Victoria Advocate | "We probably won't see either Texas team after the second round" by jackmolitor

We probably won't see either Texas team after the second round

By jackmolitor in Hoosier Jack's Sports Blog
March 20, 2009

Well because of the weather messing up much of the local baseball schedules, not much has been happening in town, but there is a lot going on with Texas teams in the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.

Well Baylor caught everyone's attention during the Big 12 Tournament, but ended up falling short against the Jayhawks in the championship game. That made me sweat it out, because as an Aggie, I thought the Bears would take A&M's tournament spot after the Aggies embarrassing first round collapse against Texas Tech.

Anyway, the Bears performance probably earned them the spot they got in the NIT, and they've taken advantage of it by edging Georgetown in the first round 74-72. That was actually the Bears first postseason win of any kind since 1950. That's a pretty significant accomplishment but certainly makes you wonder if Baylor puts any money into its basketball program. They might want to think about it, because their football program certainly isn't doing anything anytime soon.

I could say the very same for my Aggies, who despite being hapless on the gridiron, have turned into a mainstay for the NCAA tournament. After earning a 9-seed this year, A&M has now been in the tournament four consecutive years. That's the first time ANYTHING like that has happened at A&M. To give you an idea, before this four-year run, the Aggies had only made the tournament three times. That's pretty pathetic for a school that prides itself in athletics. Regardless, the common denominator all four years has been Josh Carter, the senior three-point specialist from Dallas.

Carter was one of the first recruits by Billy Gillispie and has ushered in a new guard of A&M players and fans that are used to winning. He has always had potential and showed flashes of greatness, but this year has finally turned the corner for the Aggies. He has become a legitimate go-to guy late in games and has started to ask for the ball in clutch moments, something they've needed from him all along. They'll need him to continue to be clutch to make a good run into the tournament.

He chipped in 10 in the Aggies' convincing opening round win against BYU. A year ago, this game was close, but the Aggies controlled the tempo from start to finish and proved to be faster than the Cougars, beating them by 13. Looks like there was little to no hangover from that awful loss to Tech.

Now the Aggies face probably their stiffest challenge of the season with a game against UConn, which breezed by Chattanooga by 56 points, even without their head coach.

What kind of chance to the Aggies REALLY have against UConn? It's slim. The Huskies have been among the best, if not the best, team in the nation all season. They have a beast of a center, Hashim Thabeet, who will probably be a top-5 draft pick, as well as several other future NBA players. They've been strong against one of the biggest meat-grinds in college basketball, the Big East. In other words, they earned that No. 1 seed.

But despite that and what the Huskies did in the first round, the Aggies DO have a chance, and they have a few things in their favor. The Aggies are healthy, somewhere they've been trying to get for some time. That's more than UConn can say. Despite having a few players banged up, they are still without on of their most experienced players, their point guard Jerome Dyson. He went down earlier in the season, and the Huskies finished 3-3 without him after starting 24-1.

Dyson was one of their go-to guys and the court captain. Despite finishing with the No. 1 seed, the Huskies could be vulnerable. The Aggies also have a good set of bigs that could give Hashim Thabeet fits. A&M is solid defensively, but the issue will be, as it has been all year, the offense. For years the Aggies have had a stop and go offense that shuts down at times for long periods. That's what happened in the final 10 minutes in the Aggies down-to-the-wire loss to UCLA a year ago. After a strong start the Aggies stopped scoring down the stretch and could not hold on against the No. 1 seeded Bruins.

That's the other thing the Aggies have going for them: most of them have been here before. They can't afford one of those dry spells this time, or UConn will crush them.

How about the Longhorns? Texas, or rather the A.J. Abrams show, looked good in the second half of their first round game against Minnesota. The Gophers had a strong start, building a 10-point lead at one point. And the Longhorns showed vulnerability as the season progressed. After beginning the season highly ranked, they had become one-dimensional, depending on Abrams to get open and hit threes as their only offense. The Longhorns struggled down the stretch in the Big 12, finishing 5-6 after starting 4-1.

Apparently, the Gophers didn't get the memo. They allowed Abrams to go off for 26 points and go 8-for-15 from three-point range. He was basically unstoppable in the second half. Now the question is if Abrams will be allowed to run wild like that against a much more fundamentally sound and defensive minded team like Duke.

Duke has been an enigma all year, looking strong most of the year but unable to overcome the upper echelon teams like North Carolina. However, they won the tournament of what I consider the best conference, the ACC, defeating three tournament teams along the way. My gut feeling is that the Devils are a cinch below the No. 1 seeds and Memphis, but as with all Duke teams, they have one of the best coaches ever, they are wise and they play smart. I like their chances against Texas.

However, the Longhorns haven't played their best since early in the season when Abrams had a dynamic duo going with Damion James. My feeling on Texas is that when they're playing to their potential, they're better than the No. 7 seed they got. The issue is getting someone other than Abrams to shoot. Connor Atchley could be a factor against Duke. While he has shown flashes of being a proficient scorer and a terrific shooter, he seems to have regressed this year into a foul machine. I think he could match up well against some of Duke's defenders though. The game has the potential to be a much more exciting contest than the A&M-UConn game, which could be a slugfest.

That about does it for Texas teams in the post season. Stephen F. Austin made the dance but Syracuse made minced meat of the Lumberjacks in round one. That was to be expected.

So we'll all watch our beloved Longhorns and Aggies as they make their run for the Sweet 16 round, but keep in mind that the tournament could very well be Texas-less after the weekend. And it probably will be.