Texas A&M Basketball

Texas A&M (19-8, 5-7) at Nebraska (16-9, 6-6)

Tue. Feb. 24 at 9:30 P.M. EST

Spread: Nebraska -3.5

Backcourt Advantage: Even

These teams match up very well in the backcourt with experienced players. Texas A&M's offense is led by senior Josh Carter (13.5 PPG) and junior Donald Sloan (11.4 PPG). They have provided the Aggies with very consistent scoring this season.

Nebraska's backcourt isn't quite as talented, but is much deeper. They are led by seniors Ade Dagunduro (12.1 PPG) and Steve Harley (10.7 PPG), but they will also get healthy contributions from Cookie Miller, Sek Henry and Paul Velander.

Frontcourt Advantage: Texas A&M

The Aggies will have a distinct advantage inside against the smaller Huskers. Chinemelu Elonu (10.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.7 BPG) and Bryan Davis (10.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.3 BPG) have been dominant on the defensive end and will make it very difficult for the Huskers to find any easy buckets inside.

Look for Texas A&M to clean up on the glass and get a lot of second-chance points.

Momentum: Texas A&M

The Huskers sit one game ahead of The Aggies in the Big 12 standings, but the Aggies are coming off back-to-back wins against in-state rivals Texas and Texas Tech.  They are making a strong case for an NCAA tournament bid and right now have a better resume than Nebraska.

On paper, Texas A&M is the stronger, more balanced team, but a road win in Lincoln will be a tough task. Although, the road team has won five of the last seven meetings between these two schools.

Shaun's Pick: Texas A&M +3.5

Texas A&M (17-5, 3-4) at Oklahoma (21-1, 7-0)

Wed Feb 4, 2009 — 9:00 P.M. EST

Spread: Oklahoma -13

Backcourt Advantage: Oklahoma

Freshman guard Willie Warren (15.5 PPG,) is hoping to improve on his nine-point effort in Oklahoma's 69-63 road win over Texas A&M last month. Senior guard Austin Johnson (8.6 PPG) bailed the Sooners out with a 19-point performance on 6-for-12 shooting (3-for-6 from behind the arc.) The Aggies will have a harder time slowing down the Sooners' 1-2 punch this time in front of rowdy OU fans, who are relishing the team's best conference start since 1985.

Frontcourt Advantage: Oklahoma

The Aggies held Blake Griffin to one of his lowest outputs of the season in their prior meeting, thanks mostly to first-half foul trouble. Griffin, who leads the Big 12 with 22.4 points per game and leads all Division I players with 14.1 rebounds per game and 18 double-doubles, was held to just 16 points and six rebounds on 6-for-14 shooting. Look for Griffin to have a monster game this time around in front of his home fans.

Momentum: Oklahoma

The Sooners are 12-0 at home this season and are winning by an average of 14.3 points per game in their three home conference games. After being tested on the road in their previous two contests, with an 89-81 win at Oklahoma State and a 78-68 win at Iowa State, look for the Sooners to cruise in Norman.

Shaun's Pick: Oklahoma -13

This article is also featured on CBBplace.com

The Texas Tech Red Raiders (11-8, 1-3) and the Texas A&M Aggies (15-5, 1-4) both entered the game needing a victory. B.J. Holmes six threes help the Aggies get it done winning 79-70 over the Red Raiders.

The Aggies (16-5, 2-4) wins their second conference game and their second in a row against the Red Raiders. A&M won 98-54 the last time Tech came to College Station.

Additionally, the win also snaps a three-game losing streak.

B.J. Holmes led the Aggies in scoring with 24 points. Bryan Davis and David Loubeau led A&M in rebounds with eight each. Donald Sloan and Dash Harris led the team in assists with five each. In addition, Chinemelu Elonu, Davis and Loubeau led the team in blocks with two each.

The Red Raiders (11-9, 1-4) lose their second consecutive conference game and five of their last six. The road loss was Tech’s eighth consecutive loss. Tech’s last win on the road was February 20 of last year at Colorado.

Pat Knight falls to 0-2 against the Aggies. Bob Knight was still the coach when the Red Raiders won 68-53 over A&M in Lubbock.

John Roberson and Robert Lewandowski led the Red Raiders in scoring with 20 points each. The 20 points was a career high for Lewandowski, his previous high was 16 at Missouri. Alan Voskuil had 16 points and Tech’s next highest scorer was Damir Suljagic with eight.

Mike Singletary who averages 11 points per game failed to score in eight minutes of play attempting only one shot.

Suljagic led the team in rebounds with six; Roberson led the team in assists with 13. Roberson, Suljagic and Voskuil led the team in steals with two each. Roberson, Lewandowski and Singletary each got a blocked shot.

The Red Raiders started the game strong, jumping out to a 13-4 lead in the first four and a half minutes of the game. Lewandowski scored six of Tech’s points during the run.

The Aggies went on a 9-4 run to bring the game within two. Holmes hit two three pointers, scoring six of A&M’s nine points.

The Red Raiders would go on one more first half run to take a 28-21 lead with 8:30 left in the first half. Roberson scored 11 points on three three-pointers in just over a two-minute time span.

A&M would go on a 15-5 run to take their first lead of the game, 36-33 with 4:20 left in the first half. Holmes made three, three-pointers in a minute, while the Red Raiders only scored five points in three and a half minutes. The Aggies led 43-40 at halftime.

In the second half the Red Raiders started out quickly scoring the first six points of the half taking a 46-43 lead with 16:44 remaining. Lewandowski and Voskuil hit jumpers and Suljagic made a layup.

The Aggies would go on a 12-5 run over a five-minute span. The game would go back and forth with Tech tying the game at 58 with 8:35 remaining. A&M was up 66-64 with 5:21 remaining and would go on a 10-2 run to take a 10-point lead with 1:05 left in the game.

The Red Raiders will host the Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-7, 2-4) on Saturday and the Aggies will host the Oklahoma State Cowboys (13-6, 2-3).

It seems this year there are so many good basketball teams that it is nearly impossible to narrow a field down to 65. In Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology segment on ESPN, he has the Texas A&M Aggies out of the NCAA tournament. I just have to ask, how?

A&M did suffer a tough loss against Tulsa early in the season, but how does that keep them out of the tournament? Outside of that loss, the Aggies have fallen to the likes of Oklahoma State, in a very tough place to play in Gallagher-Iba, a loss to No. 5 Oklahoma by only six points, and a loss to Kansas at Phog Allen. How does that keep any team out of the tournament?

The Aggies also have a big win against then No. 21 Baylor. The Aggies have also beaten Alabama on the road, and Arizona and LSU at home, not to mention their 14-1 start left them only needing six wins to get to 20 wins by the end of the season.

The Aggies finished the season with 24 wins last year and made a nine-seed in the NCAA Tournament; they are a mere nine wins away from that mark this year.

Winnable Games

vs. Texas Tech

vs. Oklahoma State

vs. Kansas State

at Baylor

vs. Texas (The Aggies only lost by six at home against Oklahoma)

at Texas Tech

at Nebraska

vs. Iowa State

at Colorado

vs. Missouri

First Round Big XII game

That is 11 more games that should not be tough, outside of the Texas game. If the Aggies can pull an upset in Austin or Norman, they should easily get at least nine more wins. Another evenly matched game would be in the second round of the Big XII Tournament, likely against either Kansas or Baylor.

When the seeds are set for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the best teams are supposed to have the easiest route to the finals. 

Somebody better tell the committee that they still have some tweaking to do before next year. 

The top two teams from arguably the toughest conference in all of college basketball shouldn't be tested like they were in the second round should they? The No. 3 team from the Pac-10, Washington St. (25-8), had no problems getting past Notre Dame 61-41, while UCLA and Stanford both needed clutch plays to win their games in the closing seconds.

UCLA (33-3) beat Texas A&M (25-11) on the strength of its defense 51-49 on Saturday night. A&M looked to be in control of the game, leading by eight with as little as 8:41 left in the game, but that's when UCLA began to take defensive control by going on a 10-1 run to tie the game with 3:03 left. 

The two teams played a game of tug of war the rest of the way until UCLA took the lead for good with 12 seconds remaining on Darren Collison's, (21 pts., 1 ast.), driving layup to make it 51-49. 

The game still wasn't over at that point, since 12 seconds is plenty of time to get an open-look bucket. After the Aggies took a timeout with nine seconds remaining, they brought the ball in and went to their leading scorer, Donald Sloan, (12 pts., 1 rbd., 2 ast.), who drove the lane and went for the jump shot. It may have gone in, but Collison blocked it and Russell Westbrook picked it up and took it down the floor for a last-second dunk that was later ruled to be after the buzzer.

Stanford (27-7) had a tougher time disposing of Marquette (24-10), needing overtime and a clutch play to do it 82-81. 

It didn't help that head coach Trent Johnson got himself thrown out in the first half with 3:36 to go. Lucky for Johnson, he's got the services of the Twin Towers to help him out.  Stanford's Twin Towers, Robin, (18 pts., 9 rbd.), and Brook, (30 pts., 4 rbd., 1 ast.), Lopez each had to come up big when it counted to keep the Cardinal hopes alive. 

With eight seconds left and Stanford down by one, a shooting foul brought Robin to the line for two free throws. After missing the first one, he hit the second to tie the game, then with only two seconds left, he blocked the winning jump shot by Marquette's Lazar Hayward. 

In overtime, Brook got hot for a rebound, an assist, and eight points. Brook’s final two points were the clutch points that gave Stanford the win. 

Down by one with only nine seconds remaining, Mitch Johnson, (9 pts., 1 rbd., 16 ast.), completed his 16th assist by passing down low to Brook, who made a spectacular, off-balanced layup with only two seconds left to clinch the win.

Both Marquette (6) and Texas A&M (11) made cases for being ranked too low in their respective brackets and made believers of UCLA and Stanford on the same day. 

Both Pac-10 teams will need more than clutch plays if either of them expect to make it past the Sweet 16.  For now, they can both be happy that they only have to wait a week to prove themselves again. 

The committee, Texas A&M, and Marquette, all have to wait until next year.

8:55 So far, it looks like the best ending of the day might be, surprisingly enough, in Washington, D.C. The Bruins are down three with the ball and 5-something to play. The Devils are really extending their halfcourt defense, and the intensity that may have been missing earlier is definitely there now. Of course, that’s not going to stop upset-minded Belmont from converting their latest possession. 65-64 Duke.

8:57 Winthrop is going to be loss #1 for my bracket. At this point, the scoring by half looks like this: 1st half, Washington State 29, Winthrop 29. Second half, Washington State 29, Winthrop 5.

8:58 Ouch. The first loss always hurts the most.

8:58 Well, except for when your Final Four team goes down on the first day. Can I hear you, Duke fans?

9:01 Okay, time to pay attention to the Trojans. I can’t lose a bunch of games at the same time! C’mon OJ!

9:03 So much for that plan. Bill Walker for three and KSU’s up nine. Looks like this might be loss #2.

9:04 Now just in case you missed my Belmont editorial from earlier, here’s the basic summary. Yes, I have Duke in the Elite Eight, but as a Purdue fan, I have no problem cheering for them to lose, screw up my bracket, and give the Boilers a better matchup down the road. So I’m very glad that Belmont is within four....or how about one? Bruins for three!

9:06 Belmont with the lead! Belmont with the ball!

9:07 I can’t remember the last time I was so excited to see my bracket fall apart! COME ON VINCE GILL! (I MEAN BRUINS!)

9:10 Back in the 40’s (we’re talking about points): BYU is down 49-48 to A&M.

9:11 But who cares about that? Belmont got a big stop...and they have the ball.

9:12 Here we go. 17-second differential. Don’t be so worried about running clock that you don’t get a good shot.

9:13 And that’s exactly what they did. Bad shot...Duke goes coast-to-coast...and they’re ahead.

9:13 I hate it when teams do that. Belmont had the ball, one-point lead, and they didn’t run an offense at all. When you’re up four, you can milk clock. When you’re up one, you can’t. And Duke just showed why by running the ball right back down their throats.

9:14 Belmont’s going to have one more chance. Four seconds to play. And that was an ugly ugly ugly out-of-bounds play. The official scorer took off about an extra seven tenths of a second, so the refs need to go put that time back on.

9:15 USC is officially done. That’s loss #2 for me. Duke could be #3 in a row. We’ll see.

9:16 Bolerjack and Wenzel are sounding like they’re on the third game of the day. C’mon guys...stick with the program.

9:16 Speaking of struggles, the clock operator is having some issues. Quit taking time off and putting it back on randomly, please.

9:18 2.2 to go...here it is. They got a good look....but it didn’t go down. Duke advances. Too bad for my Boilers. Good for my bracket.

9:19 And we immediately move to devote our attention to A&M...they’re trying to hold on to a four-point lead in the last three minutes.

9:23 My bracket is at nine wins and two losses. The only game I really regret is the USC/KSU pick...I spent a long time debating...and came out with the wrong team. I can’t wait to see the offensive firepower of the Wildcats matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers’ stifling defense in round 2 (assuming Wisky survives everybody’s favorite baseball school, Cal-State-Fullerton.)

9:26 BYU’s Plaisted just missed a free throw. As a Cougar fan, it has to be awful to see a 54% free throw shooter stride to the line at crunch time.

9:27 I’m cheating right now...I’ll confess. Since BYU/A&M is the only NCAA game going on, I’m sneaking a peek at the USA soccer game on the small screen. Freddy Adu & company need a win to qualify for the Olympics. Don’t worry...back to basketball we go.

9:29 A&M gets two free throws...the lead’s at six. And those are the kind of shots March Madness is made of. BYU knocks down a triple...with a hand in the face. That’s not an easy shot and can’t be defended much better, but boom! just like that, the lead’s cut in half.

9:30 And that will get us a commercial. In fact, one of the weirdest Lowe’s commercials I’ve ever seen. It’s either a Lowe’s store or the Garden of Eden, but I’ve never seen that many flowers in my entire life!

9:31 A&M has a 24-second differential. Let’s see if they learned from the Belmont mistake. Get a good shot. THERE IT IS! Dribble penetration and a kick-out. Aggies by 6.

9:32 That’s gonna do it. BYU misses a jumper, and the Aggies can make it a three-possession game here.

9:33 I’m going to take a brief hiatus while all the games are at a break. See you in the next installment of Mega March Madness Marathon!

The Big 12 Conference could receive as many six NCAA Tournament bids, because many of its bubble teams have strong RPI rankings between 31-43. Conference play has now been completed.  Right now, Kansas, Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Baylor are all projected to make the NCAA Tournament.  Texas A&M is one of the last teams left out due to their struggles down the stretch.  A first round loss in the Big 12 Tournament will seal their NIT fate.  

 I) Most likely in:

 Oklahoma 21-10, 9-7  #25 RPI

Former Duke guard Jeff Capel overachieved with this team at the beginning of the season. The Sooners, though, have cooled-off in conference play and they are in trouble, despite having a strong RPI rating. 

The Good: An 83-72 over Arkansas, 72-68 over Gonzaga, 88-82 over West Virginia, 77-71 and 92-91 against Baylor.

The bad: The Sooners have lost two-straight (45-62 @ Texas, 45-63 @ Nebraska).  The loss to Nebraska definitely hurt, as that dropped the Sooners under .500 in conference play. 

Outlook: The Sooners started off the season impressively: winning three-straight non-conference games over Arkansas, Gonzaga and West Virginia.  Since then they have been streaky in conference play.  They have a favorable schedule remaining, which includes two home games (Texas A&M, at Oklahoma State, Missouri).  Even if the Sooners win two out of their last three, their fate will most likely be determined in the Big 12 Tournament.   The loss of Blake Griffin is huge.

Update: The Sooners embarrassed Texas A&M on March 1st 64 to 37, strengthening their case for at-large consideration.   Despite losing Blake Griffin to injury, Oklahoma knocked-off in state rival Oklahoma State 68-56 on March 5th.  

Baylor 21-9, 9-7 #34 RPI

Head coach Scott Drew has brought back respectability to his program after the 2003 murder of Patrick Dennehy (and subsequent NCAA violations), who was killed by his former teammate Carlton Dotson.

The good: A 68-64 win over Notre Dame, 116-110 over Texas A&M,  80-74 over Texas Tech and 92-86 over Kansas State.  They lost to Washington State 64-67. 

The bad:  Baylor recently had a four-game conference losing streak (Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, Oklahoma). 78-85 loss to Arkansas.

Outlook: They were not able to get it done vs. Texas and Kansas.  Good thing the 85-95 loss to Division II Tarelton State does not count. The loss to Tarelton State shows that there is little parity in college basketball. 

Outlook: Baylor has won two games in a row after losing four straight.  They should win two out of their last three regular season games (Missouri, Texas A&M, and at Texas Tech).

Update: Baylor defeated Missouri 100-89 in a high-scoring game. Baylor lost to Texas A&M 57-71.  

 Kansas State 20-10, 10-6 #44 RPI

It would be nice to see Michael Beasley in the NCAA Tournament.  The super-freshman is averaging 26.2 points per game and 12.6 rebounds.  He will most likely be the 2^nd straight freshman to win National Player of the Year honors.  Last year Texas’ Kevin Durant won the award after averaging 25.8 ppg and 11.1 rebounds.  State also features Bill Walker who contributes 16.2 ppg. 
The Good: The aforementioned Beasley.  84-82 at Oklahoma, 84-75 win over Kansas, 75-54 over Texas A&M. 
The Bad: A 77-87 loss to George Mason, 77-80 loss to Oregon, 77-103 loss to Xavier, 59-68 loss to Notre Dame, 64-71 loss to Nebraska, 75-84 loss to Texas Tech. and a 74-77 loss to Missouri. 
Outlook: Kansas State has found itself on the bubble after losing three in a row and needs to get back on the winning track.  They will most likely get in the big dance, but right now they are looking like an No. 8 to No. 9 seed.  Kansas State was unimpressive in non-conference play and they do not have any impressive wins. 

Update: Kansas State lost to in-state rival Kansas 74-88 on March 1st.     Kansas State defeated Colorado 78-72, ending a 4-game losing streak. 

II) On the outside looking in:

It is hard to put a 21-7 team on the bubble, but after recently losing three-straight games and still facing a difficult schedule to finish the season, Texas A&M could be National Invitation Tournament (NIT) bound.  Heralded 7'0'' freshman DeAndre Jordan has been disappointing this year averaging just 9.0 ppg and 6.6 rebounds. He also is one of the worst free throw shooters averaging around 41%. 
The good: A 77-63 over Washington, 70-47 over Ohio State, 79-53 over LSU and a 80-63 over Texas. 
The bad: Recently, lost three-straight to Texas 50-77, Oklahoma State 54-59 and Nebraska 59-65. 
Outlook: Texas A&M has a difficult schedule remaining and they may regret not getting the job done against Oklahoma State and Nebraska.  Texas A&M could be in trouble their next two games @ Oklahoma and @Baylor.   They finish the season playing Kansas at home. 
Update:  A&M needs to get back on the winning track.  They scored just 10 points in the first half vs. Oklahoma, losing the game 37-64.  A&M has lost 4 out of their last 5 games.  They defeated Baylor 71-57 on March 5th.  Texas A&M has continued to play itself off of the bubble, losing 5 out of their past 7 games. If they get in to the NCAA Tournament, they will be one of the last times. 

IV) Bubble has Burst 

 Texas Tech 16-14, 7-9 #61

Outlook: Pat Knight’s team is most likely NIT bound.  They have one of the toughest schedules remaining (Texas, at Kansas, Baylor). 

Update: Texas Texas upset in state rival Texas 83-80.  The win pus the Red Raiders back into contention for an at-large berth.    Texas Tech lost to Kansas 51-109 on March 3rd.  Are you kidding me?  Their RPI jumped 14 spots over last week.  

 Nebraska 18-11, 7-9 #RPI 101

 The good: Nebraska has been hot lately winning 3-straight over Kansas State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma.  A 62-47 over Arizona State and 63-51 over Rutgers. 

The bad: Nebraska recently moved into the RPI top 100.  They played a weak non-conference schedule with their only noteworthy wins against Arizona State and Rutgers (nothing to brag about there). 

Outlook: With many of the Big 12 bubble teams struggling of late, Nebraska is surging.  They have a favorable schedule, but two of the games are on the road (at Oklahoma State and Texas, Colorado.   If Nebraska can win two out of their next three then make a splash in the Big 12 tournament they could find themselves worth of an at-large berth.  Especially with other Big 12 bubble teams struggling. 

Update: Nebraska is NIT bound after losing to Oklahoma State 63-77 on March 1st.  Nebraska's come back fell short against Texas, losing 66-70 on March 4th. 

Things to Remember:

RPI- Rating Percentage Index

Remember only 34 teams receive at-large berths.   

Originally posted on Feb. 29th.