Aggies Win!
Billy Gillispie brought the team to the arena today to watch the entire day’s schedule of games. The first game started at 11am CST and the Aggies finally took the court at 9pm CST. The intent was obviously to give the players the flavor and intensity of the tournament. The secondary purpose was to soak in the experience. An Aggie team last played in this tournament in 1987 and last won a game in 1980.
Syracuse was the talk of the tournament after having won the Big East tournament this past weekend. The Aggies meanwhile bowed out of the Big XII tournament in the second round with a narrow loss to Texas. Prior to that, A&M had won 9 straight games. So it was #5 seed Syracuse versus #12 seed A&M. Boeheim vs. Gillispie.
The media will try to spin the Aggie win as a case of them capitalizing on a team trying to play with an injured point guard, Gerry McNamara. However, the guy started. And yes, he played poorly. But as in any team sport, if you build your team around one guy, you are bound to eventually lose.
In my opinion, the Aggies won because they outhustled and outplayed Syracuse. They also appeared to be well-prepared as they had weren’t intimidated by Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense and scored several times against the full-court press. Despite what may be said in the national media, the Aggies were the better team in every facet of the game.
You must understand that the Aggies have not won a game in this tournament since before my time at A&M. Obviously, that’s a very long time! So next up, LSU. All I know about them is that they struggled against little Iona. Its doubtful that the Aggies will sneak up on them, so it should be a really good game.
I realize this will probably be a short tournament run, but like Gillispie and his players, I’m soaking it in and enjoying every minute of it.