NCAA Tournament: Nothing to lose

LEXINGTON, Ky., March 14 - Talk about consistency. In this era of college basketball, when teams move all over the Associated Press Top 25 poll from week to week, Texas A&M; has stayed in almost the same place.

The Aggies began the season ranked 13th, and end it ranked 9th, having never fallen below 13th and never risen above 6th. A one-point loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals cost A&M; a chance at a No. 2 seed, but at 25-6, these Aggies are, by most accounts, the best No. 3 seed in the NCAA field of 64.

However, they are not at all looking past their first-round opponent, 14-seed Penn.

That starts with their third-year head coach, Billy Gillispie.

"We're not really happy about our opponent because Penn is a good basketball team," Gillispie said. "Penn is a very, very, very good team - a very difficult opponent for us to play the way we have to play."

This attitude is present in Gillispie's players, as well.

"Penn is a talented team and they're looking to win just like we are," said sophomore forward Joseph Jones.

"We will have to work really hard in the game," junior guard Dominique Kirk said.

The Quakers "are just really good," sophomore guard Josh Carter said. "They're a good team and they won their league."

Despite the respect that the Aggies have for the Quakers, they are in the top 10 for a reason. And they are confident that they can execute their game plan successfully this afternoon.

Senior forward Antanas Kavaliauskas, at 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, is the biggest player on an A&M; starting lineup - the same five players started all 31 Aggies games this season - with serious size advantages all around.

Carter is 6-7 in the backcourt and Jones is an athletic 6-9.

"We are just going to play our game how we played before," Kavaliauskas said, claiming that A&M; will not try to necessarily exploit its physical advantages.

That way is with great defense - holding opponents to 59.2 points per game this season - and by shooting the lights out on offense to the tune of 42 percent from three-point range and 50 percent from the field.

However, what really makes the Aggies tick is senior guard Acie Law. Aside from leading the team in minutes, points, assists and steals, which has already earned him All-Big 12 first-team honors and a likely first-team All-America spot, he is the glue that holds A&M; together. At yesterday's pregame press conference of A&M; players, Law answered almost every question addressed to "anyone."

"He's such a vocal leader now," Gillispie said, which he said was a gradual growth for the senior.

But this special season for Law and his deputies almost never happened.

As a freshman, Law's Aggies went 7-21, including an 0-16 mark in the Big 12.

Gillispie took over the next year, and there were reports that Law would leave the program.

Law said he was never that close to departure, but was initially unwilling to work under Gillispie's notoriously tough workouts.

"I was trying to get out of it," he said.

But Law stayed.

The next year, A&M; went 21-10 and made the NIT, and last year, they were 22-9, earning a 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

In the first round, they stunned Big East tournament champion Syracuse, 66-58, and then nearly toppled eventual semifinalist LSU, losing 58-57 on a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left.

This year, the improvements have escalated.

"I never imagined that it would happen so quickly," Law said. "I probably wouldn't believe it if you told me."

The experience of playing in the Tournament a year ago, especially getting a win as a double-digit seed, also helped the Aggies as they prepared for today.

Now they are on the other side, but are still talking like the underdog. Gillispie turned a question about that around yesterday, saying that while his team has been here before, Penn has been here more.

"We'll see if that experience helps," he said. "I hope it proves beneficial, but in a way I hope it doesn't because they have been here more times than us, so they have a lot of experience in this situation."

They've said all the right things leading up to the game, now all the Aggies have left is proving that they meant it.

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