was quite spectacular for a guy who only lists a couple of inches over 6 feet tall. That being said I thought it was highly unnecessary and certainly uncalled for. I fully understand the point that the Baylor players and fans invited that type of reaction by Sloan, but you have to be the bigger guy in that occasion, dribble out the clock, and hit the locker room. Isn't the Aggie basketball program at a point now where we don't need to make ourselves feel better by showing up Baylor?

That is just my two cents and like I said, it is certainly something that many Aggies have had wildly varying views on over the past few days. It does not make one right and one wrong; it just means there are differing views on the play.

If you did not see the dunk you can watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ypRmnZNFI0

I think one thing we can all agree on is that taking down the Bears in Waco was a huge win for Turgeon's bunch. The win, the Aggies 8th in league play, guaranteed that the good guys would finish at a minimum of .500 in league play.

On Saturday, Kansas came calling at Reed Arena as the lead college basketball duo of Jim Nantz and Billy Packer were in town to call the game for CBS. It was cool to see college basketball's most dynamic duo down there calling the game, but I must say it was a little odd seeing them get touched up with makeup from time to time and having a guy behind them all the time helping to arrange their microphone cords. Let's hope that is not the last Aggie game that Nantz and Packer call this season!

The KU game got off to a very entertaining start as both teams were trying to settle in early, and the Aggies actually held an early 15-14 lead with 9:30 left in the first half. The Aggies were getting a great team effort early on behind big buckets from Kirk, Sloan, Jordan and Jones.

The Aggies were doing a great job of hanging with the 'Hawks for most of the 1st half, but a devastating series with about 2 minutes to go before halftime changed the course of the entire game. Kansas came down and Sherron Collins missed a three pointer. Cole Aldrich grabbed an offensive rebound and lowered his shoulder and bowled over Bryan Davis. Somehow the officials thought this was a foul on Davis. Aldrich hit one of two free throws and on the 2nd one, KU grabbed the offensive rebound when Beau Mulbach failed to box out Darrell Arthur. Arthur kicked it out to Sherron Collins who buried a three. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Mulbach threw it to nobody, and the ball was scooped up by Collins who was fouled by Mulbach on his way to the rim. Collins hit both of his free throws, and a five point Kansas lead was all of the sudden an 11 point lead at 34-23.

I think Billy Packer summed it up nicely when he said, "That is a terrible sequence for the Aggies. They are piling up fouls and giving up points, both of which are happening while no time is running off the clock."

When you are playing a team as tough as Kansas, you can recover quite easily from a 5 or 6 point deficit, but trying to make up ground when you are down 11 is nearly impossible.

As the teams headed to the break the Aggies were down 10 at 36-26.

To me, the craziest thing about the first half was that the Aggies were only able to get off 18 shots to the Jayhawks’ 28. The Aggies shot a decent 44.4% from the field, but when you only make 8 field goals in a half, it is going to be awfully tough to win.

In the second half, the Aggies were actually able to cut the Kansas lead to 6 points on two different occasions and were still down 7 (44-51) at the 12:17 mark when Josh Carter missed a wide-open three from the corner.

The crowd was already going crazy trying to rally the good guys when they were able to cut it to 7, and if Josh's bucket would have dropped, the place would have nearly exploded.

Instead, Kansas went on a 9-2 run to push their lead back up to 14 at 46-60, and that was all she wrote.

Kansas pushed the lead to as many as 19 points before the Aggies were able to knock down a couple of free throws late to make the final score 55-72.

The funny thing about the game on Saturday is that I thought the Aggies played with great effort for nearly the entire 40 minutes. They could not buy a bucket again in going 8-for-18 in the first half and a miserable 7-for-29 (24.1%) in the second half.

The Aggies were also outscored an improbable 12-to-44 in the paint.

Kansas is just so big, so fast, and so deep that I am still amazed that they lost three times this season. If the Aggies missed a shot and Kansas grabbed the rebound, they had the ball immediately out in transition and were either at the rim or set in their offense in the blink of an eye. It also looked like their entire roster was about 6'9" and 240.

Bill Self does not have any individual superstars on his team, but he does have 8 or 9 guys who are just really really good. They play fundamentally sound basketball and the type of man-to-man pressure defense that is rarely seen in the college game.

OK - Enough about KU.

The Aggies finished 6th in the Big 12 this year with an 8-8 conference record. I think we can all agree that it was a pretty disappointing season, but one thing for certain is that it did not lack for drama. The Aggies’ erratic play was certainly a stress on all of our nerves, and it made for a wild ride.

The Aggies head to Kansas City this week for the Big 12 tournament where they will take on Iowa State in the late game on Thursday night (8:20 pm). If they can find a way to get past the Cyclones they will take on Kansas State in the late game on Friday night (8:20 pm).

The full schedule is below, and the Aggies’ game (and any potential games) are italicized in maroon:

Thursday, March 13
Game 1: No. 8 Texas Tech vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State ESPN2 11:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 5 Baylor vs. No. 12 Colorado ESPN Plus/ESPNU 2:00 p.m.
Game 3: No. 7 Nebraska vs. No. 10 Missouri ESPN Plus 6:00 p.m.
Game 4: No. 6 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Iowa State ESPN2 8:30 p.m.

Friday, March 14
Game 5: No. 1 Texas vs. Game 1 Winner ESPN Plus/ESPNU 11:30 a.m.
Game 6: No. 4 Oklahoma vs. Game 2 Winner ESPN Plus/ESPNU 2:00 p.m.
Game 7: No. 2 Kansas vs. Game 3 Winner ESPN Plus 6:00 p.m.
Game 8: No. 3 Kansas State vs. Game 4 Winner ESPN Plus 8:20 p.m.

Saturday, March 15
Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner ESPNPlus/ESPN2* 1:00 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner ESPN Plus/ESPN2* 3:20 p.m.

Sunday, March 16
Game 11: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner ESPN 2:00 p.m.




We will be heading north tomorrow morning on our way to KC for the weekend. If Mrs. Aggie Hoops Report does not make me go to the riverboat casinos with her, we will have daily updates for you guys from the Sprint Center.

If any of you guys are going to be up there, let me know, I would love to buy you a beer.

The Big 12 also announced their annual awards this week.

Player of the Year
Michael Beasley, Kansas State

Defensive Player of the Year
Marcus Dove, Oklahoma State

Newcomer of the Year
DeMarre Carroll, Missouri

Freshman of the Year
Michael Beasley, Kansas State

6th man Award
Sherron Collins, Kansas

Coach of the Year
Rick Barnes, Texas

All-Big 12 First Team
Curtis Jerrells, Baylor
Darrell Arthur, Kansas
Brandon Rush, Kansas
Michael Beasley, Kansas State
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma
D.J. Augustin, Texas

All-Big 12 Second Team
Mario Chalmers, Kansas
Aleks Maric, Nebraska
A.J. Abrams, Texas
Damion James, Texas
Martin Zeno, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 Third Team
Richard Roby, Colorado
Jiri Hubalek, Iowa State
Darnell Jackson, Kansas
Bill Walker, Kansas State
Byron Eaton, Oklahoma State

All-Big 12 Honorable Mention (Listed alphabetically by school)
Henry Dugat (Baylor)
Kevin Rogers (Baylor)
Wesley Johnson (Iowa State)
DeMarre Carroll (Missouri)
James Anderson (Oklahoma State)
Marcus Dove (Oklahoma State)
Josh Carter (Texas A&M)
Joseph Jones (Texas A&M)

Big 12 All-Defensive Team
Rahshon Clark, Iowa State
Mario Chalmers, Kansas
Russell Robinson, Kansas
Marcus Dove, Oklahoma State
Justin Mason, Texas

Big 12 All-Rookie Team
Michael Beasley, Kansas State
Bill Walker, Kansas State
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma
James Anderson, Oklahoma State
DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M

OK – That is going to do it for now. Again, I am sorry that I have not been able to put these newsletters out with the same frequency this year that I have in years past.

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading them again this year.

We will have much more for you over the next couple of weeks as the Aggies head to post-season play.

I also know that a big lingering question is whether or not the Aggies are going to get an invite to the big dance. I guess my two cents is that I think they are currently in, and beating Iowa State on Thursday will basically cement their position.

If they lose to the cyclones in the first round of the tournament, I think you can start making your NIT plans immediately.

Alright.

Hope you guys have a good week. We’ll talk to you in a couple of days.

Carry on.
-sb

Aggies at Baylor Tonight - 8:00 PM - ESPN2 National

I will leave you with one quick thought.

Can someone please explain to me how a team that went 16:12 without scoring a single point can only be a 2.0 point underdog tonight at Baylor?

If the Aggies drop their game tonight at Baylor I think it becomes NIT time for the good guys.

If the Aggies can find a way to win against the mighty Bears it will certainly make Saturday's game against Kansas very interesting.

If any of you guys have any insight into which A&M team is going to show up tonight I would love to hear about it.

TENTATIVE TEXAS A&M STARTERS

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class PPG RPG APG
22 Dominique Kirk G 6-4 185 Sr-3L 7.9 3.5 3.5
15 Donald Sloan G 6-3 205 So-1L 9.4 3.9 3.2
23 Josh Carter F 6-7 200 Jr-2L 12.6 4.2 --
30 Joseph Jones F 6-9 255 Sr-3L 10.7 5.2 --
12 DeAndre Jordan C 7-0 255 Fr-Hs 9.0 6.4 --

TENTATIVE BAYLOR STARTERS

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class PPG RPG APG
0 Curtis Jerrells G 6-1 200 Jr-2L 15.3 3.6 3.8
5 Henry Dugat G 6-0 170 Jr-2L 12.2 4.0 --
14 Aaron Bruce G 6-3 185 Sr-3L 9.3 1.9 2.0
40 Mark Shepherd F 6-9 225 Sr-3L 1.6 2.2 --
23 Kevin Rogers F 6-9 240 Jr-2L 12.9 8.6 --

I will not offer you a worthless score prediction tonight, just root like heck for the Aggies and we'll take it from there.

Carry on.
-sb

A quick look at the Oklahoma game

Hey guys, just a quick reminder that the good guys play Oklahoma in Norman today at 1:00 on ESPN (national).

A win today would go a long way in helping the Aggies shore up a NCAA tournament spot.

I would suspect that coming off of their big win over Tech on Wednesday that Turgeon's boys will come out pretty hungry. I think they will continue to press on trying to prove that they are a much better team than they showed in their three game in mid-February.

Oklahoma is coming into the game after getting beat rather soundly by Nebraska in Lincoln on Wednesday by a final score of 63-45.

Jeff Capel's Sooners are led by freshman forward Blake Griffin (15.3 points and 9.3 rebounds). Patrolling the paint is senior center Longar Longar (11.8 points and 5.4 rebounds), and the Sooner backcourt is led by sophomore guard Tony Crocker (11.4 points, 44% from three-point range).

TENTATIVE TEXAS A&M STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class PPG RPG APG
22 Dominique Kirk G 6-4 185 Sr-3L 8.2 3.5 3.6
15 Donald Sloan G 6-3 205 So-1L 9.7 4.0 3.3
23 Josh Carter F 6-7 200 Jr-2L 12.6 4.3 --
30 Joseph Jones F 6-9 255 Sr-3L 10.9 5.3 --
12 DeAndre Jordan C 7-0 255 Fr-Hs 9.0 6.6 --

TENTATIVE OKLAHOMA STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class PPG RPG APG
20 Austin Johnson G 6-3 161 Jr-2L 8.6 2.8 2.5
15 David Godbold G 6-5 221 Sr-3L 7.3 4.1 2.0
5 Tony Crocker G 6-6 191 So-1L 11.4 4.2 2.2
32 Taylor Griffin F 6-7 236 Jr-2L 6.5 4.5 --
23 Blake Griffin F 6-10 239 Fr-Hs 15.3 9.3 --

The Sure-To-Be-Wrong-Aggie-Hoops-Report Score Prediction:

Texas A&M 71
Oklahoma 58

Hope you guys have a great weekend.

Carry on.
-sb