Gary Blair, Aggies Start Their Last Dance in Nashville
From here on, every game could be Texas A&M coach Gary Blair’s last for the Aggies.
The legendary coach, who is set to retire at the end of the season, leads the Aggies (14-14, 4-12 in SEC) into their SEC Tournament opener with Vanderbilt on Wednesday, the first game of the event, at 11 a.m. in Nashville.
This is certainly not where Blair expected his Aggies to be when they started the season.
Blair is sitting on 852 career wins, compiled at stops at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and Texas A&M. He rebuilt each of those programs, but it was not enough to make him a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this month.
Coming off an SEC regular-season championship last season, the Aggies reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Entering this season, the Aggies lost some talent, for sure. But they returned plenty of pieces that many believed would keep Texas A&M in the hunt.
Up until early December, the Aggies looked like they were in great shape. They were nationally ranked and 9-1, with their only loss to Texas, a 76-60 defeat in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. One could have chalked that up to the fact that Texas coach Vic Schaefer used to be a Gary Blair assistant and knows his boss well.
But, on Dec. 12, the entire season changed. Texas A&M went to Fort Worth for a non-conference game against an old Southwest Conference rival in TCU. The Horned Frogs, incredibly, won that game, 87-75.
It didn’t help the Horned Frogs, as they’re in last place in the Big 12.
It also started a precipitous downfall for the Aggies. Sure, they won a non-conference game with UTSA on Dec. 20. But, once the calendar turned to 2022 the Aggies went 4-14, all in the SEC. They lost every game to a ranked team on their remaining schedule. They lost two double-overtime games at home.
Texas A&M managed a win over the league’s worst team, Auburn, and a three-game winning streak over Arkansas, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. That, momentarily, had people thinking the Aggies were making a run.
But Texas A&M lost its final five games, three of which were against ranked teams.
Now, Texas A&M’s only realistic path to the NCAA Tournament is to win the SEC Tournament. In order to do that, the Aggies have to beat Vanderbilt on Wednesday. Then, the Aggies have to win four more games. Texas A&M’s next two opponents would be Florida and Ole Miss, a pair of teams the Aggies are 0-3 against this season.
But, first things first, Vanderbilt. At least the Aggies drew a team they’ve beaten this season. Texas A&M faced the Commodores on Feb. 10, winning handily, 76-58. Aggie guards Qadashah Hoppie and Kayla Wells had 19 points each, while forward Aaliyah Patty had 10. Vanderbilt forward Jordyn Cambridge had 13 points and guard Brinae Alexander added 12.
The Aggies will have to rely heavily on their leading scorers to advance. Four of them average double figures — Wells with 15.8, Hoppie with 10.7, Jordan Nixon with 10.4 and Destiny Pitts with 10. Patty has emerged as a more consistent rebounder of late and is averaging a team-leading 7.3 boards.
Alexander leads the Commodores with 14.8 points per game. Guard Iyana Moore scores 11.8 and Cambridge pitches in 10.1.
If the Aggies win, they’ll face Florida at approximately 2:25 p.m. Thursday.
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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.