Texas A&M Aggies
From Hoopedia
Texas A&M University, often called A&M or TAMU for short, is a public, coeducational, research university located in College Station, Texas, USA. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. As a senior military college, Texas A&M is one of three public universities with a full-time volunteer corps of cadets, and it provides more commissioned officers to the United States Armed Forces than any other school with ROTC. Texas A&M University has an enrollment of 45,380 students.
A charter member of the Southwest Conference until its dissolution in 1996, Texas A&M now competes in the Big 12 Conference (South Division) of the NCAA's Division I. The sports teams are known as the Aggies, and the school's colors are maroon and white.
The Texas A&M Aggies basketball teams are the official men's and women's basketball teams at Texas A&M University. The men's team is coached by Billy Gillispie and the women's team by Gary Blair. Both led their respective programs to NCAA postseason appearances in 2006, a first for Texas A&M since Big 12 play began in 1996. A&M was also the only Texas school to have both teams in the NCAA tournament.
Both teams play home games at Reed Arena, a 12,500-capacity arena in College Station on the campus of Texas A&M University.
Texas A&M's primary rival is the Texas Longhorns. In 2004, sporting events between the Aggies and Longhorns became known as the Lone Star Showdown.
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Men's Basketball
2007 marks the eighth time the Aggies have been to the NCAA tournament. A&M has also been to six NITs, the last time in 2005.
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." Shelby 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.
"The Dark Ages"
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 1990-1991 season. He was fired after posting a record of 8-21 and it was revealed that he committed recruiting violations. 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 UNC-Charlotte. While a good recruiter, Watkins never finished above seventh in the Big 12. He was dismissed after going winless (0-16) in conference play in 2004.
Gillispie Era
The current head coach of the program, 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. 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.
In 2007, as Gillispie's team began to gel, 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. In the first round they beat a Penn team that refused to surrender by a final score of 68-52. The second round proved more challenging, as the Aggies held off Louisville, a #6 seed, 72-69.
Women's Basketball
In 2006 the women's team was defeated by TCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
A&M went into the 2007 NCAA tournament as #4 seed in the Dallas regional. They defeated Texas-Arlington in the first round, 58-50. They ran into a buzz saw in the second round, however, as the #5 seed George Washington Colonials won 59-47.
