Some positivity

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Zachary Klement
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1:27p, 2/27/25
AG
Despite the recent skid, we are still a damn good team and capable of turning things around. I know everyone is frustrated right now, but we have achieved a lot this year and have proven that we can hang with anyone in the country. This is a gritty group and I am not ready to count them out.

We have wins over:
Texas Tech - No. 7 in NET Rankings, 10 in the AP Poll
Missouri - No. 12 in NET, 14 in the AP
Purdue - No. 18 in NET, 20 in the AP
Ole Miss - No. 27 in NET
Ohio St. - No. 33 in NET
Georgia - No. 36 in NET
Creighton - No. 37 in NET, likely ranked next week
Texas - No. 39 in NET
Arkansas - No. 40 in NET
OUx2 - No. 50 in NET

We've been ranked the entire season, which I do not think we have ever done before. I do not think we have ever stacked up this many high-quality wins. 11 wins over teams that are in the top 50 in the NET rankings, three wins over teams that are consensus top-20 teams, six Q1 wins with the potential for more depending on how some of those teams ranked 33-40 shake out and games ahead of us.

Our losses:
UCF - No. 77 in NET, bad loss, but first game of the season and on the road...Q1 loss if they move up two spots in the NET
Oregon - No. 32 in NET, neutral site, not ideal, but they are a tournament team
Alabama - No. 6 in NET, 6 in AP, Wade Taylor was out, we were competitive the whole way
Kentucky - No. 14 in NET, 17 in AP, on the road, Wade Taylor was out
Texas - No. 39 in NET, on the road, we pooped this one, but not a bad loss
Miss. St. - No. 30 in NET, 24 in AP, on the road, ugly game...I will admit, I did not watch much of this one because I thought it started later and was stuck in traffic, seemed ugly and bad though
Tennessee - No. 4 in NET, 5 in AP, went down to the wire, but we played a damn good game
Vandy - No. 41 in NET, frustrating loss...we did not look great, we should have won this game, also got screwed on an inadvertent whistle lmao which would have won us the game

We do not have any terrible losses this year and every single loss up until Texas happened when we were missing Zhuric, Wade, or Solo. I really wonder if Wade has been right since returning from injury earlier.

I get that this losing skid is frustrating, but this is still a special team for a program like A&M and pending tourney results, it could definitely end up being the greatest season in school history.
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bobinator
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1:46p, 2/27/25
AG
I think some people are falling into the "classic Buzz skid thing" but are lacking that perspective for sure. Last year's five-game skid involved losses to three teams that weren't even close to making the NCAA Tournament, and two truly bad teams, Vandy and Arkansas, with two of those bad losses coming on our home court (Vandy and South Carolina.)

State and Vandy are going to make the tournament. These are not really comparable dips in our play.

As you said, our worst loss is at UCF on the road on the first day of the season.

Last year we had seven losses worse than that.
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Fanatic15...Drs2B!
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1:48p, 2/27/25
Excellent post. Agree.

We have some new offensive strengths this year (Payne inside and Wicher outside) that we seem to underutilize at times. MUST develop many more plays for them, so we can employ them more effectively. For example, we need to be looking to give the ball to Wilcher in any transition to allow him to try his 3-point shots unguarded. He is by far our best outside shooter. He should get at least 5-7 outside shots per game, more if he is hitting them consistently.

And Payne is incredibly good at posting up with a consistently good shot. He should get a minimum of 15-20 touches per game with intent on inside scoring or passing out to shooters when defense inevitably collapses on him.

And we MUST improve at identifying and taking out (preferably denying the ball) the hot shooter on the other team. If we had done that in the last two games, we could've won both of them.

BTHO Florida!!!
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AustinCountyAg
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In reply to Zachary Klement • 1:55p, 2/27/25
seems like a lot of excuses for some crappy loses. Also this team isn't the only one dealing with injuries so I hate when that is used for an excuse.....With all that being said they have the ingredients to possibly make a good run in the tournament, however the lack of offense scares me. They lack of a true shooter REALY scares me.
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NyAggie
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In reply to AustinCountyAg • 2:07p, 2/27/25
AG
AustinCountyAg said:
seems like a lot of excuses for some crappy loses. Also this team isn't the only one dealing with injuries so I hate when that is used for an excuse.....With all that being said they have the ingredients to possibly make a good run in the tournament, however the lack of offense scares me. They lack of a true shooter REALY scares me.


They have a true shooter in wilcher they just don't play him enough and don't have ways designed to get him the ball with a decent look


The problem on offense is that the guys who play the positions that are supposed to be where your shooters are (2 guard and 3 forward) we have Phelps and solo and Andy who are not good shooters

That's very limiting on offense because oftentimes those are the guys that are usually open when there's penetration into the lane or the ball goes down low
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Zachary Klement
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In reply to AustinCountyAg • 2:11p, 2/27/25
AG
AustinCountyAg said:
seems like a lot of excuses for some crappy loses. Also this team isn't the only one dealing with injuries so I hate when that is used for an excuse.....With all that being said they have the ingredients to possibly make a good run in the tournament, however the lack of offense scares me. They lack of a true shooter REALY scares me.
I'm not making excuses. Objectively, it is harder to win against teams like Tennessee, Bama, Kentucky, and high-end teams. Objectively, it is harder to win on the road. Objectively, it is much harder to beat teams like Kentucky and Alabama when your best player misses games. I follow other teams, but obviously not nearly as closely as I do A&M, but I do not believe Alabama or some of the other top teams in the country missed a guy who means as much to their team as Wade Taylor does to our team for two games like Kentucky and Alabama.

Also, what are our crappy losses? The UCF loss was bad, but other than that, every other loss we have has been to a team that is currently projected to make the tournament. The Texas loss is probably or next worse loss and was frustrating, but games like that happen. The Vanderbilt loss was also frustrating and should not have happened.

It is hard for me to be mad about losing to Tennessee. It is hard for me to be upset about losing to Bama or Kentucky at all, especially without Wade. The MSU game was frustrating, but again, they are a very good team.
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bobinator
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2:12p, 2/27/25
AG
Wilcher is almost too pure a shooter. We need him to be slightly cut with a dribbler. Anyone even close to him can overplay him off screens or anything we might try to get him open because he's about as much a threat to put the ball on the floor and attack or make a great pass to someone else open as one of the Yell Leaders.

He's attempted 6 twos and has 10 assists all season.

But that's partially why I think we need to dial up defensive pressure and try to get the game more in the open court because that's the only time we can fairly reliably get him open.
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DTP02
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In reply to bobinator • 2:17p, 2/27/25
AG
bobinator said:
Wilcher is almost too pure a shooter. We need him to be slightly cut with a dribbler. Anyone even close to him can overplay him off screens or anything we might try to get him open because he's about as much a threat to put the ball on the floor and attack or make a great pass to someone else open as one of the Yell Leaders.

He's attempted 6 twos and has 10 assists all season.

But that's partially why I think we need to dial up defensive pressure and try to get the game more in the open court because that's the only time we can fairly reliably get him open.


That cuts both ways. Get him open more easily in a broken floor but make the press either more easy to be broken or more easy to score against with him on defense.
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Fanatic15...Drs2B!
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In reply to bobinator • 2:20p, 2/27/25
That's what I meant about looking for him first in transition to get him the ball as he pulls up to the 3-point line before opponent's defense has a chance to guard him.
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Method Man
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2:23p, 2/27/25
Is anyone watching the games?
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Zachary Klement
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In reply to Method Man • 2:32p, 2/27/25
AG
Method Man said:
Is anyone watching the games?
Yes. Vandy was discouraging, but we win that game if it weren't for an inadvertent whistle.

Obviously, I wish we beat Tennessee, but I am not mad about that game. We played well and took them down to the wire.
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bobinator
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In reply to Zachary Klement • 3:11p, 2/27/25
AG
The inadvertent whistle probably helped us. Not sure how you can look at that game and think one call made the difference. It took a wild series of events to even make the score respectable.
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bobinator
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In reply to DTP02 • 3:14p, 2/27/25
AG
Yeah I mean that's going to be part of it. You're going to give up more easy baskets, just have to hope it creates more for us than it does for them.

I think my argument would be is that if our defense is going to be off anyway we might as well try something new. Vandy was scoring way too easily last night.
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Zachary Klement
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In reply to bobinator • 3:28p, 2/27/25
AG
bobinator said:
The inadvertent whistle probably helped us. Not sure how you can look at that game and think one call made the difference. It took a wild series of events to even make the score respectable.
I would not say that one call made the difference or that call is why we lost...we played like garbage most of the game.

But had that whistle not occurred, we would have had three points there rather than zero. Obviously, no way to know if things play out the same after that, like some of the later turnovers or Zhu's deep three.
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Method Man
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3:30p, 2/27/25
We look like we've been found out. That's what i'm talking about. The final score doesn't matter.
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bobinator
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In reply to Zachary Klement • 3:35p, 2/27/25
AG
Zachary Klement said:

I would not say that one call made the difference or that call is why we lost...we played like garbage most of the game.
You literally said "but we win that game if it weren't for an inadvertent whistle."

But also I don't get why you think we'd have gotten three points. Everyone stopped playing after the whistle blew. We might have thrown a shot up and made it but the play was obviously over several seconds before that.

I also don't really think it was an inadvertent whistle. I think the ref thought we fouled and the other ref explained that we had the ball and they just used that as an excuse.
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bobinator
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In reply to Method Man • 3:36p, 2/27/25
AG
Method Man said:
We look like we've been found out. That's what i'm talking about. The final score doesn't matter.
I disagree here. I don't think we've been found out, I just don't think we're playing well at the moment.

Should add I don't think we've been found out in such a way that just anyone can do it. We obviously struggle with guards that can penetrate but that's been the case for like five years.
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Method Man
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3:42p, 2/27/25
Shocker.
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Zachary Klement
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In reply to bobinator • 3:45p, 2/27/25
AG
bobinator said:
Zachary Klement said:

I would not say that one call made the difference or that call is why we lost...we played like garbage most of the game.
You literally said "but we win that game if it weren't for an inadvertent whistle."

But also I don't get why you think we'd have gotten three points. Everyone stopped playing after the whistle blew. We might have thrown a shot up and made it but the play was obviously over several seconds before that.

I also don't really think it was an inadvertent whistle. I think the ref thought we fouled and the other ref explained that we had the ball and they just used that as an excuse.
Perhaps!

Agree...it was a bizarre sequence.
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Luke The Drifter
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In reply to bobinator • 3:46p, 2/27/25
AG
bobinator said:
I think some people are falling into the "classic Buzz skid thing" but are lacking that perspective for sure. Last year's five-game skid involved losses to three teams that weren't even close to making the NCAA Tournament, and two truly bad teams, Vandy and Arkansas, with two of those bad losses coming on our home court (Vandy and South Carolina.)

State and Vandy are going to make the tournament. These are not really comparable dips in our play.

As you said, our worst loss is at UCF on the road on the first day of the season.

Last year we had seven losses worse than that.

Last year was also a fairly "blah" type year. I mean, if last year was our gold standard for success, then yea...this year's soon to be 5-game skid doesn't look so bad.

I think everyone is frustrated with Buzz because every year it's *something* that takes a good season to a bad one...or a great season to only a good one. To date, Buzz has not shown the ability to put together a good, strong, consistent product from start to finish.

Whether it's

...going to a non-conference tourney and losing consecutive games to Harvard, Temple, and Fairfield

...or having half of your conference games cancelled due to "Covid"

...or having an 8-game losing streak and missing the NCAA tourney

...or losing to Murray State and Wofford then getting blown out by Penn State in the NCAAs

...or losing 5-straight (2 of which were horrible losses) and having to eke our way into the dance

...or blowing a 22-point 2nd half lead a few weeks ahead of a (likely) 5-game losing streak

But every year...every...single...year...it's something that prevents us from being a true contender. We're good enough to get into some conversations, but not good enough to actually win anything of any meaning. And maybe that is our ceiling. Maybe Buzz has taken us as high as A&M basketball will ever go. But if Buzz is going to earn one of the top salaries in the nation, he has got to find a way to recruit and coach and develop a team to be one of the top programs in the nation.

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
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bobinator
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In reply to Method Man • 3:48p, 2/27/25
AG
The day you feel good about the program and I think we're headed downhill is when we really know that #itsover.
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ExtremeRush
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3:50p, 2/27/25
AG
Great post. Respectfully, we don't lose the game because of an inadvertent whistle.

We were down 7 points with 39 seconds left. That would have closed it to 4 points but still very unlikely that we would have won.

Also, who knows if Wade makes it if there is no whistle. Vandy stopped I'm sure because of the whistle so it probably would have been better defended too.
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DTP02
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In reply to Method Man • 3:50p, 2/27/25
AG
Method Man said:
We look like we've been found out. That's what i'm talking about. The final score doesn't matter.


What are you basing this on?

The three losses all looked pretty different to me.

State I felt like just out-toughed us and was the more aggressive team in a very physical game.

UT I think we played pretty well. The biggest difference was outlier stats from the arc on both sides of the ball, but especially Wade going ice cold. They were able to break us down defensively, but how many guys with Ziegler's quickness and experience are out there?

So it's one game in a row in Vandy IMO, or two out of 3 poor performances that looked very different.

I feel like we have more of a situation with guys not playing well individually at the same time than we do getting found out schematically or strategically.

The one we have to get going the most is Phelps. He's not playing well on either end of the court right now, notwithstanding his stats being fluffed in the last two minutes last night.
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bobinator
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3:57p, 2/27/25
AG
Honestly the real positive is who we have coming in these next two games. If we can't get motivated to play better against these two teams we're cooked anyway. We might play well and still lose, but you can tell the difference.
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Topher17
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In reply to bobinator • 4:02p, 2/27/25
AG
It doesn't help that we run basically one play for Wilcher with that little double screen. Watch five minutes of film on us with him in the game and you'll know what is coming and how to stop it.

He can't create his own shot and defenses know to never leave him when he's on the court, but we haven't done ourselves any favors to try and get him looks either. We have virtually no creative sets or new wrinkles, we just try the same things over and over.
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Method Man
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In reply to bobinator • 4:03p, 2/27/25
bobinator said:
The day you feel good about the program and I think we're headed downhill is when we really know that #itsover.
lol
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Zachary Klement
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In reply to ExtremeRush • 4:10p, 2/27/25
AG
ExtremeRush said:
Great post. Respectfully, we don't lose the game because of an inadvertent whistle.

We were down 7 points with 39 seconds left. That would have closed it to 4 points but still very unlikely that we would have won.

Also, who knows if Wade makes it if there is no whistle. Vandy stopped I'm sure because of the whistle so it probably would have been better defended too.
I overdid it with the inadvertent whistle comment haha Bob already got me there.
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bobinator
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In reply to Method Man • 4:15p, 2/27/25
AG
The other bit of positivity is I've said for a while the first time we make a serious run it's going to come out of nowhere. It's not going to be one of our once-a-decade actually really good teams. It'll be one that's like a mid seed but catches a break with the bracket or something like some of those Baylor teams.
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ExtremeRush
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In reply to Zachary Klement • 4:16p, 2/27/25
AG
Zachary Klement said:
ExtremeRush said:
Great post. Respectfully, we don't lose the game because of an inadvertent whistle.

We were down 7 points with 39 seconds left. That would have closed it to 4 points but still very unlikely that we would have won.

Also, who knows if Wade makes it if there is no whistle. Vandy stopped I'm sure because of the whistle so it probably would have been better defended too.
I overdid it with the inadvertent whistle comment haha Bob already got me there.

Haha all good. Still a solid post!
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Texas_Ag11
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In reply to Luke The Drifter • 4:24p, 2/27/25
AG
Luke The Drifter said:
bobinator said:
I think some people are falling into the "classic Buzz skid thing" but are lacking that perspective for sure. Last year's five-game skid involved losses to three teams that weren't even close to making the NCAA Tournament, and two truly bad teams, Vandy and Arkansas, with two of those bad losses coming on our home court (Vandy and South Carolina.)

State and Vandy are going to make the tournament. These are not really comparable dips in our play.

As you said, our worst loss is at UCF on the road on the first day of the season.

Last year we had seven losses worse than that.

Last year was also a fairly "blah" type year. I mean, if last year was our gold standard for success, then yea...this year's soon to be 5-game skid doesn't look so bad.

I think everyone is frustrated with Buzz because every year it's *something* that takes a good season to a bad one...or a great season to only a good one. To date, Buzz has not shown the ability to put together a good, strong, consistent product from start to finish.

Whether it's

...going to a non-conference tourney and losing consecutive games to Harvard, Temple, and Fairfield

...or having half of your conference games cancelled due to "Covid"

...or having an 8-game losing streak and missing the NCAA tourney

...or losing to Murray State and Wofford then getting blown out by Penn State in the NCAAs

...or losing 5-straight (2 of which were horrible losses) and having to eke our way into the dance

...or blowing a 22-point 2nd half lead a few weeks ahead of a (likely) 5-game losing streak

But every year...every...single...year...it's something that prevents us from being a true contender. We're good enough to get into some conversations, but not good enough to actually win anything of any meaning. And maybe that is our ceiling. Maybe Buzz has taken us as high as A&M basketball will ever go. But if Buzz is going to earn one of the top salaries in the nation, he has got to find a way to recruit and coach and develop a team to be one of the top programs in the nation.

Other way to look at it is, if he ever "figured it out" and closed one of these seasons we might go full Aggie and give him a lifetime contract and Jimbo this program.

We just don't have enough talent to avoid what you are talking about, IMO. Being a non traditional, football school with only VERY recent real basketball "success", playing in a graham cracker crusted blah arena, with tepid attendance and a low pool of NIL funds - we just are not likely to break into the big time. It's the classic poultry problem - do we get over the hump and then get $ and attention to follow suit or do we get $ and following, which gets us over the hump. Longer discussion, but I think this is about as good as it gets at A&M. for basketball. at the current time.
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Zachary Klement
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In reply to Luke The Drifter • 4:30p, 2/27/25
AG
Luke The Drifter said:
bobinator said:
I think some people are falling into the "classic Buzz skid thing" but are lacking that perspective for sure. Last year's five-game skid involved losses to three teams that weren't even close to making the NCAA Tournament, and two truly bad teams, Vandy and Arkansas, with two of those bad losses coming on our home court (Vandy and South Carolina.)

State and Vandy are going to make the tournament. These are not really comparable dips in our play.

As you said, our worst loss is at UCF on the road on the first day of the season.

Last year we had seven losses worse than that.

Last year was also a fairly "blah" type year. I mean, if last year was our gold standard for success, then yea...this year's soon to be 5-game skid doesn't look so bad.

I think everyone is frustrated with Buzz because every year it's *something* that takes a good season to a bad one...or a great season to only a good one. To date, Buzz has not shown the ability to put together a good, strong, consistent product from start to finish.

Whether it's

...going to a non-conference tourney and losing consecutive games to Harvard, Temple, and Fairfield

...or having half of your conference games cancelled due to "Covid"

...or having an 8-game losing streak and missing the NCAA tourney

...or losing to Murray State and Wofford then getting blown out by Penn State in the NCAAs

...or losing 5-straight (2 of which were horrible losses) and having to eke our way into the dance

...or blowing a 22-point 2nd half lead a few weeks ahead of a (likely) 5-game losing streak

But every year...every...single...year...it's something that prevents us from being a true contender. We're good enough to get into some conversations, but not good enough to actually win anything of any meaning. And maybe that is our ceiling. Maybe Buzz has taken us as high as A&M basketball will ever go. But if Buzz is going to earn one of the top salaries in the nation, he has got to find a way to recruit and coach and develop a team to be one of the top programs in the nation.

Being realistic, I do not understand why that would be anyone's expectation. Football and baseball have the financial backing to where they SHOULD be contending every single year...baseball does better at that than football. Basketball does not have the same support. Buzz is paid well, but from what I understand, his staff is not highly paid relative to top programs and it does not seem like NIL dollars are as competitive for our hoops as football and baseball. Then, of course, football has a cathedral, baseball has a nice ballpark that is going to get renovations, and Reed is a dump.
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greg.w.h
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In reply to Zachary Klement • 4:48p, 2/27/25
AG
Once again returning to the "resources" flagpole argument. Prior to Schloss's hire we never focused on a great coach and had Shelby Metcalf-like success. That acceptable, good but not great, sportsmanship participation trophy winning program is FAR MORE TYPICAL than two of three trips to Omaha.

Quit arguing from resources. It's simply irrelevant. Argue they won't pony up to keep great coaches so they go away instead.
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Luke The Drifter
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In reply to Zachary Klement • 4:49p, 2/27/25
AG
Zachary Klement said:
Luke The Drifter said:
bobinator said:
I think some people are falling into the "classic Buzz skid thing" but are lacking that perspective for sure. Last year's five-game skid involved losses to three teams that weren't even close to making the NCAA Tournament, and two truly bad teams, Vandy and Arkansas, with two of those bad losses coming on our home court (Vandy and South Carolina.)

State and Vandy are going to make the tournament. These are not really comparable dips in our play.

As you said, our worst loss is at UCF on the road on the first day of the season.

Last year we had seven losses worse than that.

Last year was also a fairly "blah" type year. I mean, if last year was our gold standard for success, then yea...this year's soon to be 5-game skid doesn't look so bad.

I think everyone is frustrated with Buzz because every year it's *something* that takes a good season to a bad one...or a great season to only a good one. To date, Buzz has not shown the ability to put together a good, strong, consistent product from start to finish.

Whether it's

...going to a non-conference tourney and losing consecutive games to Harvard, Temple, and Fairfield

...or having half of your conference games cancelled due to "Covid"

...or having an 8-game losing streak and missing the NCAA tourney

...or losing to Murray State and Wofford then getting blown out by Penn State in the NCAAs

...or losing 5-straight (2 of which were horrible losses) and having to eke our way into the dance

...or blowing a 22-point 2nd half lead a few weeks ahead of a (likely) 5-game losing streak

But every year...every...single...year...it's something that prevents us from being a true contender. We're good enough to get into some conversations, but not good enough to actually win anything of any meaning. And maybe that is our ceiling. Maybe Buzz has taken us as high as A&M basketball will ever go. But if Buzz is going to earn one of the top salaries in the nation, he has got to find a way to recruit and coach and develop a team to be one of the top programs in the nation.

Being realistic, I do not understand why that would be anyone's expectation. Football and baseball have the financial backing to where they SHOULD be contending every single year...baseball does better at that than football. Basketball does not have the same support. Buzz is paid well, but from what I understand, his staff is not highly paid relative to top programs and it does not seem like NIL dollars are as competitive for our hoops as football and baseball. Then, of course, football has a cathedral, baseball has a nice ballpark that is going to get renovations, and Reed is a dump.

That's why I said that maybe Buzz has taken us as high as A&M basketball will ever go. We may be witnessing the pinnacle of Aggie hoops, but just don't realize it's happening.

And while Reed is not great, it's not a dump. Baylor won a national title in an arena that looked like a golden boob and was known for carbon monoxide leaks. Cameron Indoor Stadium on Duke's campus is nothing to get excited about, facilities-wise. Villanova's Finneran Pavilion is a glorified rec center. North Carolina's Dean Dome is about as "blah" as it gets. The O'Connell Center on Florida's campus is certainly nothing special...but UF won back to back titles less than 20 years ago.

The facility doesn't make the team. There are a lot of nice arenas out there that house pretty mediocre teams.

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
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Texas_Ag11
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4:50p, 2/27/25
AG
Since we are pouring on the positivity. Found some interesting stats:

Since 2021, Aggies are

  • 16-18 against ranked opponents (18th in the country, 5th in SEC)
  • 93-46 overall (good for 5th in SEC)
  • 49-30 in conference games (good for 5th in SEC)

That said, our home record as a favorite is 49-10, good for 12th in the SEC! We are 10-16 as an Away Dog, though, good for 2nd in the SEC. Maybe we should keep playing on the road!

Conclusion, we are a better than average team and have been for 4+ years now. That said, we are not Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky or Tennessee.
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greg.w.h
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In reply to Luke The Drifter • 4:52p, 2/27/25
AG
Great facilities make money. Money is the oxygen of intercollegiate sports as one Texas A&M AD put it.

In reality great communities support their local athletics and make them worth watching. No…not the students. They have some impact but not the impact that truly matters. BCS and the university just don't care.
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