Getting the point
Every time B.J. Holmes has had to play the point for Texas A&M, he's responded well. Yet media members always ask him the same thing afterward: How difficult was it?
After playing 36 minutes at point guard against Kansas in the Big 12 semifinals, Holmes had to admit it was plenty difficult -- at least that time out.
"Thirty-six minutes at the point I'm not used to, so that was eye-opening," Holmes said. "Physically, they are pressuring you the whole time at the point, and guarding Sherron [Collins] is not an easy task."
Holmes will take every minute he can get. Just three weeks ago he thought he had broken his foot when Texas' J'Covan Brown charged into him, and they both went crashing to the floor late in A&M's 74-58 victory at Reed Arena.
"I don't take anything for granted," Holmes said. "Every time I play it's like it's my last game. I'm glad it's not broken. It was a blessing to me, and I'm going to play harder every game. That's the way I go in looking at it."
While Dash Harris is A&M's starting point guard, Holmes has gained the confidence of A&M head coach Mark Turgeon, who isn't afraid to use Holmes when neeeded.
"I thought he was phenomenal against Kansas," Turgeon said. "B.J. did a great job of guarding [Collins] and running the team. Two years ago I couldn't hardly play B.J. at the point, which shows how far he's come."
What really happened
In the Big 12 tournament loss to Kansas, Turgeon appeared to be saying something to Collins during a skirmish that occurred when both teams were walking to their benches during a timeout.
Turgeon on Monday assured everyone he was yelling at the official to break up what was going on, that the official was allowing the skirmish to happen and if he'd have done his job there wouldn't have had to be a double technical.
"They had the same problem the night before in the Texas-Baylor game," Turgeon said. "I would never say anything to another player, no matter how heated the moment is. Even if they said something to me, I'd walk down to the coach and say something to him but not to the player."
Too young to know what's going on
Freshman Khris Middleton said he was teased for being so calm while the Aggies watched the NCAA tournament selection show Sunday.
"It was real fun," he said. "I thought I'd be nervous, but I was just watching TV. It was easy knowing we'd be in the tournament."
Sophomore point guard Dash Harris said the freshman will learn what it means Friday when he takes the court.
"They don't really notice it yet," Harris said. "Selection Sunday, our hearts were racing to see where we're playing and who we're playing. I'm excited about it. I can't wait knowing how we lost last year. I don't want to experience that again."
A&M won its opener against BYU last season but was never in its second-round game against No. 1 seed Connecticut, losing 92-66.
By the bookies
Of the 65 teams in the tournament, the highest-paying odds you could get on a bet for a team to win is 500 to 1. Thirteen teams are listed at that.
A&M is 100-1 along with seven other teams, including Oklahoma State. Twenty-four teams are better than 100-1, including Texas at 75-1 and Baylor at 35-1. Kansas is the favorite with the bookies at 9-4.
Big 12 on a roll
The Big 12 has had six teams in the NCAA Tournament seven times, including the past two years, which was a record until this season when seven Big 12 teams got in. The Big 12 went 11-1 in first-round games over the last two seasons, and league teams are favored in six of their seven first-rounders this season -- Clemson is a 1-point favorite over Missouri.
Of the 12 teams making their fifth straight appearance, three are from the Big 12 -- Kansas, Texas and A&M. The Big East also has three in Marquette, Pittsburgh and Villanova.
The Big 12 also has the best winning percentage in the tournament over the last two years, going 23-11 (.676). The Big East is second at 28-15 (.661).
The Big 12 had five different teams (Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) reach a regional final over the past 10 years, two more than any other conference.
Tough to outsmart
Utah State is one of six teams in the tournament to have 100 percent of its men's basketball players graduate from 2004-08, according to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Nineteen men's schools have APR (academic progress rate) scores below 925 and seven of them will be subject to penalties by the NCAA. The four BCS schools in that category are Ohio State, Purdue, Tennessee and Georgia Tech. Ten schools had GSRs (graduation success rate) greater than 90 -- none are in the Big 12.
On target
Utah State is seventh in the nation in field goal percentage at 49.1. The ranking is down from the last two seasons when the Aggies were the top shooting team in the nation.
Utah State is second nationally in 3-point shooting at 41.9 and seventh in free-throw percentage at 76.3. It is the only team to be in the Top 10 in all three categories. The Aggies have made a school-record 237 3-pointers this season.
For good measure, Utah State leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.65 to 1.
Twelve vs. five stats
No. 12 seeds have gone 34-66 against No. 5 seeds since 1985 when the tournament expanded to 64 teams.
Since then, No. 12 seeds have won at least one game in every tournament but three. Last year the No. 12 seeds went 3-1 in the first round and finished 4-4 overall for the second straight year.
Utah State is 1-4 as a No. 12 seed with its lone victory coming in 2001 against Ohio State.
Texas A&M extras
Donald Sloan has scored in double digits 16 straight games and has scored 20 or more points 11 times in the season. ... A&M is one of three teams in the field that have won at least one NCAA tournament game in each of the last four seasons. ... A&M's has played basketball in Spokane once before, falling to Washington State 75-66 at Spokane Arena in 1997. ... All nine of A&M's losses this season have been to teams in the NCAA tournament. ... The only coaches with more wins than Mark Turgeon (72) in their first three years at a Big 12 school are his mentors at Kansas, Larry Brown (83) and Roy Williams (76). ... Mark Turgeon is 25-11 overall in the tournament as a coach, assistant and player.
Utah State extras
Utah State is 23-0 in its last 28 games when it makes five 3-pointers and 0-5 when it doesn't. ... Utah State's last tournament victory came in 2001 against No. 5 seed Ohio State. The Aggies lost 58-57 last year to Marquette, coached by former A&M assistant Buzz Williams. ... Utah State outrebounded teams 30 of 34 times this season and has a 6.4 rebounding edge per game. ... Coach Stew Morrill has been named conference coach of the year five times in the last 20 years. He graduated from Gonzaga, which is located in Spokane. ... Utah State is 2-3 vs. NCAA tournament teams this season, defeating BYU and New Mexico State and losing to St. Mary's and New Mexico State twice. ... Utah State is playing in a postseason tournament for the 11th straight season. ... Utah State has the nation's fourth-best winning percentage since 2000 at .766. Duke leads at .831. Kansas is second at .816.
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