Aggie men opening Big 12 play at undefeated Baylor
Unfortunately for Texas A&M, not much of it has been good.
New coach Billy Kennedy took a leave of absence at the beginning of the season, forward Khris Middleton missed seven games with a knee injury, sixth-man Kourtney Roberson recently injured his ankle and is out for a month, and backup point guard Jamal Branch announced Thursday he was transferring. All that and a loss to Rice, which ended an 80-game regular-season nonconference home winning streak, has dampened the optimism that existed when the Aggies were picked to finish atop the Big 12 standings, alongside Kansas, for the first time.
A&M was ranked as high as No. 19, but losses on neutral courts to Mississippi State and Florida knocked the Aggies out of the AP poll.
Meanwhile, A&M’s first Big 12 opponent, Baylor, has climbed to No. 6 and is one of only four teams nationally to enter the new year undefeated.
The Bears have defeated six teams with three or fewer losses, the last of which was No. 15 Mississippi State, on the way to a 13-0 start.
Baylor was picked to finish third in the conference, one place ahead of Missouri, one of the other three unbeaten teams. No. 8 Missouri (13-0) has four wins over BCS conference teams and five wins over teams that made last season’s NCAA Tournament.
Baylor and Missouri are not the only teams that have impressed in nonconference play. Kansas State appears to have overcome the departure of its two best players, Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly, and won the Diamond Head Classic on the way to an 11-1 mark. Oklahoma, under new coach Lon Krueger, is 10-2 after finishing 10th in 2010 and being picked to finish tied for last in the Big 12.
Another team some thought might struggle this season was Texas. The Longhorns (10-3) have done as well as anybody this side of Kentucky could have done on replacing its entire starting lineup.
So, it would be safe to say if the coaches voted again, the table would look much different from back in October.
If the Aggies want to get back to the perch first predicted for them, their luck and their play on the court will have to turn around quickly.
Their first five road games are against the teams that are likely to finish in the upper half of the standings and would be the best bets to make the NCAA Tournament out of the Big 12. On the other hand, their first four home games are against those predicted to finish in the lower half.
Holding serve will be imperative and it may take some ugly basketball to accomplish it with the Aggies last in the league in scoring.
A&M is at the bottom in 3-point shooting (32 percent) even with one of the few bright spots on the team, Elston Turner, hitting at 41 percent. The Aggies are also one of three teams on the minus side of turnover ratio and one of three with fewer assists than turnovers.
Those stats will have to improve by the third road game, when the Aggies travel to Missouri, a team that is nearly a plus 7 in turnovers and has a 1.7 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
On the bright side, the Aggies are first in defense — although Florida did expose some weaknesses — and A&M is second in rebounding overall, trailing only OU. The Ags lead on the defensive boards, a stat that will be tested severely against Baylor’s 6-7 Quincy Acy, 6-11 Perry Jones III and company.
Kennedy has yet to play a Big 12 game, but he already knows what his team is up against.
When asked after a victory over Arkansas Tech on Thursday if he felt his team was ready for Baylor he said, “It’s where it is.”
He added that he knew A&M lost both games last year and felt the Bears were better this season. His thoughts were backed up when the line on the game came out at Bears by 14.
Kennedy did like the idea of knocking the Bears from the unbeaten ranks, which would leave three teams — among them his former team, Murray State — undefeated.
Five players to watch in the Big 12:
1. Kansas’ Thomas Robinson could be the key to who wins the Big 12 with his ability to pile up double-doubles.
2. Baylor’s Perry Jones III will likely go higher in the draft than another famous Baylor with III at the end of his name.
3. Texas’ J’Covan Brown is capable of putting up 30 or being a disruption, although the former seems more likely lately as Brown has had to take a leadership role with all the freshmen surrounding him.
4. Missouri’s Ricardo Ratliffe may not be the Tigers’ best player, but he’s the most important as the one big man in the starting lineup since the Tigers lost Lawrence Bowers for the season before ever playing a game. He is shooting 76 percent from the floor.
5. A&M’s Khris Middleton must approach playing like the guy that torched Arkansas and Missouri last season for the Aggies to make the tournament.
Five new players to watch:
1. Iowa State sophomore Royce White, a transfer from Minnesota, is arguably the closest player to Robinson with his ability to score and rebound.
2. Baylor’s Brady Heslip, a transfer from Boston College, is a jump-shooting machine, making three 3s a game at nearly a 50 percent clip.
3. Baylor’s Pierre Jackson, a transfer from College of Southern Idaho, gives the Bears a quick guard to counter all their height. He drives the lane well and is more likely to shoot than dish off.
4. Texas Tech freshman Jordan Tolbert is Texas Tech’s best player at 6-7 and has had to shoulder a lot early.
5. Texas A&M’s Elston Turner, a transfer from Washington, has been A&M’s most consistent offensive player and only 3-point threat with Middleton out for most of nonconference.
Five best and/or most important games:
1. A&M at Baylor on Jan. 2: Mainly because it’s the first game and with what’s happened the Aggies need to at least stay close or it could be the sign of a long season after being picked to tie for first.
2. Kansas State at Kansas on Jan. 4: Kansas State has been one of the pleasant surprises, while the loss to Davidson was a black eye for the Jayhawks. Again, we could learn a lot early about both.
3. Baylor at Missouri on Feb. 11: Missouri is usually nails at home and Baylor is the most talented team in the Big 12. If Kansas is not playing up to par this could be for the Big 12 title.
4. Kansas at Missouri on Feb. 4: Almost for the same reason as above. Missouri is a team that needs to win at home and Kansas should be in the running the entire way.
5. Kansas State at Texas on Jan. 30: Could be one of those NCAA games in that Texas probably will need to win it and it would benefit Kansas State’s cause immensely with a big road victory.