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The Battalion
Page 5 • Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Aggies host All-Stars in last exhibition game
Watkins is optimistic about this year's team
By Michael Crow
THE BATTALION
OFF
4aircuts
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’roduct
The Texas A&M men’s basketball
team will play its final exhibition
game Tuesday night at Reed Arena
against the EA Sports All-Stars. The
Aggies enter the game 1-0 in exhibi
tion play, following an 86-73 victory
over Ukraine’s MBC Nikolaev in the
team’s preseason opener.
A victory to close out the
Aggies’ two-game exhibition series
would provide a confidence boost
for the team as they enter regular
season play. The Aggies are coming
■■off a 2001 season (9-22, 3-13 Big
12) that culminated in a last place
finish in the league.
Still, there are plenty of reasons
Ifor optimism for head coach
jMelvin Watkins and his team. The
|2002 roster features 10 returning
llettermen, including all five of last
lyear’s starters.
“If early practices are any indi-
Ication, the potential of this team is
Ithere,” Watkins said. “I’m excited
i ’about the potential of both us and
you all seeing a different Aggie
basketball team.”
I A talented crop of freshmen has
lalso contributed to the excitement
Isurrounding this year’s team. The
post notable freshman standout is
[forward Antoine Wright, who scored
24 points against the MBC Nikolaev
and has been included on Dick
Vitale’s “Diaper Dandy” list entering
the 2002 season.
Senior guard Bernard King
described Wright as a complete play
er on the basketball court.
“Antoine can shoot, can drive, can
open up for teammates, he’s pretty
much a do-it-all guy,” King said.
IJA ©ipsra
7 p.m.
Reed Arena
In addition to the increase in tal
ent, a challenging off season regimen
led by veteran players helped the
team to make gains in both strength
and speed from a year ago.
“(We’ve) been in the weight room
a whole lot and are getting stronger,”
said senior guard Bradley Jackson.
“Those are some of the little things
the returnees have done that make us
more optimistic this year.”
While a strong nucleus of players
and a sound series of practices have
given Watkins and his team a vote of
confidence, the Aggies have not been
without their share of setbacks. The
most significant of these is a back
injury to 7-foot center Andy Slocum.
Slocum underwent surgery on his
back during the preseason and is
expected to miss six to eight weeks in
rehabilitation from the procedure. In
addition to Slocum’s junior leader
ship, his size and presence under the
rim will be sorely missed in the early
stages of the season.
“We might not have a big body in
there, one that can rebound,” Watkins
said. “Still, we do have options and
enough bodies to do different things.
We can play different ways this year.”
With their towering center side
lined, the team will focus instead on
creating matchups specific to each
team that they face.
Several early tests should provide
an indication of just how effective this
strategy is and just how far the the
team has come since last year’s disap
pointing finish. Miami, Louisiana
State, and Tennessee should prove
formidable opponents for the Aggies
in the first half of the season.
“We’ll surely be tested by some of
those teams, and we’ll get an indica
tion on how we sit going into Big 12
play,” Watkins said.
The regular season will kick off
following Tuesday’s matchup with
the EA Sports All-Stars, when the
Aggies host Texas Southern on Nov.
24 at Reed Arena.
JOHN C. UVAS •THE BATTALION
Senior guard Bernard King lays the ball up over MBC Nikolaev’s Oleksandr Rayevskyy in the
Aggies 86-73 victory in their first preseason scrimmage last week.
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Houston Texans 5 rushing game still
searching for results and identity
’j HOUSTON (AP) —- The Houston
Texans seem to run into the same prob
lem every week: they can’t run the foot
ball.
It happened again Sunday when the
Texans rushed for only 78 yards and
quarterback David Carr was the team’s
leading rusher in a 24-21 loss to the
Jacksonville Jaguars.
That’s not how coach Dom Capers
planned it.
“We have to get better running the
football,” Capers said Monday. “Any
time your quarterback is your leading
rusher, that’s not a good statistic.”
The Texans (2-8) have struggled to
improve their running game all season
with little success. They’ve been held
under 100 rushing yards in eight of their
10 games this season.
“I know for us to be the kind of
offense we want to be we have to get
better at running the ball,” Capers said.
“The only way you do that is keep
working on it.”
Jacksonville forced the Texans to get
We have to get better at
running the football. Any
time your quarterback is
your leading rusher, that's
not a good statistic.
— Dom Capers
Texans' head coach
most of their yards on Carr’s passing and
scrambling. Carr completed 22 of 30
passes for 228 yards, including a 52-yard
touchdown pass to Corey Bradford.
Running back Jonathan Wells man
aged only 15 yards on nine carries and
James Allen got 30 yards on 1 1 carries.
“It’s inconsistency, different things
here and there,” Wells said. “We’re run
ning the football hard, it’s just a couple of
missed holes here or a missed block
there. It’s nothing major. We just haven’t
put it all together yet with 1 1 players at
one time.”
Wells is the leading rusher on the
season with 367 yards on 1 18 carries for
a 3.1 yards per carry average.
“He hasn’t been as productive as he
was earlier but our running game in gen
eral hasn’t been as productive,” Capers
said. “You look at our rushing yards and
yards per attempt the last two weeks, it
wasn’t as good as some weeks earlier in
the season.”
The Texans have scored only four rush
ing touchdowns and three belong to Carr,
who had runs of 2 and 14 yards Sunday for
touchdowns and finished with 33 yards on
13 carries.
“At one point, we were averaging 1.9
yards in the fourth quarter and it’s hard to
get things done when you do that,” Carr
said. “I’m not taking shots at the line or
the running backs, it’s part me too.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Hampton traded to
Atlanta in exchange
for pitchers and cash
ATLANTA (AP) - Mike Hampton
got his wish to leave Coors Field
— but only after tens of millions
of dollars changed hands in a
baseball trade that resembled a
complex corporate merger.
The money trail goes like this:
The Atlanta Braves got Hampton,
$30 million to help pay his mas
sive contract and the flexibility to
re-sign Tom Glavine or Greg
Maddux.
The Colorado Rockies rid them
selves of Hampton's contract and
will wind up paying $49 million
for two dismal seasons. Florida
saved about $23 million in salary
commitments in a trade that sent
catcher Charles Johnson and out
fielder Preston Wilson to the
Rockies, but the Marlins were
weakened on the field.
Commissioner Bud Selig signed
off on the three-way deal
Monday, approving a record
transfer of cash — $36.5 million —
as Hampton went from Colorado
to Atlanta after a brief stopover
in Florida.
The Braves were interested in
signing Hampton two years ago,
but the left-hander took a $121
million, eight-year deal from the
Rockies — a record for a pitcher.
The Braves obviously feel the
last two season were a Coors
aberration. Although, his ERA
was 6.44 on the road compared
to 5.68 at home.
The Marlins acquired Hampton,
outfielder Juan Pierre and $6.5
million from the Rockies in
exchange for Johnson, Wilson,
left-handed reliever Vic
Darensbourg and second base
prospect Pablo Ozuna.
Florida was anxious to dump
the contracts of Johnson ($26
million over the next three years)
and Wilson (owed $28 million
through 2005). But in order to
move Hampton, the Marlins
agreed to pay Atlanta $30 million
over the next three years.
MSC Open House
Super Bowl Party
January 26. 2003
Catch the Pre-Game Show in the MSC Flag Room
For questions, contsct MSC Msrketinfi Executive
Director Linda Arredondo at 845-1515
Learn More. Do More.
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AGGIE OWNED AND OPERATED
1
AGGIELA.1SJD DUCKS
UNLUVflTED
4 th Annual Banquet
Tuesday, November I 9 th
ait the Brazos Center, off Brio re rest
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. • Dinner at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets for sale at Cavender’s Boot City, Baskin’s, Burdett
& Son Outdoor (on Texas Avenue, across from campus),
and Champion Firearms (in the Kroger Shopping Center
at Southwest Parkway).
nrE
Annua/
Taste of Aggieland
.'food
•fair
November 20, 2002
Carters Burgers
Fajita Ritas
Roly Poly
Square One
Mi Cocina
SAMPLE FOOD FROM
Kona Ranch
The Bagel Station
The Edge Cafe
Live Oak
Kolache Rolfs
Great American Cookies
Fox and Hound
Texas Cookie Cutter
Blue Baker
New York Sub
Quiznos Northgate
ll:00am-2:00pm MSC Room 224
Buy your tickets at the door: $3