Really good regular season

Let's hope the good version of this team shows up on Thursday and continues to show up throughout the tournament

OP....good summary of the regular season

In his presser, Buzz admitted his emphasis is the regular season as he sees the importance of it over several months and lots of games. He thinks the NCAA tournament is basically for what the fans feel is important.

He still wants to win every time his team steps on the court.

Haven't you heard, people want Buzz gone

The core of the team has played together for an eternity (in college BB terms). It's a VERY experienced group in minutes played and ups and downs. They might play ugly ball but it fits their personality. To me, it's fun and frustrating at the same time.

This regular season was all a lead up to this tourney run. On paper, this is a Sweet 16 team (minimum), has been all year.

I think the tu loss was a good wake up call. They should come out focused and well rested. I think they are going to come out and tear Yale a new butthole.

It just sucks the loss streak started at end of season. If they were spread out it wouldve been better.

Quote:

---

To me, it's fun and frustrating at the same time.

---

I was kind of in this place all season.

This is/was a good team, and they kept my interest.

This team was often frustrating to watch though; watching most games felt like a grind having/trying to win 'the hard way'.

Because of the above statement, I don't feel like I enjoyed watching this team as much as I enjoyed watching the 2006-7007 or 2015-2016 Sweet Sixteen teams.

Now...I definitely enjoyed watching this team more than I did the 2017-2018 Sweet Sixteen team, because there were no 'knuckle head' issues on this team like that team had, which although talented and capable had numerous in-season 'violation of team rules' incidents, questionable effort at times, etc. This team had none of that. Was high character, high effort all the way.

It is/was a flawed but good team with a roster filled with hard working, likeable players. I think I'd probably rate this regular season pretty close in enjoyment/appreciation to Turgeon's 3rd year team with seniors Donald Sloan & Bryan Davis. That team ultimately got a 5th seed in the NCAAT, though it got a bad break with the D-Roland injury which lowered its ceiling a bit.

My current season rankings over past 20 years with regards to regular season enjoyment:

1) 2006-2007 (Sweet Sixteen, NCAA 3-seed)
2) 2015-2016 (Sweet Sixteen, SEC Co-Champ, NCAA 3-seed)
3) (TIE): 2009-2010 (Second Round loss to Purdue, NCAA 5-seed), 2024-2025 (?????, NCAA 4-seed)

Quote:

---

That team ultimately got a 5th seed in the NCAAT, though it got a bad break with the D-Roland injury which lowered its ceiling a bit.

---

I remember watching that game. The Roland injury was huge. That team was on a high trajectory. They never really recovered the same feel after it.

I hate to see it end, despite the little rollercoaster at the end. Hopefully we can make a little magic over the next few weeks.

Watching the team play most nights was painful. The style of offensive basketball is difficult to watch. I wish they'd more consistently play like they did against Auburn. That offense was great to watch.

I get that the offense is a grind but at least we're active on defense. I hated watching Kennedy's pack line defense even if it was effective most of the time. Passive defense is a brutal watch.

I think it's good to step back and appreciate this season. This is Buzz's magnum opus and he's managed several injuries and hasn't had any truly *bad* losses.

Last dance with Mary Jane one more time to feel the pain

Im mostly happy with the season and excited about the post season, but we did catch a tremendous break having OU, Texas, and LSU as our mirror opponents. Imagine if we'd had to play Bama or Tennessee or Auburn twice.

Great post, Marc! A fun and often exhausting season, but these players play their asses off and I hope they play up to their potential this weekend and beyond.

Fire Buzz! Damit

Good post Marc, and good perspective. I feel a deep connection with "most" of the seniors on this team like I have with other good Aggie teams in the past, frustrating at times, yes, but really outstanding character and likable players. Man I hope they can string a few good games together to finish their career on a high.

Overall a great season with lots of grit. But poor offense was brutal at times.

It also suffered from the same problems as football and baseball:
1. Massive hype followed by fall back to reality. Remember when we were projected as a 2 seed? That set us up for disappointment. Ideally the team would have played at that level and avoided the losing streak. But that was pretty ridiculous given the remaining schedule and proven lack of offensive firepower.

2. The fan base is beyond ready for a championship (or for basketball at least a FF) and anything less than that is failure. In general, we're overdue in every major sport but the angst spills over from football and recently baseball. There's no patience left after all the lost money and promises. So on a season-level view, it's hard to keep things in perspective despite this year's season being one of the best ever.

It's a lot more fun and enjoyable if you don't really care. I was around for Melvin, we had a good time just walking in and sitting anywhere. But this is far better basketball. Maybe one day we can make run...maybe this year.

jeremy said:

---

It all happened in the best league of basketball ever!


Been a hell of a ride. I think we are battle tested. We find out soon!

---

I think this is something we don't give this team enough credit for and one that will hopefully pay dividends in the tourney. No one is arguing the SEC was the best basketball league, possibly in history.

I don't understand why so many people got bent out of shape about the few losses at the end of the season. These were not bad losses to bad teams…it happens.

The worst loss during that stretch was Vanderbilt at home and they're a 10 seed in the tournament…roughly the 40th best team in America.

You can say the longhorn was a worse loss but I disagree. That team is super talented and played very welll that day hitting a bunch of tough and deep shots.

I believe this team can make a deep run if Wade and Phelps shoot reasonably well and manny gives us 8ish points.

That would be awesome.

Fantastic regular season. We finally played a great non-con schedule of name programs. We passed that test with flying colors. Then we played the toughest conference managing to come in 5th while having the equivalent of 4 other top 5 teams ahead of us. We beat one of those 4, played really well against two others and got a little housed by the last one. We were absolutely competitive in every game (sans the Vandy game IMO). Some ups and downs, but that is what makes sports fun. Hate to bring up football, but I would love to write this about our football team. Great non-con, play admirably in conference, competitive in all games!

Yet, I always have a challenge looking at what could have been a little too much. I can't help but wonder if we had a sharp shooting set of wings on this team. I really believe we are a 1 seed with that. Might be vying for a title team. Fun to get to this place, but I always want more. Maybe the perfectionist in me.

That said, I am going to be fascinated with this off-season. Does Buzz stay? Do we reload or rebuild? A nice run in the tourney can only help reload. Pressure is on now!

AggieCVQ said:

---

It just sucks the loss streak started at end of season. If they were spread out it wouldve been better.

---

Welcome to Aggie sports my friend

I give the regular season way more weight than March madness, but I get the focus on the tourney and I love winning there. It's just bit of a crapshoot in a single elimination tourney, played over 1-2 weeks, versus an accomplishment measured by 30 games over 4 months.

We played a very strong non conference, that was fun and the team was successful over that stretch as well. Every SEC game seemed like a dog fight, the league is so different this year - will that be sustained? Was the Ag team that went 15-3 in conference 2 years ago a better team than this 11-7 group? I don't know - I know I loved watching us go 15-3 but the conference was so good and deep this year there were no gimme games.

I generally measure how many times I felt happy or disappointed/pissed, so wins and losses over entire season is the measure with some additional weighting for strength of opponents, personalities on team, and "fun to follow".

This was a very good season and I hope they can get to the second weekend to reflect the kind of season they had, but certain matchups (like Auburn if they had to play us again) or team illness or foul trouble or just an off night gets you bounced.