johngateswhiteley
10-24-2006, 02:22 PM
Team preview: Texas A&M
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Editor's Note: ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at all 326 Division I teams. To order the complete 2006-07 edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, visit www.blueribbonyearbook.com or call 1-866-805-BALL (2255).
(Information in this team report is as of October 1.)
COACH AND PROGRAM
Last season marked Texas A&M's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1987, dating back to when Shelby Metcalf was coach, the elder George Bush had just been sworn in as president, and the Aggies were members of the Southwest Conference.
There has been a lot of history between then and now, most of it bad.
And in the process of changing history, Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie made history.
When he took over at depleted UTEP four years ago, Gillispie's first team went 6-24. His next went 24-8 and won the Western Athletic Conference title after being tabbed to finish ninth in the preseason. The Miners' 18-game improvement was the nation's largest that season.
The following year, Gillispie took over at Texas A&M, which was coming off a 7-21 season. The Aggies went 21-10 in Gillispie's first year. The 14-game improvement again was the nation's largest and Gillispie became the only coach in Division I history to have the country's most-improved record in back-to-back seasons.
Last year, in Gillispie's second season, his team finished 22-9 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12, good for fourth place and the program's highest conference finish since winning the SWC regular-season title in 1986.
Texas A&M basketball used to be a filler between football and spring football. Not any longer.
"It's fun to see our guys start to win, and it's fun when other people start taking notice about your program," Gillispie said. "It's fun, but it's also very, very difficult. What you want to do is develop a good program instead of just having a particularly good team. A good team takes one year. A good program takes time."
After often holding the keys to the cellar every season, the Aggies have now taken an elevator ride to the top floors normally occupied by Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
"We're trying to maintain success and that's very difficult to do," Gillispie said, "especially in a conference like the Big 12."
When Gillispie initially accepted the Texas A&M job on March 24, 2004, he claimed the timing was "perfect." Uh, that was certainly debatable.
Gillispie did inherit junior guard Antoine Wright for one year. Wright left after that season and was selected 15th overall by the New Jersey Nets, becoming the Aggies' first draft pick in 18 years.
Also on Gillispie's first roster was sophomore guard Acie Law IV and incoming high school recruit Joseph Jones.
"The cupboard was not bare here," Gillispie graciously said.
That might have been true, but the Aggies still had managed to go an imperfect 0-16 in league play a few weeks before Gillispie's arrival -- 0-17 counting a predictable first-round loss in the Big 12 Tournament.
Before Gillispie posted up in College Station, the Aggies had never had a winning season in the Big 12. They hadn't even won a conference tournament game.
Under Gillispie, Texas A&M has made two straight postseason appearances and won two straight Big 12 Tournament first-round games.
"We just hit it right," said Gillispie, a native of tiny Graford (pop. 578) and the first Texas-born basketball coach at Texas A&M since J.B. Reid (1930-35). "We don't do anything fancy. I don't think it's anything to do with the coaching. It's about getting good players and getting them to play together."
In 2005, the Aggies advanced to the third round of the NIT, losing 58-51 to Saint Joseph's.
Last season, No. 12-seeded Texas A&M upended No. 5-seeded Syracuse 66-58 in an NCAA Tournament first-round game at Jacksonville. It was the Aggies' first NCAA Tournament victory since 1980.
Two days later, Texas A&M lost to Final Four qualifier LSU on a three-pointer by Tigers guard Darrel Mitchell with 3.9 seconds remaining. Until that point, Mitchell had been 1-for-7 from three-point range and the Tigers were 1-for-11.
The Aggies fought back from 15-3 deficit after the first six minutes and went on a 17-0 run in the next 10. After being down seven with 3:13 left, Texas A&M took a 57-55 lead on Law's jumper with 19.3 seconds to play. After a timeout, Mitchell hit the desperation game-winner.
Going into the LSU game, Texas A&M had won nine of its previous 10.
"We respected everyone, and hopefully we'll continue to do that. But we never really had a great deal of fear for anyone," Gillispie said. "Our players weren't afraid to play against teams and compete against them. That's a great feeling as a coach because you know your team has a chance when it goes into a game thinking like that."
Though the Aggies lost in the second round of the NCAAs, the final result was still a huge step forward for the program.
"We took a pretty simple approach of just trying to get into the tournament, then let the chips fall where they may," Gillispie said. "Because once you get in, anything can happen. [Surprise Final Four team] George Mason proved that last year. Heck, you've got to be pretty good just to get in the tournament." Within a week after last year's Final Four, prominent publications mentioned Texas A&M as a potential Top-10 team for 2006-07.
"We're really appreciative. Those are great honors," Gillispie said. "But when we weren't picked to do too well, that didn't prevent us from trying. It didn't set the tone for us. We're not going to start thinking we've arrived yet, because we haven't. Those high rankings are nice for the players and really nice for the fans, but that won't determine our success. We have to go out, do the work, and continue to build the program."
The Aggies have gone from being party crashers to being invited guests. With that comes an unfamiliar pressure.
"There's never more pressure than what you can put on yourself," Gillispie said. "It'll be interesting to see how expectations affect our players. But I don't see it being a problem, seeing how hard our players worked during the off-season. The reason we've been able to have success is because we've had a very determined mindset. If we stray from that, we're going in the wrong direction."
Gillispie had a $145,000 salary when he left UTEP. He started out at Texas A&M with a $585,000 guarantee per season, made roughly $850,000 last year and will become a member of the millionaires club with his next bump in pay.
It was hardly a quick trip to seven figures for Gillispie, a charismatic recruiter who spent 12 seasons as a high school head coach throughout Texas before joining the Baylor staff in 1994.
Three years later, current Kansas coach Bill Self was smart enough to hire Gillispie and they remained together for three seasons at Tulsa and two at Illinois before Gillispie headed for the border in El Paso. An undeniably snappy dresser, Gillispie often snaps during games. Seemingly never content, he constantly expects a bit more from his players.
Asked about his somewhat maniacal sideline demeanor, Gillispie chuckled and said, "I think everybody has to, uh, encourage their players or whatever. We try to play a very intense, physical style of basketball. That's not easy to do. You have to have great habits to do that and have success at it. Practice also is very demanding."
Gillispie's pet peeves?
"Turning the ball over or giving up an easy basket," he said.
Opponents averaged just 60.3 points against Texas A&M last season, the school's second-lowest average behind the 1979-80 squad that yielded just 59.8 points.
On the flip side, the Aggies return their top six scorers and 89.6 percent of their overall points from last season.
Also returning are four starters and 13 lettermen. All six newcomers are from Texas.
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Texas A&M Insider
Texas Tech Insider
The Aggies unquestionably have an impressive freshman class, and some will be asked to contribute immediately.
Four of the freshmen -- Derrick Roland, Bryan Beasley, Bryan Davis and Donald Sloan -- combined for 46 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists and eight steals while playing for Team USA against Puerto Rico at the Global Games international tournament last June in Dallas.
"I'm excited about our roster, but we're going to be depending on a lot of new guys," Gillispie said. "I'm conservative about guys who have already done it. Some of those guys are gone."
The most noticeable change in the Aggies is now rather than hoping to be better, they expect to be better. That attitude adjustment has reached outsiders, too.
"It's always nice to see the change in attitude, the change in people's faces in the way they talk about your team and the interest they show," Gillispie said. "And you can see that change in a lot of ways. You're talking about players, recruits, high school coaches, parents, fans. It's really fun to see how the change affects them."
PLAYERS
PG Acie Law IV (6-3, 195 lbs., SR, #1, 16.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.7 spg, 34.7 mpg, .448 FG, .330 3PT, .764 FT, Kimball HS/Dallas)
His arching, knuckleball, left-handed jumper has put fear into opponents. Law won a home game against No. 6 Texas last year with a three-pointer at the buzzer and nearly pulled off the same trick at Oklahoma State, missing from the top of the key at the buzzer after scoring a career-high 35 points inside famed Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Once quiet and timid, Law has become a team leader. He was selected All-District by the NABC and USBWA and earned first-team All-Big 12 honors from various newspapers in the region. Certainly a first-team all-conference candidate again this season, Law averaged 19.0 points in last year's NCAA Tournament.
"Everyone knew he had a lot of talent. He's just continued to mature," Gillispie said. "He totally changed his basketball personality. He's become a great leader. Probably the hardest worker I've ever been around as far as keeping in shape and working on his game. He's just really blossomed. He can score like crazy. He's learned to defend. He's learned to lead. He cares about winning a great deal. He's been fantastic. He's always been a talented player, but he's never really talked much."
SG Dominique Kirk (6-3, 180 lbs., JR, #22, 6.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.4 spg, 30.0 mpg, .404 FG, .403 3PT, .643 FT, Bryan Adams HS/Dallas)
Chosen to the Big 12's All-Underrated team for a reason, Kirk is an effective, unselfish complement to Law and Jones, alongside whom he has started more than 60 games.
"They have a confidence together," Gillispie said. "Dominique always defers to the other guys, but he has the confidence level where he can take another step as a scorer."
The best defender among the Aggies, Kirk also was second on the team in three-point field goals (52).
"Man, he's been fantastic for us," Gillispie said. "He has an unbelievable amount of energy every day in practice. He always loves the challenge of trying to guard the best perimeter player on the other team. He's done quite well at it. He's a really tough guy. He doesn't look like it, but he's a tough guy who won't take no for an answer. He just keeps on battling and plays with unbelievable confidence."
SF Marlon Pompey (6-8, 225 lbs., SR, #42, 5.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.5 apg, 0.9 spg, 23.0 mpg, .470 FG, .647 FT, Winchendon Prep/Winchendon, Mass./Toronto, Canada)
Every team needs a player like Pompey. "I know we need him," Gillispie said. "He continues to get better. He's a really good athlete who doesn't care if he scores or whatever. He likes to mix it up defensively and tries to rebound everything. He could probably score a lot more than he does."
When a team has two stars like Law and Jones, things mesh much better with selfless players like Kirk and Pompey.
"Marlon is similar to Dominique in that he defers to others because he thinks that gives us the best chance to win," Gillispie said. "In today's age, there's not all that many players who think like that."
While Kirk defends on the perimeter, Pompey handles the defense underneath. He also found time to score a career-high 17 points against Texas Tech last year.
PF Joseph Jones (6-9, 250 lbs., JR, #30, 15.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.5 spg, 29.0 mpg, .508 FG, .105 3PT, .735 FT, Normangee HS/Normangee, Texas). An absolute load for opponents, this might be Jones' last season before declaring early for the NBA draft.
"I don't think you worry about that," Gillispie said. "He has a chance to have a long career. We'll just take every single day with have with him and enjoy it. I really believe when it's time for those guys to go, you should promote them and accept that and then try to find another who's equal. That's very difficult to do when you have a guy like Joe. Hopefully he'll be here for his fourth season. But I hope he has such a great season this year that he has a decision to make."
An All-District and second-team all-conference pick, Jones led the Aggies in rebounding 16 times and scoring 12 times last year.
Jones put together several huge scoring nights. His career-high 35 versus North Texas was packaged with a career-high 13 boards. That game was indicative of Jones' toughness. Despite battling tendinitis in his knee, he played 39 minutes. The Aggies needed him, too -- they barely held off the Mean Green, 72-70. "He was hurt, and he didn't want to come out of the game," Gillispie said after that game. "He's a special kid. He's just got a little tendonitis in his knee, and then he got hit a couple times. And then he had to go throw up ... you know, the regular old Joseph game. He's a tough kid."
Jones' Big 12 high of 31 came against Texas. That capped a streak of three straight Big 12 games in which Jones led the Aggies in scoring, including a 29-point effort against Baylor. He also scored 24 against Auburn, 22 against Northwestern State and 21 against Colorado.
Jones racked up other double-doubles against Texas Southern (15, 10), Pacific (13, 12) and Baylor (29, 10).
His lone downfall was going 2-for-19 from three-point range.
"I know this sounds crazy, but I think Joe's a really nice shooter," Gillispie said. "His form is good. I really believe he can make shots. I definitely think that will be turned around this year."
C Antanas Kavaliauskas (6-10, 250 lbs., SR, #44, 6.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.5 spg, 17.1 mpg, .585 FG, .556 3PT, .564 FT, Vilnius HS/Lithuania and Barton County CC/Great Bend, Kansas)
Though born in Lithuania, Kavaliauskas and Gillispie spoke the same language their first season together.
"He's a very impressive person," Gillispie said. "He learned the language very quickly. No communication gap at all. He probably didn't want to hear what I was saying, anyway."
Kavaliauskas' steady improvement gives Gillispie two potential starting lineups with Law, Jones, Kirk, Pompey and either Kavaliauskas or Josh Carter. The Aggies can go either big or small.
"I don't know how it will all play out," Gillispie said. "It'll be determined in preseason practice. I know last year they [Kavaliauskas and Carter] really played well down the stretch and made a difference on our team. The light just kind of went on for both those guys, basically at the same time. They really started learning how to defend, they rebounded and really became productive players."
G Josh Carter (6-5, 175 lbs., SO, #23, 8.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.5 spg, 20.4 mpg, .429 FG, .401 3PT, .735 FT, Lake Highlands HS/Dallas)
A superb outside shooter, Carter scored 25 points in a Big 12 Tournament semifinal against Texas, which included 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range. Carter averaged 20 points and shot 13-of-18 from the field for the conference tournament.
Gillispie has a history with the entire Carter family of Dallas, having recruited older brothers Warren at Illinois and Kevin at UTEP.
"I've known Josh since seventh or eighth grade. He's one of the nicest kids you could ever hope to meet," Gillispie said.
Carter certainly is capable of starting. Whether he will remains to be seen.
"He's not the kind of person who would question something like that," Gillispie said. "All he'll do is figure out a way to try and play more. We've been lucky and blessed to have bunch of guys who really accept their roles very well, and he's one of them. They believe in what we're doing. They've been fantastic."
F Martellus Bennett (6-7, 250 lbs., SO, #2, 1.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 6.2 mpg, .261 FG, .610 FT, Alief Taylor HS/Houston).
An all-state player in high school who averaged 23.4 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior, Bennett is on football scholarship at Texas A&M. As a freshman tight end last season, he caught 18 passes with three touchdown receptions. In just his third game with the basketball team, Bennett scored a career-high 18 points against Grambling. He intends to play basketball again this season.
"We definitely would welcome him back, but also understand he may or may not be there," Gillispie said. "He loves to play. He plays at the rec center all the time, even during the summer. He's quite a character who loves to compete. I'd be surprised if he didn't come out."
C Chinemulu Elonu (6-10, 225 lbs., R-FR, #41, 15.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, Alief Elsik HS/Houston)
A terrific shot blocker and leaper, Elonu red-shirted last season and spent the summer playing in Houston along with Charlotte Bobcats center Emeka Okafor.
"He has a chance to be a fantastic player, a shot-blocker who needs playing time," Gillispie said. "He's got a chance to be very good -- he just needs experience."
F Bryan Davis (6-9, 245 lbs., FR, #34, 18.1 ppg, 15.3 rpg, 3.4 bpg, 3.1 apg, Grand Prairie HS/Grand Prairie, Texas)
Rated among the top five high school players in Texas and the 41st best prospect nationally by one recruiting analyst, Davis is built similar to Jones and someday could be just as good.
"He's got a chance to be a really nice player. He's athletic and tough and really understands his place," Gillispie said. "Bryan's got unlimited potential. These freshmen are exciting, because they change our roster drastically. They just give us a lot more options."
G Derrick Roland (6-5, 185 lbs., FR, #3, 17.2 ppg, 3.4 apg, Seagoville HS/Dallas).
Roland battled back from an ACL injury his sophomore and junior seasons to be rated one of the top 10 players in Texas and among the top 100 nationally by Rivals.com.
"Derrick can play a couple of positions," Gillispie said. "He has the ability to be a great shooter and is a very athletic guy who can be a great defender. He can be a shut-down defender on the wing."
G Donald Sloan (6-3, 175 lbs., FR, #15, 21.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg, Seagoville HS/Dallas)
Sloan led the Dallas area in scoring and was rated among the top 10 prep players in Texas and as the nation's 55th best recruit by Rivals.com.
"Donald can be a difference-maker," Gillispie said. "He has all the intangibles you want and just lights up a room when he walks into it. He's as good an athlete as there is in the country at his position." Roland and Sloan were high school teammates.
"We started on those guys when they were freshmen," Gillispie said. "We always have liked both of them. Both of them have a chance to be really nice additions to our team and compete for a lot of minutes early. Along with Bryson Graham, those guys really up our athletic ability and give us a lot more depth than we've had in the past. They're all definite guys to challenge our main position players."
G Bryson Graham (6-3, 195 lbs., SO, #5, 15.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.5 apg, Reagan HS/San Antonio and Lon Morris JC/Jacksonville, Texas)
An all-conference pick and one of the top 100 junior college players in the country, Graham will have three years of eligibility.
G Bryan Beasley (6-0, 185 lbs., FR, #13, 18.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.0 spg, Pflugerville HS/Pflugerville, Texas). Beasley is an athletic guard who has a chance to be a good player down the road. "I think he'll be a great program player," Gillispie said. "He is a highly versatile player and an unbelievable student [with a 4.0 GPA]. He's really advanced as far as understanding how to play."
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT: A
BENCH/DEPTH: B
FRONTCOURT: B+
INTANGIBLES: A
Gillispie was a man with a plan when he arrived at Texas A&M.
His first two seasons, Gillispie scheduled a who's who of non-conference nobodies. The first 10 games were at home each year. Naming the conference in which the opponents played was a bigger challenge than actually playing them. Gillispie's scheduling philosophy was obvious: Get his players a nice, shiny record and build some confidence heading into Big 12 play.
The ploy worked as the Aggies started out 11-0 and 10-1 in those two years, the lone loss being 63-56 at Pacific last season.
Gillispie's players could have easily been insulted by their coach's tactic. Instead, they understood the reasoning.
"I've been fortunate to have a good group of kids. We believe and trust in each other and just kind of go from there," Gillispie said. "Everybody on every team, I think, wants to play the No. 1 team every year, but it's not always the most productive thing for your team."
Now armed with a pair of all-conference candidates in Law and Jones, Gillispie headed a completely different direction with this year's schedule.
Texas-Permian Basin, Trinity and Prairie View A&M have been replaced with games at LSU, against national runner-up UCLA in the Wooden Classic at Anaheim, Calif., at Saint Louis and at Auburn, plus a home grudge match against Pacific.
"We've got a very difficult schedule this time. But we've finally got some experienced players, so hopefully it's going to work out," Gillispie said.
There's little reason to think it won't.
For the most comprehensive previews available on all 326 Division I teams, order the "Bible" of college basketball, the 2006-07 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, at www.blueribbonyearbook.com or call 1-866-805-BALL (2255).55).
Insider
Blue Ribbon Yearbook
Editor's Note: ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at all 326 Division I teams. To order the complete 2006-07 edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, visit www.blueribbonyearbook.com or call 1-866-805-BALL (2255).
(Information in this team report is as of October 1.)
COACH AND PROGRAM
Last season marked Texas A&M's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1987, dating back to when Shelby Metcalf was coach, the elder George Bush had just been sworn in as president, and the Aggies were members of the Southwest Conference.
There has been a lot of history between then and now, most of it bad.
And in the process of changing history, Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie made history.
When he took over at depleted UTEP four years ago, Gillispie's first team went 6-24. His next went 24-8 and won the Western Athletic Conference title after being tabbed to finish ninth in the preseason. The Miners' 18-game improvement was the nation's largest that season.
The following year, Gillispie took over at Texas A&M, which was coming off a 7-21 season. The Aggies went 21-10 in Gillispie's first year. The 14-game improvement again was the nation's largest and Gillispie became the only coach in Division I history to have the country's most-improved record in back-to-back seasons.
Last year, in Gillispie's second season, his team finished 22-9 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12, good for fourth place and the program's highest conference finish since winning the SWC regular-season title in 1986.
Texas A&M basketball used to be a filler between football and spring football. Not any longer.
"It's fun to see our guys start to win, and it's fun when other people start taking notice about your program," Gillispie said. "It's fun, but it's also very, very difficult. What you want to do is develop a good program instead of just having a particularly good team. A good team takes one year. A good program takes time."
After often holding the keys to the cellar every season, the Aggies have now taken an elevator ride to the top floors normally occupied by Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
"We're trying to maintain success and that's very difficult to do," Gillispie said, "especially in a conference like the Big 12."
When Gillispie initially accepted the Texas A&M job on March 24, 2004, he claimed the timing was "perfect." Uh, that was certainly debatable.
Gillispie did inherit junior guard Antoine Wright for one year. Wright left after that season and was selected 15th overall by the New Jersey Nets, becoming the Aggies' first draft pick in 18 years.
Also on Gillispie's first roster was sophomore guard Acie Law IV and incoming high school recruit Joseph Jones.
"The cupboard was not bare here," Gillispie graciously said.
That might have been true, but the Aggies still had managed to go an imperfect 0-16 in league play a few weeks before Gillispie's arrival -- 0-17 counting a predictable first-round loss in the Big 12 Tournament.
Before Gillispie posted up in College Station, the Aggies had never had a winning season in the Big 12. They hadn't even won a conference tournament game.
Under Gillispie, Texas A&M has made two straight postseason appearances and won two straight Big 12 Tournament first-round games.
"We just hit it right," said Gillispie, a native of tiny Graford (pop. 578) and the first Texas-born basketball coach at Texas A&M since J.B. Reid (1930-35). "We don't do anything fancy. I don't think it's anything to do with the coaching. It's about getting good players and getting them to play together."
In 2005, the Aggies advanced to the third round of the NIT, losing 58-51 to Saint Joseph's.
Last season, No. 12-seeded Texas A&M upended No. 5-seeded Syracuse 66-58 in an NCAA Tournament first-round game at Jacksonville. It was the Aggies' first NCAA Tournament victory since 1980.
Two days later, Texas A&M lost to Final Four qualifier LSU on a three-pointer by Tigers guard Darrel Mitchell with 3.9 seconds remaining. Until that point, Mitchell had been 1-for-7 from three-point range and the Tigers were 1-for-11.
The Aggies fought back from 15-3 deficit after the first six minutes and went on a 17-0 run in the next 10. After being down seven with 3:13 left, Texas A&M took a 57-55 lead on Law's jumper with 19.3 seconds to play. After a timeout, Mitchell hit the desperation game-winner.
Going into the LSU game, Texas A&M had won nine of its previous 10.
"We respected everyone, and hopefully we'll continue to do that. But we never really had a great deal of fear for anyone," Gillispie said. "Our players weren't afraid to play against teams and compete against them. That's a great feeling as a coach because you know your team has a chance when it goes into a game thinking like that."
Though the Aggies lost in the second round of the NCAAs, the final result was still a huge step forward for the program.
"We took a pretty simple approach of just trying to get into the tournament, then let the chips fall where they may," Gillispie said. "Because once you get in, anything can happen. [Surprise Final Four team] George Mason proved that last year. Heck, you've got to be pretty good just to get in the tournament." Within a week after last year's Final Four, prominent publications mentioned Texas A&M as a potential Top-10 team for 2006-07.
"We're really appreciative. Those are great honors," Gillispie said. "But when we weren't picked to do too well, that didn't prevent us from trying. It didn't set the tone for us. We're not going to start thinking we've arrived yet, because we haven't. Those high rankings are nice for the players and really nice for the fans, but that won't determine our success. We have to go out, do the work, and continue to build the program."
The Aggies have gone from being party crashers to being invited guests. With that comes an unfamiliar pressure.
"There's never more pressure than what you can put on yourself," Gillispie said. "It'll be interesting to see how expectations affect our players. But I don't see it being a problem, seeing how hard our players worked during the off-season. The reason we've been able to have success is because we've had a very determined mindset. If we stray from that, we're going in the wrong direction."
Gillispie had a $145,000 salary when he left UTEP. He started out at Texas A&M with a $585,000 guarantee per season, made roughly $850,000 last year and will become a member of the millionaires club with his next bump in pay.
It was hardly a quick trip to seven figures for Gillispie, a charismatic recruiter who spent 12 seasons as a high school head coach throughout Texas before joining the Baylor staff in 1994.
Three years later, current Kansas coach Bill Self was smart enough to hire Gillispie and they remained together for three seasons at Tulsa and two at Illinois before Gillispie headed for the border in El Paso. An undeniably snappy dresser, Gillispie often snaps during games. Seemingly never content, he constantly expects a bit more from his players.
Asked about his somewhat maniacal sideline demeanor, Gillispie chuckled and said, "I think everybody has to, uh, encourage their players or whatever. We try to play a very intense, physical style of basketball. That's not easy to do. You have to have great habits to do that and have success at it. Practice also is very demanding."
Gillispie's pet peeves?
"Turning the ball over or giving up an easy basket," he said.
Opponents averaged just 60.3 points against Texas A&M last season, the school's second-lowest average behind the 1979-80 squad that yielded just 59.8 points.
On the flip side, the Aggies return their top six scorers and 89.6 percent of their overall points from last season.
Also returning are four starters and 13 lettermen. All six newcomers are from Texas.
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Texas (free)
Texas A&M Insider
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The Aggies unquestionably have an impressive freshman class, and some will be asked to contribute immediately.
Four of the freshmen -- Derrick Roland, Bryan Beasley, Bryan Davis and Donald Sloan -- combined for 46 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists and eight steals while playing for Team USA against Puerto Rico at the Global Games international tournament last June in Dallas.
"I'm excited about our roster, but we're going to be depending on a lot of new guys," Gillispie said. "I'm conservative about guys who have already done it. Some of those guys are gone."
The most noticeable change in the Aggies is now rather than hoping to be better, they expect to be better. That attitude adjustment has reached outsiders, too.
"It's always nice to see the change in attitude, the change in people's faces in the way they talk about your team and the interest they show," Gillispie said. "And you can see that change in a lot of ways. You're talking about players, recruits, high school coaches, parents, fans. It's really fun to see how the change affects them."
PLAYERS
PG Acie Law IV (6-3, 195 lbs., SR, #1, 16.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.7 spg, 34.7 mpg, .448 FG, .330 3PT, .764 FT, Kimball HS/Dallas)
His arching, knuckleball, left-handed jumper has put fear into opponents. Law won a home game against No. 6 Texas last year with a three-pointer at the buzzer and nearly pulled off the same trick at Oklahoma State, missing from the top of the key at the buzzer after scoring a career-high 35 points inside famed Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Once quiet and timid, Law has become a team leader. He was selected All-District by the NABC and USBWA and earned first-team All-Big 12 honors from various newspapers in the region. Certainly a first-team all-conference candidate again this season, Law averaged 19.0 points in last year's NCAA Tournament.
"Everyone knew he had a lot of talent. He's just continued to mature," Gillispie said. "He totally changed his basketball personality. He's become a great leader. Probably the hardest worker I've ever been around as far as keeping in shape and working on his game. He's just really blossomed. He can score like crazy. He's learned to defend. He's learned to lead. He cares about winning a great deal. He's been fantastic. He's always been a talented player, but he's never really talked much."
SG Dominique Kirk (6-3, 180 lbs., JR, #22, 6.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.4 spg, 30.0 mpg, .404 FG, .403 3PT, .643 FT, Bryan Adams HS/Dallas)
Chosen to the Big 12's All-Underrated team for a reason, Kirk is an effective, unselfish complement to Law and Jones, alongside whom he has started more than 60 games.
"They have a confidence together," Gillispie said. "Dominique always defers to the other guys, but he has the confidence level where he can take another step as a scorer."
The best defender among the Aggies, Kirk also was second on the team in three-point field goals (52).
"Man, he's been fantastic for us," Gillispie said. "He has an unbelievable amount of energy every day in practice. He always loves the challenge of trying to guard the best perimeter player on the other team. He's done quite well at it. He's a really tough guy. He doesn't look like it, but he's a tough guy who won't take no for an answer. He just keeps on battling and plays with unbelievable confidence."
SF Marlon Pompey (6-8, 225 lbs., SR, #42, 5.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.5 apg, 0.9 spg, 23.0 mpg, .470 FG, .647 FT, Winchendon Prep/Winchendon, Mass./Toronto, Canada)
Every team needs a player like Pompey. "I know we need him," Gillispie said. "He continues to get better. He's a really good athlete who doesn't care if he scores or whatever. He likes to mix it up defensively and tries to rebound everything. He could probably score a lot more than he does."
When a team has two stars like Law and Jones, things mesh much better with selfless players like Kirk and Pompey.
"Marlon is similar to Dominique in that he defers to others because he thinks that gives us the best chance to win," Gillispie said. "In today's age, there's not all that many players who think like that."
While Kirk defends on the perimeter, Pompey handles the defense underneath. He also found time to score a career-high 17 points against Texas Tech last year.
PF Joseph Jones (6-9, 250 lbs., JR, #30, 15.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.5 spg, 29.0 mpg, .508 FG, .105 3PT, .735 FT, Normangee HS/Normangee, Texas). An absolute load for opponents, this might be Jones' last season before declaring early for the NBA draft.
"I don't think you worry about that," Gillispie said. "He has a chance to have a long career. We'll just take every single day with have with him and enjoy it. I really believe when it's time for those guys to go, you should promote them and accept that and then try to find another who's equal. That's very difficult to do when you have a guy like Joe. Hopefully he'll be here for his fourth season. But I hope he has such a great season this year that he has a decision to make."
An All-District and second-team all-conference pick, Jones led the Aggies in rebounding 16 times and scoring 12 times last year.
Jones put together several huge scoring nights. His career-high 35 versus North Texas was packaged with a career-high 13 boards. That game was indicative of Jones' toughness. Despite battling tendinitis in his knee, he played 39 minutes. The Aggies needed him, too -- they barely held off the Mean Green, 72-70. "He was hurt, and he didn't want to come out of the game," Gillispie said after that game. "He's a special kid. He's just got a little tendonitis in his knee, and then he got hit a couple times. And then he had to go throw up ... you know, the regular old Joseph game. He's a tough kid."
Jones' Big 12 high of 31 came against Texas. That capped a streak of three straight Big 12 games in which Jones led the Aggies in scoring, including a 29-point effort against Baylor. He also scored 24 against Auburn, 22 against Northwestern State and 21 against Colorado.
Jones racked up other double-doubles against Texas Southern (15, 10), Pacific (13, 12) and Baylor (29, 10).
His lone downfall was going 2-for-19 from three-point range.
"I know this sounds crazy, but I think Joe's a really nice shooter," Gillispie said. "His form is good. I really believe he can make shots. I definitely think that will be turned around this year."
C Antanas Kavaliauskas (6-10, 250 lbs., SR, #44, 6.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.5 spg, 17.1 mpg, .585 FG, .556 3PT, .564 FT, Vilnius HS/Lithuania and Barton County CC/Great Bend, Kansas)
Though born in Lithuania, Kavaliauskas and Gillispie spoke the same language their first season together.
"He's a very impressive person," Gillispie said. "He learned the language very quickly. No communication gap at all. He probably didn't want to hear what I was saying, anyway."
Kavaliauskas' steady improvement gives Gillispie two potential starting lineups with Law, Jones, Kirk, Pompey and either Kavaliauskas or Josh Carter. The Aggies can go either big or small.
"I don't know how it will all play out," Gillispie said. "It'll be determined in preseason practice. I know last year they [Kavaliauskas and Carter] really played well down the stretch and made a difference on our team. The light just kind of went on for both those guys, basically at the same time. They really started learning how to defend, they rebounded and really became productive players."
G Josh Carter (6-5, 175 lbs., SO, #23, 8.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.5 spg, 20.4 mpg, .429 FG, .401 3PT, .735 FT, Lake Highlands HS/Dallas)
A superb outside shooter, Carter scored 25 points in a Big 12 Tournament semifinal against Texas, which included 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range. Carter averaged 20 points and shot 13-of-18 from the field for the conference tournament.
Gillispie has a history with the entire Carter family of Dallas, having recruited older brothers Warren at Illinois and Kevin at UTEP.
"I've known Josh since seventh or eighth grade. He's one of the nicest kids you could ever hope to meet," Gillispie said.
Carter certainly is capable of starting. Whether he will remains to be seen.
"He's not the kind of person who would question something like that," Gillispie said. "All he'll do is figure out a way to try and play more. We've been lucky and blessed to have bunch of guys who really accept their roles very well, and he's one of them. They believe in what we're doing. They've been fantastic."
F Martellus Bennett (6-7, 250 lbs., SO, #2, 1.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 6.2 mpg, .261 FG, .610 FT, Alief Taylor HS/Houston).
An all-state player in high school who averaged 23.4 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior, Bennett is on football scholarship at Texas A&M. As a freshman tight end last season, he caught 18 passes with three touchdown receptions. In just his third game with the basketball team, Bennett scored a career-high 18 points against Grambling. He intends to play basketball again this season.
"We definitely would welcome him back, but also understand he may or may not be there," Gillispie said. "He loves to play. He plays at the rec center all the time, even during the summer. He's quite a character who loves to compete. I'd be surprised if he didn't come out."
C Chinemulu Elonu (6-10, 225 lbs., R-FR, #41, 15.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, Alief Elsik HS/Houston)
A terrific shot blocker and leaper, Elonu red-shirted last season and spent the summer playing in Houston along with Charlotte Bobcats center Emeka Okafor.
"He has a chance to be a fantastic player, a shot-blocker who needs playing time," Gillispie said. "He's got a chance to be very good -- he just needs experience."
F Bryan Davis (6-9, 245 lbs., FR, #34, 18.1 ppg, 15.3 rpg, 3.4 bpg, 3.1 apg, Grand Prairie HS/Grand Prairie, Texas)
Rated among the top five high school players in Texas and the 41st best prospect nationally by one recruiting analyst, Davis is built similar to Jones and someday could be just as good.
"He's got a chance to be a really nice player. He's athletic and tough and really understands his place," Gillispie said. "Bryan's got unlimited potential. These freshmen are exciting, because they change our roster drastically. They just give us a lot more options."
G Derrick Roland (6-5, 185 lbs., FR, #3, 17.2 ppg, 3.4 apg, Seagoville HS/Dallas).
Roland battled back from an ACL injury his sophomore and junior seasons to be rated one of the top 10 players in Texas and among the top 100 nationally by Rivals.com.
"Derrick can play a couple of positions," Gillispie said. "He has the ability to be a great shooter and is a very athletic guy who can be a great defender. He can be a shut-down defender on the wing."
G Donald Sloan (6-3, 175 lbs., FR, #15, 21.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg, Seagoville HS/Dallas)
Sloan led the Dallas area in scoring and was rated among the top 10 prep players in Texas and as the nation's 55th best recruit by Rivals.com.
"Donald can be a difference-maker," Gillispie said. "He has all the intangibles you want and just lights up a room when he walks into it. He's as good an athlete as there is in the country at his position." Roland and Sloan were high school teammates.
"We started on those guys when they were freshmen," Gillispie said. "We always have liked both of them. Both of them have a chance to be really nice additions to our team and compete for a lot of minutes early. Along with Bryson Graham, those guys really up our athletic ability and give us a lot more depth than we've had in the past. They're all definite guys to challenge our main position players."
G Bryson Graham (6-3, 195 lbs., SO, #5, 15.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.5 apg, Reagan HS/San Antonio and Lon Morris JC/Jacksonville, Texas)
An all-conference pick and one of the top 100 junior college players in the country, Graham will have three years of eligibility.
G Bryan Beasley (6-0, 185 lbs., FR, #13, 18.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.0 spg, Pflugerville HS/Pflugerville, Texas). Beasley is an athletic guard who has a chance to be a good player down the road. "I think he'll be a great program player," Gillispie said. "He is a highly versatile player and an unbelievable student [with a 4.0 GPA]. He's really advanced as far as understanding how to play."
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT: A
BENCH/DEPTH: B
FRONTCOURT: B+
INTANGIBLES: A
Gillispie was a man with a plan when he arrived at Texas A&M.
His first two seasons, Gillispie scheduled a who's who of non-conference nobodies. The first 10 games were at home each year. Naming the conference in which the opponents played was a bigger challenge than actually playing them. Gillispie's scheduling philosophy was obvious: Get his players a nice, shiny record and build some confidence heading into Big 12 play.
The ploy worked as the Aggies started out 11-0 and 10-1 in those two years, the lone loss being 63-56 at Pacific last season.
Gillispie's players could have easily been insulted by their coach's tactic. Instead, they understood the reasoning.
"I've been fortunate to have a good group of kids. We believe and trust in each other and just kind of go from there," Gillispie said. "Everybody on every team, I think, wants to play the No. 1 team every year, but it's not always the most productive thing for your team."
Now armed with a pair of all-conference candidates in Law and Jones, Gillispie headed a completely different direction with this year's schedule.
Texas-Permian Basin, Trinity and Prairie View A&M have been replaced with games at LSU, against national runner-up UCLA in the Wooden Classic at Anaheim, Calif., at Saint Louis and at Auburn, plus a home grudge match against Pacific.
"We've got a very difficult schedule this time. But we've finally got some experienced players, so hopefully it's going to work out," Gillispie said.
There's little reason to think it won't.
For the most comprehensive previews available on all 326 Division I teams, order the "Bible" of college basketball, the 2006-07 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, at www.blueribbonyearbook.com or call 1-866-805-BALL (2255).55).