Maroon Weekly

By Cody Lillich, Sports Editor

Well it appears the pre-season polls have reared their ugly head yet again – this time in men’s basketball. Texas A&M was left off the major polls. I think sometimes these people have a Magic 8 ball on their desk and ask it for each team, maybe A&M got the “ask again later.”

Of course at the top of the Associated Press list is powerhouse Kansas, then Michigan State followed by our friends to the southwest. The next Big 12 team on that list is Oklahoma at #17. Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Texas A&M and Missouri received votes in the poll. In the other major poll, the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll had the same top three and Oklahoma makes the list at #16. The same four schools ‘received votes’ except this time the order was Oklahoma State, Missouri, Kansas State and Texas A&M rounds out the list of Big 12 schools.

In the Big 12 Preseason Poll, Kansas won the vote, followed by Texas and Oklahoma. The Aggies came in at fifth, behind Kansas State. Other Texas teams, Texas Tech and Baylor were on the list as #9 & #10 respectively.

The non-ranking in the national polls could be a good thing. This way, when the Aggies hit the court, they only have to worry about one thing and one thing alone – winning, game-by-game – not having to win and worry about keeping that top 25 ranking.

The team will definitely have a chance to turn heads around the nation in the coming weeks. The 76 Classic in the opening weeks of the season could put the team against West Virginia, UCLA and Minnesota, to name a few. The Aggies also travel to the west coast for another key pre-conference matchup in the Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series vs. Washington, the defending Pac 10 champion.

The Aggies will also host New Mexico inside the Toyota Center in Houston on Dec. 12.

And if you’re busy complaining about the lack of TV coverage in football there is plenty to absorb in basketball both in before and during conference play. Big 12 play opens at home against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Aggies have a big February in store, as they host the Preseason No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks at Reed Arena for ESPN’s Big Monday.

If there’s one thing that this team is counting on, that is to make the NCAA tournament. Coach Turgeon has taken the Aggies to the tournament three times in the last four years, and winning at least one game in each appearance.

So there will be time for this squad to prove themselves and turn heads in the poll selection process. They’ll also be continuing to building Texas A&M into a school that is not only known for football, but a basketball team that continuously rises through the ranks, no matter the preseason prediction in the Magic 8 Ball.