The Sloan call was in 2008 on a "neutral" court in Anaheim. UCLA was a 1 seed and I think during their game Sunday the tv announcers said that was the last time they made it to the Elite 8.

You're right - it was 2008. I even Googled it to try to find the year, but obviously didn't get it right. Regardless, the similarities remain of NCAA tourney refs swallowing whistles on last second drives to the basket. Not that I'm all that upset about it in this case though.

Put Collier on our team and we are in the finals !

Our recruiting has fallen WAY off the top programs. UConn, South Carolina, Stanford, Baylor, Louisville, etc. are pulling in multiple top-50 recruits each year. We are lucky to get even one. Are we now a program that just depends on transfers?

How many McDonald's All-Americans were on our team this past season? Whatever the strategy, it is working and we are consistently executing it.

It's working if your goal is the Sweet 16. We've only reached the Elite 8 or better 3 out of Blair's 17 NCAA tournament's at A&M.

You have caught Gary red-handed with his Sweet 16 only talent acquisition strategy. I mean, we only had Ciera and Jordan starting as sophomores and for 3 years.

If he were constantly loading up on 1 year transfers, it would be different.

So do you want to be a top program or not?

If middle of the road ranked team is your thing then, yes, Blair is the guy.

If you want to be elite, he's either not the guy for the job or needs to change his recruiting approach.

Hand Of God said:

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So do you want to be a top program or not?

If middle of the road ranked team is your thing then, yes, Blair is the guy.

If you want to be elite, he's either not the guy for the job or needs to change his recruiting approach.

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What is a middle of the road ranked team? Do you know how many teams there are? And how many are ranked?

Finishing at the Sweet 16 level means you are middle of the road for top-25 programs.

Is anyone going to point out where I'm wrong or are we just going to pick apart language?

Is the A&M program good? Of course.

Are we anywhere close to elite? Absolutely not.

I mostly agree with Hand Of God. Byrne gave Blair everything he needed to build a good program. He built it from nothing to a top 15 or so program. As HofG pointed out, GB broke through 3 of 17 years to E8 and won one NC.
Most years we have under achieved our seeding in the NCAA tournament.

There are very few consistent wbb teams.....in recent history, UConn, bu, Stanford and S, Carolina have been consistent. They all recruit the top talent and are well coached. We have had a few top players in Adams amd Carter, and a number of very good players. t.u. is back now under Vic. bu will continue to be be very good with Mulkey. So, getting the best talent in Texas will be tough.

Of the 4 consistent teams I listed above, 3 have women head coaches. Seems to be the trend. Now 7 of 14 SEC teams have black women head coaches. That did not work well at TAMU with Peggy Gillom....just not the right choice.

Seems most of the top teams running more motion type offense with dribble drives and kicks for 3 point shots..
Seems like the best teams have a lot of quickness and players who can run the floor and jump out of the gym, even at 6'1'" or 6'2".

I like to see teams use their athletic ability to run their offense based on what the coaches taught them in practice rather than having to look around and wait for the coach to bark out what to do from the sideline,,,,which slows them down, causes hesitation and confusion.

Sure during time outs and on in bounds plays, some further coaching and adjustments is needed.
Certainly during half time.

Bottom line is the administration has to decide what level of success is desired and required at a University like Texas A&M considering the support given our various programs. It has been proven that coaching makes a difference, and there are numerous examples of this.

When a coach has won a NC and this year, the SEC championship, there is a strong case that the program is sound. If your standard of success is more national and the NCAA tournament, then our program is far from elite.

You only have to look at the mbb program in Austin to see the national view. You lose to ACC in the NCAA on top of previous lack of success in the NCAA and a change is made. Smart is a good coach and will likely do well at Marquette. Guess it boils down to perspective and expectations.

Gary Blair is a hall of fame coach and deservingly so. He's also 75 years old. It is unfair to expect anyone to still be elite at 75. Especially in a job like D1 college coach.

18-7 USC over those Vic longhorn lovers 1st quarter

Yikes. SC crushing Texas by 16 late 2nd half.

I'm interested to see what happens with Gary's contract...we are on contract watch as of now.

37-22 those fighting Vic lovers down at half

Cedar09 said:

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37-22 those fighting Vic lovers down at half

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How many points do we have in the Elite 8?

I'm all for the sips losing. And I would have loved to have had Vic as our coach. After an amazing retirement bash worthy of GB's tenure.