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BIG 12 13
Words from the Big 12 Writers from around the conference weigh in on their teams
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Texas A&M's David Loubeau, left, blocks Texas Tech's John Roberson's shot during the first half of their game in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday. The Aggies defeated the Red Raiders 67-65
A&M basketball was validated at Kansas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Beau Holder The Battalion — Monday, Feb. 15
COLLEGE STATION. Texas — It went up high,high above everyone's heads,countless hopes and fears and possibilities hanging in the balance.
When it fell through, that shot — that game — validated a great deal more than the hopes it carried with it. In one of college basketball's greatest meccas, a program was born.
It was an early February night, sandwiched between an easy victory over the Iowa State Cyclones and an impending clash with the Texas Longhorns. Basketball fever was spreading in College Station. It was a night that would change everything.
"Everyone said it was going to be a big time game,"said former A&M forward Joseph Jones."No.1 and No.2 in the Big 12, and plus, College Gameday was going to be there."
Feb. 3, 2007: the Aggies, 18-3 and No. 8 in the nation, went north to take on the 19-3, No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks. They had played there before; they never won. Since the formation of the Big 12 Conference, no team from the South division had ever won in Allen Fieldhouse. The Aggies had never beaten Kansas.
"I remember that game being absolutely crazy," former Aggie guard Josh Carter said. "Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps and all those guys were there. The media was not [regarding] us too great and nobody was picking us to win or thought we even had a chance against Kansas that night. They knew Acie [Law] was great but didn't think we had enough firepower to win at Kansas."
The previous year, A&M beat then-No. 7 Texas on "The Shot" by law to secure their first NCAA tournament bid since 1987 and came into the 2006-2007 season ranked No. 13, but no statement game or moment had confirmed their arrival as a program.
"There wasn't really a sense of what the win would do for the program because we approached it just like another game against a great team in the Big 12 on the road," Jones said.
Before the game, the team came face-toface with one of the toughest home courts in the country.
"Allen Fieldhouse is crazy," Carter said. "The fans are there hours before the game waiting for you when you walk on the court. It is one of the loudest arenas you will ever
play in. I remember the court shaking when the fans would start jumping up and down right before the game during tip-off"
After a first half of back-and-forth action, the Jayhawks took a 36-30 lead into halftime. Kansas maintained a lead until the last minute of the game, but every time they made a move to extend the advantage, A&M would come back and stay in reach.
The Aggies tied the game at 64 with five straight points from Law and a three-point play by center Antanas Kavaliauskas; after a layup by Kansas guard Julian Wright, the Aggies, down 66-64 with 44 seconds left, set up one of the more memorable shots in team history. Law took the inbounds pass, faked a step forward, then lofted a shot over the reach of the Jayhawks' sophomore guard and All-Big 12 player Brandon Rush. With 25 seconds left, the three gave the Aggies a 67-66 lead.
Law's 3-pointer against the Jayhawks gets lost in the legacy that "The Shot" leaves.
but former Reed Rowdies president Aubrey Bloom, Class of '07, said it was momentous.
"The most interesting thing [at "The Phog"]...is the history of the building," said Bloom, who was at the game. "It's completely different. With the tradition, it's the same as Kyle Field in football. It was so loud you couldn't hear anything. The whole building shakes. When Acie hit the shot, the place went dead quiet. I've never heard a building go from that loud to that quiet real quick."
A&M then forced a miss with five seconds left and made two free throws. They endured a final shot, a miss by future 2008 NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player Mario Chalmers, and soaked in their 69-66 win after the buzzer sounded.
It was a hard-earned victory against one of college basketball's storied programs, one of the bluebloods, the untouchables — in their own building. On national television, the Aggies had taken each punch from one
of the top teams in the country and responded with their own. The win sent shockwaves throughout the basketball world.
"It was huge because a lot of people who normally don't watch A&M basketball got to see A&M basketball." Bloom said. "Kansas has a whole different draw. It's like playing Kentucky. We had all kinds of big wins that year but that was the biggest. The fact that we won is what made people take note. After that, people knew who we were."
Dedicated Aggie basketball fans celebrated the importance that the win held, welcoming the team back home afterwards.
"We knew it was big for us at the time." Carter said. "I don't think we realized right away how big it was for all of our fans and things like that. When we got back to College Station and there were so many fans waiting for us, I think it hit us a little bit that we had just done something pretty special for the program."
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE WAVE FEBRUARY 17,2010