A&M coach previews title race
University of Texas, Texas Tech may be frontrunners, but A&M will contend
Stew Milne/THE Battalion
TONY BARONE
Men's Basketball Coach
T his year’s Southwest Confer
ence race should be one of the
most interesting in recent
years. Clearly, Texas Tech and
Texas are the two favorites going
into league play. Both teams have
real question marks and in my mind
are not locks for the championship.
League races are decided by teams
who take care of business on the
road. I have always believed that
you must take care of business at
home and then find ways to win 60
percent of your league road games.
Homecourt advantages are key once
you get into your league season.
Texas A&M will be a contender.
We have eight newcomers who will
have to play major roles for our
team to win. Last season showed
what can happen when a team pulls
together and players produce in
their roles. We must play with a
good basketball I.Q. and tremen
dous effort every night.
Execution on both offense and de
fense is key to our success. We will
have played nine of our first eleven
games on the road. The schedule mak
er should be firedfme!) I think that we
will benefit in the long run while we
might go through some hard times ear
ly. We will count on the experience of
seniors Tony McGinnis, Joe Wilbert,
Corey Henderson and Damon Johnson
to lead us.
Our newcomers will be a key role
in our success. Replacing Chuck Hen
derson, Mike Smith, Tony Jr., Brett
Murray and certainly David Edwards
will not be easy. We will miss their
mental toughness and tremendous
enthusiasm in addition to their skill
level. I firmly believe that we will be
in the race. We must improve each
game and we will be fine.
Texas Tech returns all of their
starters and adds a point guard, Ja
son Martin, at the turn of the se
mester. Forwards Mark Davis and
Jason Sasser and guards Lance
Hughes and Koy Smith are tremen
dous players who all shoot well and
have the ability to penetrate. De
fensively, Tech is very aggressive
but lacks a post defender with size.
In early games, they have had trou
ble defending post players. Martin
will give them great quickness at
the point. (Lubbock) might be the
toughest place in the league to play.
We beat them twice last year and
always play well against them.
Texas loses two great players in
B.J. Tyler and Albert Burditt. Ter
rence Rencher and Roderick Ander
son might be the best guard duo in
the country. This will be a typical
Texas team in that they will play up
tempo basketball by pressing and
shooting the three. This style of game
gives them a chance to beat anyone,
but it also allows anyone to compete
with them. Early season great show
ing in a two point loss at North Car
olina and an 18 point loss(shooting
33 percent) at Florida show both ends
of the spectrum. Handle their style
and you can beat them.
Rice is my pick as a dark horse in
the league. They have been slowed
by early season in
juries. Senior for
ward Adam Peakes is
their leader. Shaun
Igo has a chance to be
a fine post player.
They have also added
an outstanding trans
fer in 6-foot 4-inch
guard J.J. Polk. This
team is very disci
plined and plays
physical defense. For
them to be a factor,
they must get help from Kevin Nan-
ney and Scott Oliver. Thomas
McGhee is the key to their backcourt.
They have a great homecourt advan
tage. We have beaten them there in
the last two years. They will play a
number of home games in The Sum
mit. Bad idea!
Southern Methodist is a team
that has always given us problems.
They play very physically on de
fense and run a very fine motion of
fense. They have a wonderful point
guard in Troy Mathew who I
thought was the best freshman in
the league last year. They will count
on newcomers Jeremy Brusey and
Jamed Rich. They have brutal non
conference schedule including Okla
homa, Arkansas, Oklahoma State,
Kansas, St. Louis and Seton Hall.
We’ve played this type of schedule
and it can be mentally destructive.
Texas Christian has a new coach,
Billy Tubbs, and a new approach to the
game. This will be a total up tempo
team. The question will be defensively.
Kurt Thomas has the ability to be a
pro. While he is a dominant force in
side, he also has great perimeter skills.
Jeff Jacobs made an immediate impact
as a freshman at point guard. Juan
Bragg, a 6-foot 3-inch freshman, was
highly recruited. The key to their team
will be their ability to outscore you.
They must guard you to be a factor.
This team will win games because of
their high-octane offense.
Baylor has had many off-court
problems that will undoubtedly affect
their team. My feelings are that they
must get off to a good start or tough
times will follow. Don’t be fooled by
Baylor’s lack of depth. They have
four outstanding players in their
starting line-up. Senior guard Aun-
dre Branch and sophomore center
Doug Brandt are all-league players.
Nelson Haggerty is a quality point
guard who broke our backs with a
three-point basket at the end of regu
lation that led to an overtime loss for
us. Baylor has taken an up tempo
approach and can score in bunches.
They can be as explosive as Texas.
They must find a way to play defense
and stay out of foul trouble.
The Houston Cougars will be a
greatly improved team this year.
They have an all-star performer in
Tim Moore who gave us fits last
year. Tyrone Evans returns at point
after having an injury-plagued sea
son. The key to Houston’s improve
ment will come from the play of
newcomers Kenya Capers, Tommy
Davis and Kirk Ford. Damon Jones,
a freshman guard, has played ex
tremely well in early games. This
team has great quickness. Coach
Alvin Brooks installed a system last
year and his players should respond
well to it this year.
Our early league schedule will be
critical. This basketball team has
worked harder than any team I’ve
had. I know how important it is for
them to be successful. We’ve turned
the corner after getting through
some major problems. This group of
seniors has been the reason this
program has changed its image. We
hope that you will come out and
give us a great home court advan
tage. The “Aggie Spirit” is for real.
Let’s get it into G. Rollie White and
show the visiting teams what a fac
tor we are.
"This basketball team has
worked harder than any
team I've had. I know
how important it is for
them to be successful."
- Tony Barone