About those March Madness brackets I was working on, well, they ain’t worth the computer memory they’re stored on now. Really, they didn’t survive the opening weekend.
Hey, I won the office pool back in 2000, so I figure I’m still in the black for many years to come.
The curtain just came down on the Texas A&M men’s basketball season as the Ags fell 58-51 to St. Joseph’s in the quarterfinals of the NIT.
Still, I have to feel good about a team that, under the tutelage of new coach Billy Gillispie, improved from 7-20 (0-16 in Big 12 play) to 21-10, 8-8 in conference. Add to that not one but two post-season victories, a huge milestone for a program that hadn’t seen an NCAA or NIT win since 1982.
Thanks, Ags, it’s been a fun ride. Can’t wait ’til next year.
The Ags come back from eight down at halftime to win 82-74 over Clemson and advance in the NIT.
Sure, it’s just the NIT, you say. Listen, I started at Texas A&M in 1986. Since then, the Ags have played in two, that’s two, NCAA or NIT tourney games before tonight, losing both. This is a team that went 0-16 in conference last season.
I hoped for just one win. They got it. I am a happy man.
Next up, DePaul, details TBD.
EDIT: Added link to recap.
Afghanistan:
Security “exceptionally good.” Permanent bases being considered.
Aggies:
Fought back from halftime deficit, surging to a 70-64 lead with just over five minutes to play.
The big stories of the day (just turn on your TV and start flipping through the news channels if you don’t believe me):
Who cares?
Scott Peterson gets death sentence
Really, I don’t understand people who get wrapped up in the flavor-of-the-month news story.
Oh yeah, the Ags are trailing Clemson 42-34 at the break.
Listening to the Aggies’ first-round NIT game on the radio while filling out my NCAA brackets for the office pool.
Man, what a great time of the year. See y’all later.
The Texas A&M Aggiess have topped off a dramatic turnaround season with an chance at the National Invitation Tournament. The Ags will host Clemson (16-15) Wednesday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m.
The draw is formidable, with the likes of Notre Dame, DePaul, Missouri and St. Joseph’s in the Ags’ quarter of the bracket. I don’t care. I’m not greedy — I just want one postseason win to cap off a season that saw the Aggies go from 0-16 in conference play to 8-8. Just one and I’m happy.
0-9 all time now.
Looks like the NIT now after falling in the first round 68-62, and that against a K-State team they spanked by fourteen in the regular season. Rather depressing after their amazing turn-around season to come into the game favored, having an outside shot at an invite to the NCAA tournament.
Did I really once say rank us?! Oh well, gig’em in the NIT, Ags.
I’ll happily argue with anyone that he is the greatest center basketball has seen to date.
I’ll staunchly defend the man for his dedication, both to his team and his religion, after watching him play at the professional level while fasting for Ramadan.
I’ll have to sit aside meekly, however, if anybody wants to question the wisdom of the charitable contributions of Hakeem Olajuwon.
A mosque established and funded by Hakeem Olajuwon gave more than $80,000 to charities the government later determined to be fronts for the terror groups al-Qaida and Hamas, according to financial records obtained by The Associated Press.
Olajuwon told AP he had not known of any links to terrorism when the donations were made, before the government’s crackdown on the groups, and would not have given the money if he had known.
“There is no way you can go back in time,” Olajuwon said by telephone from Jordan, where he is studying Arabic. “After the fact, now they have the list of organizations that are banned by the government.”
A U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman, Molly Millerwise, declined to discuss Olajuwon’s contributions but said, “In many cases, donors are being unwittingly misled by the charities.”
Federal law enforcement officials said they were not probing Olajuwon, a 7-foot center born in Nigeria who played 17 seasons for the Houston Rockets before retiring in 2002. Olajuwon became a U.S. citizen in 1993.
The Olajuwon-founded Islamic Da’Wah Center in Houston gave more than $60,000 in 2000 and $20,000 in 2002 to the Islamic African Relief Agency, the center’s tax records show. The government shut down the relief agency in October, saying it gave money and other support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.
But the agency and its possible ties to terrorism had been in news stories years earlier, before Olajuwon’s contributions
Olajuwon also participated in a 1999 celebrity bowling tournament for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which the U.S. government shut down in 2001, accusing it of sending money to Hamas.
Call me biased because I lived in the Houston area for the bulk of the Dream’s NBA career and the loving local press that entailed, but I have no doubt about Olajuwon’s innocence in this matter. That said, he should look more carefully into the causes where his time and money go. He also should’ve blocked out better in the closing moments against the Wolfpack.
Winless in the Big 12 last season. 18 straight conference losses. Tenth-ranked Longhorns in town, riding a 10-game winning streak as visitors against the Aggies.
What does all that add up to? A good old fashioned spanking, of course. The surprise is that it was the Aggies spanking the Horns.
Before a school-record crowd of 12,811, Law helped A&M end the Longhorns’ 10-game winning streak in College Station and improve its record at Reed Arena to 12-0 this season.
The Aggies also knocked off their first Top 10 foe, and fourth overall, since beating Texas in 1982.
….
Despite getting off to such an impressive start, A&M had generated little attention mostly because of a nonconference schedule that included games against Prairie View A&M, Texas-Permian Basin and Trinity, a Division III school.
Let there be no more doubt – A&M is for real.
Coming off a tough 65-60 loss at No. 2 Kansas last week, A&M surprisingly seized control of this game early and never let the Longhorns back into it.
The Aggies’ lead reached 21 points early in the second half, but Texas (12-3, 1-1) fought back behind a full court press and scoring spurts by Tucker and Aldridge.
It wasn’t enough.
Rank us, dammit!