My Life Blog

I’ve noticed an increase in traffic to this blog lately because people are finding my post from last November where I say that “Coach Fran Must Go!“  In fact, if you enter those words into Google, you’ll find that post as the number one link on the front page.

I’d like to re-double that traffic with a renewed assertion that this guy must go.  In fact, I now think this is inevitable — its just a matter now of when.  I’m on the fence as to whether I want it to happen right now or after the season.  The players appear to be behind him for some reason, so I can see leaving him in there for him.  The other factor is that there are not too many great choices for an in-season replacement.

Why this post then?  Quite frankly, I’m tired of them losing to Texas Tech.  If A&M is truly battling Texas for the top Texas school and thus competing for the top recruits then they should rarely lose to the so-called lower tier Texas teams.  And yet, Tech has had a stranglehold on the series.  That just needs to stop right now.

Today’s lopsided 35-7 loss was very hard to watch.  I am trying to recall the day when I was comfortable with the A&M defense.  Its been since the original Wrecking Crew.  These current players try real hard, but game-after-game receivers just run through them.  Tech even managed a bit of a running game today.

I really like Stephen McGee as a leader and a player with a huge heart.  But what happened to his ability to pass?  He was actually a passing quarterback coming out of high school.  Of course, if you have no one to throw to, your ability to be a passing quarterback is severely limited.  I feel very sorry for Martellus Bennett.  I’m afraid that we won’t be able to see how good he is until he lands on a pro team.  And its too bad for him that his unimpressive career at A&M will cost him a lot of money early in his career.

So bottom line: let’s get rid of Fran and get another of these innovative up-and-coming coaches.  I’m thinking we need to find football’s version of Billy Gillispie, but work in some loyalty so that we can keep him.  Should be interesting to see how quickly this all comes to pass.

I was thinking to myself there was something funny to say about last night’s Dallas vs. Buffalo football tilt.  Through all 60 minutes of the game, Dallas never led — but they won.  Yes, that’s true.  The clock hit 00:00 before Dallas obtained the winning points.

But leave it to Razor Reaugh, our local hockey TV analyst, to put the right words in place.  Recall that Dallas beat Buffalo in the Super Bowl in the 90s and beat them to win the Stanley Cup in hockey in ‘99.  The latter event is still disputed by Buffaloans as the game winning goal was scored by Brett Hull with one skate in the crease.

So Dallasites, please observe the travel advisory for travel to Buffalo…something tells me their hospitality may not be what it once was…

And you thought I only followed basketball and football, eh?  Mostly true.  Baseball had its time for me, but its too boring to watch when there are other options.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t take pride as an Aggie Alumni.  The Ags actually play great baseball too!  This past weekend they hosted a regional tournament and had to claw their way out of the loser’s bracket to advance.  They did so by beating Louisiana Lafayette (who?!) on consecutive days; the last victory coming behind sophomore pitcher Kyle Thebeau (shouldn’t he have been playing for the Rajun Cajuns?) who had a career-high 13 strikeouts.

So this weekend they head to Houston to play a best of three series against Rice who are 52-12 on the year.  Two of those twelve losses are against A&M.  If they win, they make it to the College World Series.  And then I may have to watch.

I’m still mourning the narrow loss to Memphis last night — a one point loss where the Aggies looked like they were in a great position to win the game. So while I puzzle on the free throw and foul disparity from that game (10 FTs for the Aggies, 21 FTs for the Tigers), let me take time to celebrate the season.

Wow! What an entertaining season! I cannot remember a college basketball season that was more fun to watch than this one. Obviously, its much more fun when you have a competitive team to cheer for. I am so proud of our program for putting Texas A&M in the mix as a basketball school. So many wonderful firsts this year; beating Kansas in Kansas, winning at OSU, beating Texas (never gets old), and staying in the Top 10 nearly all year.
I wish our seniors Acie Law and Antanas Kavaliauskas good luck in the draft and it will be fun watching them in the NBA. Whoever gets Acie will be especially lucky — I rest so easy when he has the ball. Nevermind the blown layup last night, his body of work is already established.

And now the point of real concern. The Kentucky job is now open. Now they really are a basketball school. And Billy just demonstrated in Rupp Arena what kind of coach he is. He is sure to be on the short list for that job. All I can hope is that he wants to see the A&M program through. I’m sure he’ll get whatever money he’s looking for from either school, so it will probably be up to him to decide where he’d like to win a championship. Unfortunately, his chances may be better in Kentucky because its easy to recruit there. But we’ll see. If he does go, I’ll take solace in the fact that he’s demonstrated that you really can win at Texas A&M and that this is a coveted job.

Sure was nice to put the “whoop in hoop” this year…

Penn.

Louisville.

Watching the NCAA Tournament when you are a die-hard Aggie fan is like having an ice cream headache.  You look forward to the games, you crave them, but then when its crunch-time, your head aches till its over.  But this season, the pain has been worth it.

The Aggies now stand at 27-6 and are in the Sweet Sixteen in the tournament which resumes in San Antonio this coming weekend.  San Antonio should provide them a home court advantage and they will certainly need it with possible foes like Memphis and Ohio State still alive in their region.

Today’s game was so intense.  Every possession mattered.  There were ties, there were lead changes, and there were momentum swings.  The largest lead was 6 by any team.  Both teams played excellent defense; both teams featured outstanding point guard play.  Free throws decided the game.

My advice for Billy Gillispie is to double up on the free throw shooting time this week in preparation for the game.  They were 55% against Penn and 74% against Louisville.  For the season, they are 71%, but I think they need to step it up to give themselves a chance to win.  Let’s face it, all these games are going to be close.  Every game A&M plays is close.  Aside from the “blowout” by LSU (lost by 12), the rest of their losses are by 3 (once), 2 (three times), and 1 (once).  So basically, they are always in the game and a point here and there matters greatly.

Game Balls:

Acie Law:  My mind is never so at ease as when he has the ball.  This goes double against a pressing team.

Dominique Kirk:  Huge shots from a guy known for his defense.  Maybe we need to give him credit for not being one-dimensional.

Marlon Pompey:  For driving the lane and getting the Louisiville frontcourt into foul trouble and more importantly, making free throws at a critical point in the game.

So on we go and here’s hoping I get to write another entry after next weekend anticipating the Final Four!

First, I have to give props to Texas Tech for beating A&M this week. I have picked on them all year, so its quite galling to me that they are 2-0 against my Aggies. All I can hope for is a rematch in the Big XII Tournament.

The Aggies rebounded yesterday in a hard-fought game against OU. This game was in doubt till the final 5 minutes, but when it came down to money-time, Acie Law was there. The picture of him dunking is a classic — love the facial expression.

I know Kevin Durant is the popular choice for Big XII Player of the Year, but Acie Law is money at the end of the game and makes his whole team better. I hope he gets serious consideration.

In a 48 hour stretch, A&M made its first appearances on ESPN in over 25 years.  In the first match on Saturday night, A&M became the first Big XII South team to defeat Kansas at Phog Allen (their arena).  Then two nights later, the Aggies survive severe foul trouble to blow out Kevin Durant and the Longhorns.

Aggie Basketball is at its historical peak.  They have been absent from the polls for 26 years only to be there all season this year.  They are currently #6 and may rise again this week.  They have never been to the NCAA Tournament two years in a row; they will do so this year.  This is truly wonderful to see.

There are many who still question the Aggies.  The Tech fans chanted “over-rated” in A&M’s narrow road loss to them two weeks ago.  Since beating A&M, Tech has lost four in a row.  Tech fans: who is over-rated now?

Apparently Rick Barnes, coach of tu (Texas) was bitter about the loss to A&M last night.   “Sit down, bus driver?” Barnes asked, almost incredulous. “That went out when I was in junior high school.”  But he doesn’t understand that A&M is a tradition-filled school — we’ve been saying that silly phrase for years as we keep our traditions alive.  These connect us with our past.

What he should be incredulous about is how his team couldn’t find a way to beat A&M given the unbelievable foul trouble that the Aggies got into throughout the game.  At one point, it was Acie Law, two walk-ons, and two other guys who average considerably less than 10 minutes a game.  In the second half, two Aggies starters even fouled out.  Instead of questioning A&M traditions, Rick, you should question how you got so out-coached and why your team can’t play any defense.  If A&M had hit its free throws like it normally does, this would have been a 25 point win.

Ah…its so nice to beat tu in football and now basketball.  The streak will come to an end in baseball, but who really cares about baseball?

There’s not much you can do when a team hits 55% on their 3-point shots.  Couple that with a poor free throw shooting night and you have a road loss against Texas Tech and Bobby Knight.

It seems every time I watch the Aggies, they play relatively poorly.  This was a winnable game, in my opinion.  Again, there were lots of mistakes and in a two point game, every one of those matter.  I’m not disappointed, though.  This is a solid Top 10 team which should be a difficult out in the NCAA tournament.

But of course, the Red Raider fans don’t see it that way.  In the closing seconds, they chanted, “Over-rated, Over-rated…”  They are a clueless, classless bunch.  The outcome will be much different in College Station.

Well, my hopes for a 1-1 road trip against two of last year’s Final Four were dashed this afternoon.  The Aggies lost 65-62, but blew a chance to tie the game in the final minute.

This was the first ever regular season network appearance for Texas A&M in basketball.  That’s astounding, but just shows that basketball has historically not been the focus for our athletics program.  The fact that they were there is a testament to how far Billy Gillispie has advanced the program.  I don’t know how long he will stay, but it will be fun to follow his career; the guy can coach.

That said, there were lots of mistakes today.  As I said Tuesday night, the defense is pretty much ready to roll.  The offense once again seemed discombobulated.  At times, dribbling seemed to be difficult today.  For whatever reason, they had a tough time getting it into their big men down low.  I’m not quite sure why that was, but good teams will definitely do that to you.  At this point, my biggest concern is guard play.  Law has been inconsistent.  And leadership and decision-making at the point seems to be lacking.

But for all of those short-comings, this is a team that should show well through the regular season and do quite a lot in March.  I believe its really early to assess how good this team can really be.  I know that they are nowhere near as sharp as they were last year.  Hopefully, these two games, though losses, will help them later in the season in terms of strength of schedule and maturity.

And now to conference games…

Its a great time to be an Aggie alum. The football team earned a spot in the Sun Bowl on December 28th against California. By my estimation, that’s a much better Bowl Game than Texas received. Texas gets to drive 60 miles to San Antonio to play in the Alamo Bowl. So sad for them.

But I may be burying the lead. The Aggie basketball team is ranked 6th this week! Last week they were ranked 9th which was their highest ranking since 1959. They are ranked higher this week than traditional basketball powers like Duke, Connecticut, and Kansas. And higher than last year’s National Champion Florida.

Tuesday night they visit #11 LSU and then four days later they visit #1 UCLA. These are the first two road games of their season, so its hard to tell how they will play. This is truly trial by fire as you could not schedule a more brutal back-to-back couple of teams and environments. I’m hoping for one victory, but would be delighted with two. If they get two, I will be absolutely beside myself and be looking for a #1 ranking.