Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball

Texas A&M Aggies
2016–17 Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team
University	Texas A&M University
First season	1912
All-time record	1372–1229 (.527)
Conference	SEC
Location	College Station, Texas
Head coach	Billy Kennedy (5th year)
Arena	Reed Arena (Capacity: 12,989)
Nickname	Aggies
Student section	Reed Rowdies
Colors	Maroon and White[1]
Uniforms
Home Away
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1969, 1980, 2007, 2016
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1969, 1980, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016
NCAA Tournament appearances
1951, 1964, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1987, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016
Conference tournament champions
Southwest Conference 1980, 1987
Conference regular season champions
Southwest Conference 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1951, 1964, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1986 Southeastern Conference 2016

The Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team represents Texas A&M University in NCAA Division I college basketball. The Aggies play home games at Reed Arena, a 12,989-capacity arena in College Station, Texas on the campus of Texas A&M University.

History

Metcalf era

Shelby Metcalf took over the A&M basketball program in 1963. His impact was immediate, winning the Southwest Conference with a 13-1 conference record for Texas A&M's first title in 13 years. In his 26 years as head coach at Texas A&M, he won six Southwest Conference titles, two Southwest Conference tournament titles, and led A&M to six NCAA Tournament and four NIT appearances. He was fired by former A&M football player and then-athletic director John David Crow after coaching 19 games of the 1989-1990 season. When asked by the media what happened between the two, Metcalf remarked, "I made a comment that I didn't think John David was all that bright. And I thought I was being generous." Metcalf finished his career at A&M with an overall record of 438–306, making him the all-time winningest men's basketball coach in Southwest Conference history.

After Metcalf

After Metcalf was fired, A&M went through the next fourteen years making only one postseason appearance (1994 NIT), finished above .500 in conference play only twice, and posted an overall record of .500 or above only twice. John Thornton finished out the 1990 season as head coach after Metcalf was fired. Soon after, Kermit Davis, Jr. was hired prior to the 1990–91 season, after posting a 50–12 (.806) record in two seasons at Idaho. He resigned after one season at 8–21 and Texas A&M began investigating recruiting violations by Davis.^[2] He was soon placed on a two-year probation by the NCAA and coached at a community college in Florida. Tony Barone was hired from Creighton in 1991 to replace Davis. Barone lasted seven years as head coach of the program, finishing below .500 six times. It was in 1994 that he finished with a 10–4 league record for 2nd place in the Southwest Conference and was invited to the NIT. After Barone finished last in the Big 12 Conference in 1998, Melvin Watkins was hired out of Charlotte. While a good recruiter, Watkins never finished above seventh in the Big 12. He resigned after going winless (0–16) in conference play in 2004.^[3]

Modern resurgence

Gillispie era

After Watkins resigned, Billy Gillispie, was hired out of UTEP after leading the Miners to an NCAA Tournament appearance and having the largest turnaround of any team in the nation, from 6–24 in 2002–03 to 24–8 in 2003–04. The Aggies, though picked by Big 12 coaches to finish last in the conference, immediately improved under Gillispie, winning their first 10 games and finishing at 21–10, 8–8 in conference.^[4] Along the way, the team defeated ranked, in-state rivals Texas and Texas Tech. The team earned an NIT bid, Texas A&M's first postseason in 11 years, reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Gillispie's second year featured further improvement, with the Aggies defeating three ranked opponents in Colorado, Texas, and Syracuse. The team finished with a league record of 10–6 and a win in the Big 12 Tournament, Texas A&M's first since the conference first began play in 1996–97. The Aggies reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1987 as a 12-seed, upsetting fifth-seed Syracuse in the first round. The Aggies fell in the second round to LSU on the final shot of the game.

In 2007, A&M was ranked as high as #10 in the pre-season polls. Despite early-season losses to LSU and UCLA, the Aggies accomplished several feats not seen in years by the Aggies, including a win at Allen Fieldhouse over then-#6 Kansas, a first for a Big 12 South team since the conference was formed. They suffered three losses in conference play, a sweep by Texas Tech and a double-overtime loss to a Kevin Durant-led Texas in Austin, and were able to secure the #2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. The Aggies lost in the quarterfinals to Oklahoma State. The Aggies received a #3 seed in the 2007 NCAA championship tournament, their highest seed ever, and reached the Sweet 16. In the postseason, the Aggies achieved a #9 ranking by the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls, the highest ranking ever attained in school history.^[5]

On April 6, 2007, Gillispie resigned his position as head coach at Texas A&M to coach at the University of Kentucky.^[6] Four days later, on April 10, Mark Turgeon, head coach of Wichita State University, was announced as the new men's basketball head coach at A&M.^[7]

Turgeon era

The Aggies started the 2007-08 season ranked 14th in the preseason Coaches Poll. Once the season progressed, they won the 2007 NIT Season Tip-Off to extend their winning streak to 7–0. Their first loss of the season came to unranked Arizona. After the Arizona game, they would then win eight straight home games against unranked opponents. Team performance spiraled down once conference play had begun, losing to three straight unranked teams—at Texas Tech, at Michael Beasley-led Kansas State, and at home to Baylor in a 5-overtime classic. The Aggies would post wins at their next five matchups, including one over the 10th-ranked rival Texas Longhorns and three away games. They then regressed, losing to Oklahoma State and Nebraska at home. Another high point came when they defeated Texas Tech 98–54 at home, matching their highest margin of victory in school history (set in 1959 against Texas).^[8] The Aggies regressed again, this time losing 64–37 at Oklahoma. After the blowout, the Aggies were able to revenge Baylor in Waco, though came back home to lose their final regular season game to eventual national champion Kansas to finish the season at 8-8 in conference play. The team received a No. 6 bid to the Big 12 tournament, defeating Iowa State and Kansas State in the first two rounds, but lost to Kansas again in the semifinals. With their 24–10 record after the Big 12 tournament, the Aggies received a No. 9 at-large bid to the West Regional of the NCAA tournament. In the first round, they defeated 8th-seeded BYU 67–62 at Anaheim. In the second round, they faced UCLA at the same site, though allowed them to escape with a close 51–49 win.^[9] The Aggies finished the season with a 25–11 record. The 25 wins matches the record for most wins by a first-year coach at a Big 12 school, set by former Texas coach Tom Penders in the 1988–89 season.^[10]

The 2008–09 Aggies, led by Turgeon in his second year, went 14–1 in non-conference play, with wins over Alabama, Arizona, and LSU; the one loss was handed to them by Tulsa.^[11]Josh Carter and Bryan Davis received preseason Big 12 honorable mention.^[12] The team did not make the top 25 of the preseason AP or Coaches polls, though received votes.^[13] During the 2009 signing period, the Aggies signed Naji Hibbert, Khris Middleton, Kourtney Roberson,^[14] and Ray Turner,^[15] all of whom were listed in the Rivals.com Top 150 prospects for the class of 2009. The Aggies went 9-7 in Big 12 play to make the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year; they defeated BYU in the first round for the second consecutive year before losing to UConn. Josh Carter became an All-Big 12 Third Team selection, while Derrick Roland was selected to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team.^[16] The Aggies finished 24-10, giving Turgeon 49 wins over two years.

In the 2009-10 season, the Aggies played a considerably tougher non-conference schedule, going 10-3. Senior guard Derrick Roland broke his leg grotesquely in December and missed the rest of the season. The team was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 in the preseason coaches' poll but finished tied for second. With their 22–8 regular-season finish and 11–5 mark in conference play, the Aggies participated in the 2010 Big 12 Tournament and defeated Nebraska before losing to No. 1 Kansas in the semifinals. They received an at–large bid to the NCAA tournament and earned a 5 seed in the South Region. They defeated 12 seed Utah State in the first round before falling to 4 seed Purdue in overtime in the second round to finish their season at 24–10. Donald Sloan made All-Big 12 First Team as a senior and Bryan Davis was named to the All-Big 12 Defensive team; they graduated with 100 wins, the most by any class in Aggie basketball history. Turgeon's 73 wins at the conclusion of the season surpassed Gillispie's 70 in three years at A&M.

Prior to the beginning of his last year at Texas A&M, Turgeon had negotiated a contract extension and salary increase, but he was growing more unhappy with the Aggie fanbase.^[17][18] During his final season coaching the Aggies Turgeon publicly express unhappiness with the inconsistent fan support from both students and public ticket holders.^[19] On the evening of May 9, 2011 at 8pm (local time), Turgeon met with his coaching staff and players to inform them that half an hour earlier he accepted the head coach position at the University of Maryland.^[20] He had visited the campus earlier that day and left with an offer.^[21] When asked about his decision at an Aggie Athletics press conference he said "Maryland's got a great basketball tradition. [Texas A&M and Maryland are] real similar. It's a gut feeling." In their meeting earlier that night he told the Aggie players "it was the hardest decision [he] ever had to make... because of [them]."^[22] Turgeon said that fan attendance at A&M did not factor into his decision.^[23]

Top 25 poll finishes

The AP Poll first appeared on January 20, 1949, and has since been published continuously. The Coaches' Poll began selecting the top 20 teams on a weekly basis during the 1950-1951 college basketball season. It was initially published by United Press from 1950 through 1990, followed by USA Today/CNN from 1991 through 1996, and USA Today/ESPN from 1997 through 2004, and USA Today from 2005 to the present. In the 1990-1991 basketball season the poll expanded to a top 25, and it has since retained this format. Both polls referred to below are the final regular-season polls; that is, not the final post-tournament polls.^[24]

Postseason

The Aggies have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 13 times. Their combined record is 11–14.

NCAA Tournament results

NIT results

The Aggies have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) seven times. Their combined record is 7–7.

CBI results

The Aggies have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) one time. Their record is 1–1.

Notable former players

Aggies in the NBA

Management

• R. C. Buford – General Manager – San Antonio Spurs

Current players

• DeAndre Jordan — Los Angeles Clippers
• Khris Middleton — Milwaukee Bucks

Retired jerseys

1 – Acie Law IV

Records

Career Points Scored

Regular season Tournaments

Texas A&M has played in the following regular season tournaments since 2006.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Texas A&M University.

• Official website