By ROBERT CESSNA
The basketball race is shaping up to rival the South football race of last year when Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech were tri-champions and all were ranked in the Top 10.
A&M continues to be one of the top basketball schools in the country. The Aggie women are ranked No. 10, though they were the only ranked team not to play last week.
A&M is one of 10 schools with both programs ranked, joining Connecticut, Duke, Florida State, Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Tennessee and Texas. That's pretty elite company.
You can see both A&M teams Wednesday at Reed Arena. The women play Stephen F. Austin at 6 p.m. and the men play Prairie View A&M at 8.
The men also are home Friday to Akron and Monday to North Texas. Their only other home game this month is The Citadel on the 19th.
The women are home only twice more this month -- North Texas on Dec. 8 and Prairie View A&M on the 28th.
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Five years ago when Notre Dame fired Ty Willingham as its football coach, a few thought Dennis Franchione might be a possibility to replace him if a few of the big names turned down the Fighting Irish.
Franchione, if you remember, was 7-4 in his second year at A&M, coming off a hard-fought 26-13 loss at fifth-ranked Texas. The Aggies were headed to the Cotton Bowl to play Tennessee and things were looking up in Aggieland.
I wrote at the time that Franchione didn't stand a chance since Notre Dame needed to hire a sure-fire thing such as Utah's Urban Meyer (who correctly picked Florida over Notre Dame), California's Jeff Tedford or Oklahoma's Bob Stoops. I also said that Franchione would have won at Notre Dame, and having his name just mentioned would actually help him. I thought back then that winning big at A&M would be easier than Notre Dame -- and still do.
It didn't work out for Franchione at A&M, nor at Notre Dame for Charlie Weis, who was fired Monday after a 35-27 record in five years. That's not much different than Franchione's 32-28 mark.
A lot can happen -- or not happen -- in five years, which is why coaches are getting less time to show significant improvement.
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It appears the A&M football team is headed to Shreveport, La., for the Independence Bowl if Texas beats Nebraska in the Big 12 title game.
It makes more sense for A&M to play in Houston's Texas Bowl and allow Iowa State to head to Shreveport for a possible intriguing matchup with former ISU head coach Gene Chizik, who is at Auburn. But the Independence Bowl picks ahead of the Texas Bowl, and A&M isn't a school you pass, especially for ISU.
"It really bothers me that people week-in and week-out are writing that the Texas Bowl has the choice ahead of us," Missy Setters, the Independence Bowl's executive director, told the Shreveport Times.
The Independence Bowl gets the seventh selection from the Big 12's eight bowl-eligible teams and the eighth pick from the Southeastern Conference's pool of 10 bowl-eligible teams.
A&M against Auburn, Georgia or South Carolina would potentially be one of the best matchups in the time the SEC and Big 12 have been sending teams to Shreveport. The SEC will send Alabama and Florida to BCS bowls. And after the other bowls affiliated with the SEC (Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Liberty and Music City) pick, the Independence Bowl will choose from a pair of 7-5 teams. The other team will land in the PapaJohns.com Bowl, the last bowl with an SEC tie.
The SEC has been affiliated with the Independence Bowl since 1995, and the Big 12 has been since 1999. Since this is the last year in the contract for both the SEC and Big 12 to send teams to the Independence Bowl, it's unlikely a deal will be negotiated to have the Independence Bowl pass on A&M to benefit the Texas Bowl. It's every bowl for itself, for every dollar it can get.
Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register blogged that the Texas Bowl indeed is the likely destination for Iowa State, which hasn't been a big draw in Shreveport.
The Cyclones have been to the Independence Bowl twice since the Aggies, so Houston might be a better destination for ISU. The ISU-Alabama matchup in 2001 drew 45,627, but remember, that was against Alabama. The Cyclones played Miami (Ohio) in 2004 and drew only 32,145.
The Aggies and Mississippi State drew 36,974 for the 2000 game, but few tickets were sold on game day because of snow.
The 2008 Independence Bowl between Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech drew 41,567. Those teams were picked because the SEC and Big 12 didn't have enough bowl-eligible teams. The record crowd for the bowl is 48,325, set in 1990 for Maryland and Louisiana Tech.
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Three former Texas A&M assistant football coaches helped Mississippi State end the season with a 41-27 upset of rival Mississippi in the Egg Bowl.
Les Koenning Jr., is the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Carl Torbush is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. They were brought in by first-year head coach Dan Mullen who retained Melvin Smith, who coaches cornerbacks and nickelbacks. Koenning (2003-07), Torbush (2003-05) and Smith (2003-05) all worked with Franchione, and Koenning was on R.C. Slocum's staff from 1994-96.
Mississippi State's athletics director is Greg Byrne, son of A&M AD Bill Byrne.
Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com
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