ESPN, CBS, and Rest Way Off In Big 12 Predictions! Texas A&M Is #1 I Said It

For those of you who do not know about Texas A&M basketball, A&M use to be the laughing stock of the Big 12 in basketball. It was a football comes first and, well there was no other. But, that began to change a few years ago and now Texas A&M is one of a handful of teams in the country (2 or 3 I believe) that have made the 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney 5 years running. While they have had a tough time getting much past that point (3rd rd once) and even lost by 1 twice by 2 in a game rigged by refs (A&M vs UCLA if you have never seen this game you have to watch it if you wanna see what impact a few refs can have on a game and obvious to the point the announcers were baffled as to even try to explain the calls being made) they are still but a few in the country to make it. Which brings us to this dedication.

What we have here are our "Expert panels" and some guy working out of his mom's basement giving us our Big 12 preview for 2010-2011.

A. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5768856

B. http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/16983/espn-coms-big-12-preview

These here are the only Big 12 previews put up by ESPN to preview the upcoming season (2010-2011). If you watched both videos you will notice they both are similar in their predictions for the Big 12. Counting the teams that could be sleepers or the teams that are rebuilding, they pretty much talk of about almost every team with any chance of a winning record for the year. Overall they mention 9 of the 12. Texas A&M? Ya, you know the team that has gone 24-10(lost by 2 to Purdue Rd 2), 24-10 (Spanked by UCONN rd 2)), 25-11 Preseason NIT Champs (lost to #2 UCLA by 2 in rigged game I believe), 27-7 (Lost to Memphis rd 3 by 1pt), 22-9(beat SYR rd 1 lost to LSU by 1 in rd 2), and 21-10 (didn't make it to tourney this year mentioned, but they did win their first 2 games of of the NIT after a year they went 0-16 in big 12 play). Ya that team. Not even mentioned ONCE. Not a hey there, a howdy duty, or this has been one of the more consistently good teams last 5 years. NOTHING! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but WHAT!
 
Two or three years ago I could have seen this and been like, "Well we did go 0-16 in the Big 12 a few years ago." But, come on! Look at the Tourney games alone and ignore the 22+ wins a year. They are not loosing to middle of the field teams, these are all 1st seed teams or close to and teams that are Final Four or Championship. They lost all of these games, with exception to UCONN, by 2 points or less and three of them by Hail Mary shots.

That is a hell of a Big 12 resume for their last 6 years and deserves at least; "This could be a rebuilding year for A&M." or "A&M could be a sleeper but I don't see them doing much." What do they get? Nothing! A preseason ranking with bottom 3 in the Big 12 and big snub from the "Experts".

Well the #13 Nationally ranked Aggie's 15-1 (lost by 2 to #24 at the time B.C.) just stomped a 13-2 Oklahoma St (you know, a team to watch) 48-71 and held its second Big 12 team to under 39% shooting. OSU shot 34.8% against what many are saying as the best defensive team in the country. Are they? I don't know. I don't know. But, you might wanna "keep an eye on" a team that is #1 in the Big 12 with the best overall record. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/standings

P.S. Yes, I understand the #1 in Big 12 may not last long and there are some tough games ahead that will really test this team. But, I had to get that out there as I was shocked and stunned (pissed for a better word) when every ESPN "expert" didn't even mention them ONCE in any of their Big 12 previews and looked at them as and treated them as one of the worst teams in the Big 12 despite the above resume and very solid recruits every year. So next what are the experts gonna say, "You shouldn't try to make a prediction about a team based on a previous year or years performance." Really? Then stop giving Texas and Baylor (usually OU as well) top 25 national preseason rankings every year and A&M nothing when pretty much every year A&M finishes stronger and against better opponents.