I will confess that I thought Gary Blair had seen his better days and that the Ags should have gone after Vic Schaefer. I know some others on this board felt the same way.

But Gary and his team have made me eat a big serving of crow. Anyone else honest enough to 'fess up?

Congrats to Gary and the team on an awesome season!

Yep. Same same. I thought GB was well past done. Happy to be wrong.

Congrats Ladies. Just keep winning.

With a history of not using the bench I thought this season might train wreck.

Might be best team top to bottom team he's had.

Gary Blair accommodated the influx of transfer talent by using the bench and getting more playing time for the team. The result is he has very capable long and short relief that provides clear matchup advantages.

Green and Morris relieving Nixon especially has been a season-long, unfolding story. All three guards improved dramatically with Nixon getting relief especially when the matchup put a smaller, quicker guard on her like today either O or D.

This is a weird year, but Blair properly adjusted his approach to do very well at adjusting especially to covid cancellations. I'll note the team had minimal personnel disruptions while building team chemistry visibly every game.

Lots of kudos to Gary, the team-especially returning seniors-and the supporting coaches and staff. I even sent a thank you to Claudia which she proved she was just as invested as every other fan in her gracious response!!

I knew this team could be good but I would be lying if I said I thought we were going to be SEC champs at the beginning of the season. The depth on the bench has been great to watch. Unlike previous years, teams now have to play us honest and can't help off on other players because of our great balance.
Also, our ability to be pretty good at shooting the deep ball has been great to see. I hated how often teams used to play so much zone against us because it was never one of our strengths.
All coaches have done a great job of making proper adjustments after halftime and the team seems to really like playing for one another.

Every time Vic flashes hook'em God kills a kitten.

Blair's best coaching job of his career, and that's saying something. He's 75 years old!

I've been watching his teams since the late 80s when he was at SFA and Portia Hill, Connie Cole, and Dayna Reed were the stars. Those three girls are in their 50s now!

Irrespective of how the rest of this season unfolds (it only takes one bad game in the tournament to unwind big dreams), this year has been a cherry on top of the career of a women's basketball icon.

Unfortunately, I thought the same as OP. Blair has done a great job putting this team together and remaining focused throughout the season.

Personally from the first game I saw the difference in the team. The sharing of the ball, the support of each other. It has been the best gelled team since the NC team

I thought that Coach was good on game day, but I wasn't sure he could recruit well enough to stay relevant. However, he brought in a top 5 class, I think, and even more important for this year's team snagged several really important transfers.

I truly hope this team gets to the Final 4. Whatever happens at that point is often good fortune as I haven't seen a dominant team anywhere. If that happens, I also hope that Coach Blair really considers hanging it up. I really don't want to see him go down like so many icons who just couldn't seem to quit.

Regardless of what happens from here on out, this team has come a long way.

The coaching staff has done an incredible job with the team this season. No doubt.

coloradoag69 said:

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If that happens, I also hope that Coach Blair really considers hanging it up. I really don't want to see him go down like so many icons who just couldn't seem to quit.

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Don't bet on it.

From Coach Blair's postgame press conference today:

"I loved watching the other day when Jim Boeheim [of Syracuse] went against [Duke's] Mike Krzyzewski, 76 and 74.

They're still doing it, and I'm still doing it. So, until somebody takes all my horses away from me . . .
You're stuck with me, and I love doing what I'm doing."

Coaching is hard. Really hard. GB is a great coach. There are ups and downs in a program. Do you win every battle in your job? Can you handle your job performance broadcast over a national audience?

Texker said:

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Coaching is hard. Really hard. GB is a great coach. There are ups and downs in a program. Do you win every battle in your job? Can you handle your job performance broadcast over a national audience?

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Yes, he's a great coach, one of Texas A&M's greatest ever in any sport.

Having your job performence critiqued openly under a writer's byline or on the air by a known broadcaster is one thing. Being critiqued by ostensibly loyal Aggies hiding under a pseudonym on a message board is another.

Can we finally dispense with the following?

• No, Vic Schaefer is not coming to Texas A&M to replace Gary. Not ever. Get over it. We don't hire Longhorns.
• Yes, Gary is 75. There's a "No Vacancy" sign at the Cox-McFerrin Center. Neither Gary nor Buzz are retiring anytime soon.
• Yes, Vic and Mulkey are formidable recruiters. But Gary has shown that he is also, and that includes recruiting his share of excellent freshmen. Listen to what Gary says on his radio show about how patient his four fish have been this year about waiting for playing time.
• If he has the depth to play a lot of players, he puts them in the game. If he doesn't, he doesn't.
• Gary recruits championship players who graduate. Get off his back about kids who don't salute the flag in the manner you desire. Hopefully, both teams being in the locker room during the anthem will become a permanent feature, so that you super patriots don't have anything to gripe about.
• I haven't seen much of this recently, but it was a factor in the past. Knock off the dog whistle words like "team culture." We know what you're talking about and this is 2021.

Thanks to the OP for eating some crow. That kind of candid admission is very well appreciated.

This year is unusual and it's impossible to really explain how all of this success emerged from the team that Chennedy Carter left in the spring abandoning her senior year of eligibility to go pro. She did very well at the next level which confirmed what our eyes saw while she played at Texas A&M. She was a transformative talent and bordered on being a transcendent one. I'll argue she was one and deserved every second of playing time and every shot she took. She showed amazing progress in her last year in addressing opponents collapsing in her: she didn't touch the ball on a significant proportion of possessions at all.

The team that emerged this year is based on solid seniors but incorporates a full team of talented transfers as well. It's a miracle. And no way could it have been fully planned in advance and likely was in part due to the special circumstances of the virus.

But what really stands out is how few games we had to postpone or cancel. And how many them-ranked opponents we defeated. And how few losses we took. If not for an overtime loss to LSU...we would be undefeated.

And we had a crowning victory over perennially strong Carolina. I dare say NO ONE expected this year.

greg.w.h said:

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But what really stands out is how few games we had to postpone or cancel. And how many them-ranked opponents we defeated. And how few losses we took. If not for an overtime loss to LSU...we would be undefeated.

And we had a crowning victory over perennially strong Carolina. I dare say NO ONE expected this year.

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In her postgame interview, N'dea talked about how they focused on staying in their bubble and refraining from risky activities.

What a great example for other teams. (MBB: I'm looking at you.)

Guppy91 said:

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Every time Vic flashes hook'em God kills a kitten.

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Might be my favorite TexAgs quote in years....

Coach is the real deal; we're lucky to have him.

Post to add a quick story.

A few years ago, I drove along with my daughters to A&M one day to buy an autographed copy of Coach Blair's book as a gift for my wife. He was as warm as he how sounds in interviews. He engaged my daughters in conversation and gave them 4 tickets to an Aggie Women's game. He left a lasting impression on me and my daughters who were ecstatic to have received tickets to a game. Nobody works harder to promote women's basketball than him.

Gary deserves tremendous credit for the coaching job this season. I too felt like he let things get away from him for a few years after the Natty but that is ancient history now. Should have been named SEC coach of the year hands down. We have some very good players but honestly I only think one from this team could have started on the Natty team, Jones for Elonu. So a lot of great coaching went on this year to get all the transfers to fit in and end up with such outstanding team chemistry. I hope we win it all and Gary gets national coach of the year!

Gary had the recruiting but not the team chemistry that characterized the earlier years as well as the NCAA tournament run. Danielle Addams looked more like a project than a complete player her first year but became dominant that second year. Through coaching. Without that singular talent shooting in volume the rest of that team couldn't have produced enough offense.

Courtney Walker and Courtney Williamson were both promising coming in but only C-Walk really produced. I remember watching C-Will in a McDonald's All Star game coming in. She had all the tools.

Similarly we have never seen anyone like Chennedy and she deserved every second she played. But players and fans didn't rally around the team with her leading the team the way they should have. Several unfortunate transfers looked timed to embarrass Blair especially Howard to Miss State.

Now Howard is a WWE spectacle...and Chennedy did well in the WNBA this year. Blair remains Blair. We know now he had some stuff going on behind the scenes. Sounds like that is sorted out now, but he always coaches with a poker face anyway...

We are so blessed to have him. I've talked about transcendent players. He is a transcendent promoter and ambassador of women's basketball and everywhere he goes he takes a servant's heart for the game.

Charlie 31 said:

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I am still not eating crow on why I have preferred Texas A&M replacing Gary Blair with Vic Schaefer beginning several years ago.

Gary Blair can win games with his offense; Vic Schaefer can win championships with his defense. We saw that a decade ago when Scheafer's defense led our Aggies to a national championship and and this weekend with Schaefer's leadership guiding the Longhorns to the Elite Eight a day after the Aggies fell in a lackluster performance in the Sweet 16.

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How many championships has Vic won? He's been head coach since 2012. and according to some he walks on water. Vic's biggest ace in the hole is Johnnie Harris.