Texas A&M is now 6-4 overall and riding a five-game winning streak after victories over Valparaiso and Marshall last week, but there are still questions about what type of team the Aggies are this year. If your record indicates who you are, then being a pair of games over .500 usually means you're mediocre at this point.
With their deep run in the NCAA tournament last year, the expectations are high for the Aggies this season and people were anxiously anticipating if they would ascend into the next level of relevance, but, right now, fans are just happy to not have a losing record anymore.
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Aside from the wins and losses, people have wondered why people outside of College Station would even be interest in Texas A&M men's basketball at this point.
Other than Boston College canceling the game a few weeks ago, head coach Billy Kennedy's team hasn't been on the radar in the national media. There are certain reasons why people aren't excited right now, and hopefully the Aggies can shift the climate on how people view them in college hoops.
Here are three reasons why the Aggies are currently an after-thought:
- Although they are riding a five-game winning streak now, the Aggies had recently lost four in a row. So people are a little reluctant to get on the bandwagon just yet. Also, they lost to UC Irvine.
- The new style of basketball wasn't working for them. Coach Kennedy was trying to change this team into a quick, 3-point shooting team and it wasn't working. The pace is too fast and they are not shooting the ball as well as they need to for it to work. The Aggies rank last in the SEC in 3-point percentage at 28 percent. Their strength is in their guards like TJ Starks and Savion Flagg driving to the basket and having the bigs rebound and play good defense.
- The Texas A&M women's basketball team has a bigger star. In the mainstream media, when you talk about Aggie basketball, you will bring up Chennedy Carter. The men's team simply doesn't have a star like the women's team.
To get back on track and to break out of the boring perception that people have, the Aggies need to keep winning against the inferior competition they will play over the next three games, and dare we say it, beat the No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats on January 8. A win against a great nationally-ranked team will put them on the map.
