Is this my alma mater? I can't believe what I am seeing. Assuming we win today (we're up by 30 right now), I think we will give Texas a run for its money tomorrow. Texas is the favorite. They are the # 1 seed and they deserve to be the favorite. However, it will not be a walk in the park. And I will not be surprised at all if we beat Texas tomorrow. BTW, any doubt on whether we should make the Big Dance died today.
I wouldn't go that far. It's an impressive win, but results elsewhere have gone against A&M - the GW loss and the Syracuse win have put two teams into the tourney that wouldn't have been there. A win over Texas would guarantee a spot, but if another bubble team goes on a run(like Maryland) that puts A&M in a precarious position.
That was emotion talking on my part more than anything else I agree with you. The powderpuff non-conference schedule doesn't help us either. Our non-conference schedule in basketball was almost as bad if not worse than Tech's in football.
Going 21-7 in the Big 12 should be good enough for the NCAA tournament. I don't think A&M has to win against UT but they at least need to have a good showing.
a&m SHOULD be in, but they still have to watch other conference tourneys closely. other upsets could make their case less appealing. i've said it before, their beyond soft non-conference schedule is going to hurt them at some point. i like what gillespie has done but he has to start playing a better non-conf. schedule.
The powderpuff schedule served a purpose, quite unlike Tech's. Give the players confidence and rack up wins and guarantee at least an NIT berth. But the committee likes to send "messages" by hammering teams that don't play a strong non-conference slate. Lunardi had A&M as the last team in before their win over CU, so that'll move up a bit.
i didn't have a problem with a&m playing a bunch of powder puffs last year, because for a team to learn how to win, they have to win and have that confidence. they already acheived that last year. they already knew they could beat bad teams, why do that this year? playing Southern, Miss. Valley State, Texas Southern, Grambling St., and Savannah State is a joke when trying to convince a NCAA comittee that you deserve to go dancing.
We're in already. I'd be pretty shocked if we didn't get in even with a bad loss against Texas (though i think it'll be a close game either way). Other than Jay Bilas, basically everyone is saying we're among the last 4 in now after after the domination of Colorado. Syracuse getting in wont hurt us, most likely they just took Seton Hall's spot. GW losing on the other hand....yeah, bad blow. Obviously Gillespie knows exactly what he's doing as far as the non-conference schedule. If we played 2 or 3 legit teams earlier in the year, we probably wouldn't even be having this discussion. The team is playing much better than they were early in the year, so you have to assume they could've easily had 2 or so more losses to start the year and would now be headed for the NIT. Instead, we're on the verge of getting into the NCAA's even with the creampuff non-conference schedule. I don't see the problem in that one bit. Looking at pure talent alone, this team is probably in the bottom 3 or so of all Big 12 teams. You probably cant point to a team that is doing more with less than A&M is right now. Dont forget, 2 years ago we went 0-16 in conference play, and then lost our best defender, shooter, scorer, and overall player to the NBA last year. What Gillespie's already done here is nothing short of amazing.
I think UT is going to smoke A&M in a revenge game. You should have saved some of your points against the Buffs. I hope A&M proves me wrong. Enjoying Gillespie's last few games. He won't we staying. The guy is a perfect for IU.
Actually, the talk is that Gillespie might take the Iowa job while Steve Alford (former IU Player) goes to Indiana.
I say this with some bias, but he may as well stay and build up A&M instead of going to Iowa. I want IU to hire a top notch coach and Alford may not be the right guy. They can't afford to make a mistake this time.
Link? There's no credible 'talk' of him going anywhere other than the normal message board/radio rumors that surround any coach when he has success at a school, while bigger basketball schools have openings. A&M just approved a huge proposal to improve their arena and build new basketball facilities. I guarantee a big reason they did this was to keep Gillespie for a long time. Not only this, but A&M can throw out as much or more money at him than any school in the country. We gave coach Fran a fat raise after a couple years of mediocrity - just imagine the money they'll give BG with the way he competely turned the basketball program around. I, for one, am not really worried of him jumping ship anytime soon.
