Playing just a few hours from their campus in College Station, Texas A&M will have a huge crowd behind them tonight in San Antonio's Alamodome when they take on John Calipari and Memphis in South Region action. Playing a much tougher regular season schedule will have Billy Gillispie and the Aggies ready to advance to the Elite 8 with a win and cover over the Tigers.
The Aggies survived playing in someone else’s backyard last weekend with wins over Penn and Louisville, and have been rewarded with a trip to the Alamodome in San Antonio to try and win the South Region of the bracket.
When perusing over the brackets before the madness tipped off, I installed the Aggies as my National Champion. Needless to say, but I like them laying the modest three points in this spot. Not only because they’re playing only 200 miles away from College Station, but because this team competes for a full 40 minutes and they possess the playmakers and experience to get the job done in crunch time.
I kept close track of how this club progressed throughout their regular season, and they got better with every passing week. They played a classic in Lawrence and pulled out a gritty win in one of the best regular season games of the year. They’re tourney-tested after playing some top-notch talent this year, and they took on a much tougher schedule than Memphis.
Speaking of the Tigers from the vaunted C-USA, is there any more of a fraud out there? This club played absolutely nobody in their conference to get them ready for this tournament, and they either lost to or barely pulled out wins against any ranked opponent they played this year. If not for Nevada dropping a deuce in their pants late in their game last week, the Tigers might not be here. The loss of the heart and soul of the team, point guard Chris Douglas-Roberts, is also a major blow this club will have to overcome here. Even if he goes, he won’t be near 100%.
The Aggies busted up Louisville’s press defense last week, and they’ll do the same to Memphis. That in turn will allow for some easy baskets in transition up until John Calipari realizes he has to call off the dogs to compete here. Either way, this will be a heck of a game and if its close, it’s always great to have Acie Law who’s broken a number of hearts in the closing seconds throughout his career.
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Mike Rose: Aggies out to gig Tigers
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