Put On Your Dancin' Shoes!!! / Big 12 Tournament Up Next

Well, well, well…..look what a 6 game winning streak does. On Saturday afternoon at the BBOTB, the Aggies came out and completely dominated the 12th ranked Missouri Tigers. The 96-86 victory has for all intents and purposes secured the Aggies’ 4th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

In the first half, A&M was so overwhelming and so dominant in jumping out to a 51-29 lead that there was not a single team in college basketball that would have led the Aggies at the break. With every made basket or defensive stop, the crowd of over 13,000 roared louder and louder, and absolutely contributed in helping to put the Aggies in such a commanding position.

It was also awesome to see guys like Holmes, Walkup, Harris and Loubeau play such a major role off the bench in the first half.

Shortly after the break, Missouri started to make a run, but there was simply nothing that was going to stop the Aggies on the day we got to say goodbye and one last thank you to Josh Carter. On a side note, it felt like it took about 5 minutes for the PA announcer to read off Carter’s list of accomplishments in the Senior Day ceremony before the game. Carter will not only leave A&M as the winningest player in school history (97 career wins), but he will also be the first Aggie to ever play in 4 straight NCAA tournaments.

Anyhow, back to the second half where the Aggies gave up a disappointing 54 points to Missouri, but with that being said, it was great to see the Aggies once again bow up, take Missouri’s best punch and still win going away by 10 points. On the inside, the Aggies completely manhandled DeMarre Carroll and the other Missouri big men. While on the perimeter, Harris, Sloan and Holmes were nearly flawless on every possession, helping break the relentless Missouri full court press.

Ok, I feel like I could go on and on and on, but we’ll just let the good times from last Saturday linger in our minds a little longer.

As we concluded league play, the Aggies wound up in a 4-way tie for fourth place in the Big XII at 9-7 with K-State, Texas and OSU. The way the tie breaker fell, seeding for the Big XII tournament is as follows:

4.) K-State
5.) Texas
6.) Texas A&M
7.) OSU

The Aggies will take on Pat Knight and the Red Raiders at approximately 8:30 Wednesday night at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. It’s always very difficult to beat a team 3 times in a season, and while on paper A&M is clearly better, my guess is that they will be in for a dogfight. One other thing to keep an eye on is that Josh Carter has junked-up ankle and will have zero practice time since the Missouri game. He is officially listed as questionable, but it is expected he will answer the bell.

Aggie Hoops Report Score Prediction
Texas Tech 68
Texas A&M 75

We’re making our annual pilgrimage to the tournament and hope to have daily updates available for you guys covering all 11 games.

Coaches and players can’t afford to look ahead, but we as fans can. If the Aggies manage to get by Texas Tech, an immediate rematch with the Missouri Tigers awaits on Thursday night at 8:30 (ESPN2).

Complete information, including a full bracket with matchups, game times and tv slots can be found here:
http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&KEY=&ATCLID=1524124

A great majority of the games are on the Big XII network (formerly ESPN+) and can be seen on bootleg 51 in Houston, readers in Dallas; you have a conflict with the Mavs, no idea where you can find the game, check your guide.

The Big XII looks poised to get 6 teams into the Big Dance (OU, KU, Missouri, Texas, OSU and A&M), and it should be fun to watch everything unfold between now and Selection Sunday. Hopefully the Aggies will not draw a dreaded 8/9 slot and face a potential second round game against a #1 seed. That being said, last year it almost worked out just fine because they had #1 seed UCLA on the ropes for 39 minutes. Although I’m not sure you want to press your luck two years in a row.

OK Guys – Let’s hope they can keep the good times rolling.

Carry on.
-sb