Coaches in all sports seek it.
They stress it. They preach it. They crave it like Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Gary Blair craves barbecue.
Consistency … it’s a valuable commodity. It can be stressed. It can be preached. It can be craved. But it’s hard to demand. That’s kind of like demanding the sun to shine every day. That’s not realistic.
Although, lately
Courtney Walker has been shining like a torrid sun in her own personal heat wave.
The consistently productive Walker posted her 10th consecutive double-digit performance with 19 points in a 70-55 A&M victory over North Dakota in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday night.
TexAgs
The Aggies were paced by Courtney Walker's statistically strong game, but Gary Blair conceded that's nothing new.
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Walker started — and ended — a 10-0 run to open the second half that turned a 30-26 halftime struggle into a second-half stroll. During that run she also turned a steal into an assist to
Tori Scott for a fast-break layup that gave the Aggies a 12-point lead, prompted a North Dakota timeout and brought the A&M contingent of the Reed Arena crowd to its feet.
Walker also had eight rebounds and three steals.
“I’ve come to expect (that performance) and I really didn’t think this was one of her better ball games,” Blair said. “Look at her stat line … you’d die to have that stat line.
“I thought she got tired at the end, but what a player. She rarely takes a bad shot.”
Obviously, Walker was not alone in leading A&M to its eighth straight NCAA Tournament opening victory.
Scott scored 14 points;
Jordan Jones dished out 11 assists;
Karla Gilbert had 14 points and eight rebounds as the Aggies dominated inside against their slightly smaller and significantly slower visitors from the Big Sky Conference. A&M held a 34-22 advantage on points in the paint and the margin would have been much more if not for a slew of missed layups.
“We got some great touches inside,” Blair said. “We just didn’t get some finishes. They were contesting us pretty good and we just weren’t doing a good job finishing.”
Had A&M been converting those layups someone might have threatened a 30-point game.
But most coaches would be content to count on a player, like Walker, who can consistently be expected to score between 15 and 20 points night in and night out.
Blair is no different in seeking that consistency. What sets him apart from so many of his colleagues is that he quite literally practices what he preaches.
The Aggies entered Sunday night’s game Dakota as the No. 3 seed. It was the eighth consecutive year the Aggies came into the tournament seeded fourth or higher. And in each of those years the Aggies won at least their first game of the tournament.
You want consistency? Blair is as consistent as a rooster at dawn.
Blair said the secret to that consistency is really no secret at all.
TexAgs
Blair has built not just a winner but, by this point, a consistently upper-tier program that expects to contend every year.
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“It’s due to good players and home court advantage,” he said. “That’s what you aspire to be. When we won the national championship (in 2011) I said we were not going to be a one-hit wonder, we’re going to stay at the top. When I look at the programs across the country there are those that are always in the NCAA Tournament and always do well and get to the Sweet Sixteen or the Elite Eight.”
For those who might have forgotten, Texas A&M’s women’s basketball program was a disaster before Bill Byrne coaxed Blair away from Arkansas in 2003.
Three years later, the Aggies were in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve made it every year since.
Now, A&M is one of those teams that Blair spoke of — those that are always in the Tournament and typically winning a few games in it.
“That’s why I’m still coaching,” he said. “I get up for the big games.”
And make no mistake, Tuesday night’s second clash against 11th-seeded James Madison, which upset Gonzaga, qualifies.
“I might be old but I still got a lot of bills to pay,” Blair said. “We’re going to get off to a good start and we never overlook anyone. I don’t take anything lightly.”
That explains why the Aggies have become a consistent presence in the NCAA Tournament.
