Josh Carter Goes Boom! & Iowa State Up Next

"Carter. Rises and fires.....OHHHHH.......A buzzer beater for A&M!!!"

Well - For those of you that went to bed early on Tuesday night, shame on...... ah, who am I kidding, it was a horrible game and the Aggies were down 18 - I can't blame you one bit. The Aggies' game vs. Nebraska may have been a season-changing win and one of the most dramatic wins in recent history, but my goodness, what a horribly painful game to watch for 39 minutes and 57.4 seconds.

Josh Carter's buzzer beater put the Aggies over the top by a final score of 57-55 and kept their faint NCAA tournament hopes alive for a few more days. The Aggies scored 11 of the game's final 10 points, but in my opinion, the crazy night was summarized in the last 19.5 seconds. Over that course of time, Nebraska's Cookie Miller missed 2 free throws, the Aggies turned the ball over, Nebraska turned the ball over, A&M turned it over again, Nebraska turned it over again, the Aggies got fouled, then Josh Carter hit the game winner. YES, THE GAME WAS THAT BAD ALL NIGHT!!!!

All of that being said, at the end of the day - a win is a win - take it, especially when you are fighting for your post-season life each and every night. It was pretty awesome to see the A&M bench empty and dogpile on Carter near midcourt - it was all part of what makes college basketball so awesome this time of year.

If you missed any of the highlights from Tuesday night, including one of the best dunks of the year (Dash Harris), you can see them here:

Dash Harris Dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBgY3-nRqxk
Nate Walkup Dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q2Afmuh5oc
Josh Carter Game Winner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvA7I4YWmXI

OK - The most popular question this week has been some variant of what the Aggies need to do in order to get in. In my opinion, they obviously need to just keep winning games, but beyond that, I think everything still keys on that season finale when you host Missouri. Without that win, I am not sure the Aggies will get in unless they get the Big 12's automatic bid by winning the tournament in OKC. I will go so far as to say that I think you can still get in even if you drop that game at Colorado, as long as you then turn around and beat Missouri, and then win two games in OKC (which would mean beating one of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri or Texas). If you run the table and take care of business in your first game in OKC, I think you are in at that point. The Aggies' RPI according to ESPN's InsideRPI Daily is all the way up to 35, which again is primarily on the strength of their non-conference wins over LSU and Arizona (you guys need to keep on rooting like heck for both of them....)

I have been saying it for a couple of weeks now, don't give up on these guys just yet, keep hanging in there with them.......

Up next for Turgeon's guys are the Iowa State Cyclones who come to TBBOTB (The Brown Barn on the Brazos) fresh off a 71-62 whoopin' of Baylor in Ames. Iowa State is not great, but they do feature a guy that can flat out get after it in Craig Brackins. The 6'10" Sophomore is averaging 19.9 points (2nd best in the Big 12) and 9.3 rebounds (3rd best in the Big 12) on the year and has put up some stupid numbers:
- 32 points/16 reboudns (N.Iowa)
- 28 points/17 rebounds (Jacksonville St.)
- 38 points/14 rebounds (Houston)
- 42 points/14 rebounds (Kansas)
- 26 points/10 reboudns (Colorado)

Needless to say, Brackins will be priority number 1 for Turgeon and the Aggies. Even though the big fella checks in at 6'`0", he's not afraid to step out and put up the rock from behind the arc. There have been a handful of games this year where he has shot 4 or 5 threes in a game. I would look for the Aggies to be very aggressive switching to and doubling up Brackins in an effort to make the rest of Greg McDermott's guys beat you.

The Aggies have won 5 straight vs. Iowa State, and I see no reason why that trend shouldn't continue on Saturday.

Tipoff is scheduled for 12:45, and the game can be seen on the Big 12 Network (formerly ESPN+) - In Houston the game will be on bootleg 51 (KNWS), and in Dallas it will be on KTXA-21.

Hang in there!!!!

Aggie Hoops Report Score Prediction:
Iowa State 59
Texas A&M 68