Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
* Sometimes the only negative to playing at home is a positive in that it’s easier for families to come in and they all need tickets. He only gets 10 and the players only get six a piece, so it can be tough finding enough to go around. When you’re on the road, you are able to get away from everything and can be totally focused. For home games, the coaching staff allows the kids to stay at their own place instead of a hotel which makes it hard to control curfew the night before a game. He has a good bunch of kids, and they know where they are supposed to be.
* It’s pronounced “All-bany”, not “Al-bany”. He knows their coach pretty well through past games in the WNIT while she was at Southwest Missouri. It’s their first time in the NCAA tournament, so they will be excited. They come out of the American East Conference which is a pretty good conference with teams like Vermont and Hartford. The team will be completely focused on Albany, and then will see who wins the very evenly matched game between Dayton and Arkansas. He knows both coaches very well and would love to take them out for a cold beer and a sandwich after the game, but he won’t give either of them a win.
* Today is the day that he gets Tori Scott and Tyra White back in contact work. All they have been doing is dummy drills and shooting without contact for the past three days. It’s huge to have Tyra White back on the floor, because she knows what it’s all about. She’s knows what it’s like at that next level and she knows what it’s like to hit the big game winning shot, and that is something that can’t be replicated by anyone else. The team will be working on situational scenarios today in practice. They haven’t worked enough at what to do when they are behind in a game, so the main focus will be on correcting those issues.
* In order to make another deep run in the tournament, the team needs to improve their confidence. They need to have confidence that they are not a one-hit-wonder and that they belong at the top year in and year out. There is a difference between cockiness and confidence and this team needs to be confident. Arkansas is a good defensive team, Dayton is a good offensive team and Albany is just a good all-around team that should not be taken lightly. Each game will be different, but they need to worry about A&M and not who is on the other end of the bench. The team will need someone off the bench to step up, similar to the Kansas and Oklahoma games in the Big 12 Tournament.
* The team has a very favorable draw this year because there is not a really big team in front of them. Albany has a 6’ 8” center coming off the bench, but she is still a freshman who is not experienced. If they can get through their first two games, they would likely play either Maryland or Louisville and then possibly Notre Dame or Georgia if they win in the Sweet Sixteen. He loves the draw and thinks it’s up to A&M as to how good they are able to do. If the defense is able to get back on track, this team will do well. He would like to get the other team shooting in the 30%’s and would like A&M to be shooting at least 40% from the field. Meanwhile, he wants A&M to commit no more than eight turnovers a game, while forcing the other team to closer to 20 turnovers a game. The team also has to do better at the free throw line.
* The point guard position is not the problem with this team. At times however, being creative at the point guard position and the point guards on the defensive end can be a problem. When you put the numbers together compared to last year, they are pretty close except in the assists category. Neither of the two point guards are fearful of anything, but he has to go with the one that is hot at the time and the one that matches up best with the other team.
Gary Blair previews the Ags' run in the NCAAs
Notes from "Talkin' Hoops" with Gary Blair
* Being able to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is great for the fans that are in College Station. He’s excited about being able to play at home because it will be the first time it has happened. The first two rounds of the tournament will also be played at Reed Arena next year as well. Right now about 5,000 seats have been sold for Saturday, but he wants that number to be closer to 8,000 by game time.* Sometimes the only negative to playing at home is a positive in that it’s easier for families to come in and they all need tickets. He only gets 10 and the players only get six a piece, so it can be tough finding enough to go around. When you’re on the road, you are able to get away from everything and can be totally focused. For home games, the coaching staff allows the kids to stay at their own place instead of a hotel which makes it hard to control curfew the night before a game. He has a good bunch of kids, and they know where they are supposed to be.
* It’s pronounced “All-bany”, not “Al-bany”. He knows their coach pretty well through past games in the WNIT while she was at Southwest Missouri. It’s their first time in the NCAA tournament, so they will be excited. They come out of the American East Conference which is a pretty good conference with teams like Vermont and Hartford. The team will be completely focused on Albany, and then will see who wins the very evenly matched game between Dayton and Arkansas. He knows both coaches very well and would love to take them out for a cold beer and a sandwich after the game, but he won’t give either of them a win.
* Today is the day that he gets Tori Scott and Tyra White back in contact work. All they have been doing is dummy drills and shooting without contact for the past three days. It’s huge to have Tyra White back on the floor, because she knows what it’s all about. She’s knows what it’s like at that next level and she knows what it’s like to hit the big game winning shot, and that is something that can’t be replicated by anyone else. The team will be working on situational scenarios today in practice. They haven’t worked enough at what to do when they are behind in a game, so the main focus will be on correcting those issues.
* In order to make another deep run in the tournament, the team needs to improve their confidence. They need to have confidence that they are not a one-hit-wonder and that they belong at the top year in and year out. There is a difference between cockiness and confidence and this team needs to be confident. Arkansas is a good defensive team, Dayton is a good offensive team and Albany is just a good all-around team that should not be taken lightly. Each game will be different, but they need to worry about A&M and not who is on the other end of the bench. The team will need someone off the bench to step up, similar to the Kansas and Oklahoma games in the Big 12 Tournament.
* The team has a very favorable draw this year because there is not a really big team in front of them. Albany has a 6’ 8” center coming off the bench, but she is still a freshman who is not experienced. If they can get through their first two games, they would likely play either Maryland or Louisville and then possibly Notre Dame or Georgia if they win in the Sweet Sixteen. He loves the draw and thinks it’s up to A&M as to how good they are able to do. If the defense is able to get back on track, this team will do well. He would like to get the other team shooting in the 30%’s and would like A&M to be shooting at least 40% from the field. Meanwhile, he wants A&M to commit no more than eight turnovers a game, while forcing the other team to closer to 20 turnovers a game. The team also has to do better at the free throw line.
* The point guard position is not the problem with this team. At times however, being creative at the point guard position and the point guards on the defensive end can be a problem. When you put the numbers together compared to last year, they are pretty close except in the assists category. Neither of the two point guards are fearful of anything, but he has to go with the one that is hot at the time and the one that matches up best with the other team.
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