November 04, 2004
Billy Gillispie will make his unofficial debut as Texas A&M's men's basketball coach on Friday when the Aggies play host to Schreiner University in their first exhibition game at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
With an enrollment of 842, Schreiner is an NCAA Division III school located in Kerrville. The Mountaineers finished 8-17 last season and had a 1-13 mark in American Southwest Conference play. They are led by senior forward Jarel Hall (6-4), who earned second-team all-conference honors after averaging 15.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
Gillispie took over as A&M's 19th head basketball coach in March after leading Texas-El Paso to one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NCAA history. The Miners won 24 games after winning just six the previous season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost a close first-round game to Maryland.
"I couldn't be more pleased with the attitude and direction of our team," Gillispie said. "We're playing extremely hard and are playing very well together for this early in the year. We're still making too many mental errors, but we lack experience and it's going to take time for us to get where we want to go."
Gillispie's first A&M team will be extremely young with only one senior to offset the inexperience of four true freshmen and three other first-year players. Only junior Antoine Wright has been in an A&M jersey for more than one year. In addition, the Aggies are going to be relatively small, with no player taller than 6-foot-9. Consequently, Gillispie intends to play an up-tempo style to take full advantage of the Aggies' biggest asset -- quickness.
"We are going to be short," Gillispie said. "And we'll have some challenges as far as ball-handling, rebounding and where the inside scoring is going to come from. I do think we'll have an enthusiastic, hard-working group, so I can live with that. We'll probably try to play relatively fast because of our lack of size, but the biggest concern for me is lack of experience."
A&M lost three starters and eight lettermen from last year's team, including six of its top eight scorers and its top two rebounders. But Gillispie firmly believes that the team's obvious weaknesses could develop into strengths.
"Sometimes a lack of experience can be a strength because of their exuberance for playing," he said. "Everybody knows they will have a chance to get a great amount of playing time because there aren't many minutes spoken for. That will be a good motivator for everyone going into practice and games."
The Aggies return two starters in Wright and sophomore Acie Law (6-3). Wright started in 26 of 28 games last year and earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors. He led the team in scoring with a 13.5 average and ranked third in rebounding at 4.1. Law emerged as one of the rising young talents in the conference last year, playing in 27 games and starting in 12. He started in 10 of the last 11 games, averaging 7.5 points and a team-high 3.9 assists.
The team's lone senior is 6-0 Bobby Leach, who played in 27 games and started in 15 as a junior college transfer. Leach averaged 3.5 points and ranked second on the team in assists with 2.8 per game. The others returning players are 6-8 junior Luis Clemente and sophomores Marlon Pompey (6-8) and Justin Loewe (6-4).
Junior Edjuan Green (6-7) and sophomore Marcus McIntosh (6-0) will be counted on to offer immediate contributions after stellar junior college careers. As a sophomore at Temple College, Green averaged 19.7 points and ranked second nationally with 14.7 rebounds per game. McIntosh earned honorable mention All-America honors last year at Northeastern Junior College in his native Colorado, one of only six freshmen in the country to receive the honor. He averaged 12.6 points for a team that was ranked as high as No. 12 nationally.
Gillispie welcomes an accomplished freshman class and all four are products of Texas high schools. Dominque Kirk (6-3) and Kenneth White (6-1) were two of the top Class 5A players in Dallas, while Joseph Jones (6-9) and Slade Weishuhn (6-9) were both highly-recruited out of small towns.
Kirk was the only Class 5A player in Dallas to average at least 16 points (16.2), 9 rebounds (9.2) and six assists (6.9). He posted five triple-doubles and was named his district's co-offensive player of the year with White. He surprised some observers with a 20-point performance at the state high school all-star game. White ranked second in scoring among Class 5A players in Dallas a senior with 23.8 points per game after leading the area as a junior with a gaudy 28.6 average.
Jones was one of the country's most hotly-recruited prep big men and was rated among the top 100 prospects in the country by some publications. He led Normangee High School to the Class A state championship, averaging 22.4 points and 15.1 rebounds per game. Weishuhn had an outstanding career at Class 2A Wall High School near San Angelo and was picked for the state high school all-star game. He averaged 20.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.2 blocked shots as a senior and also dropped in 26 three-pointers.
A player who could surprise is junior Chris Walker (6-5), a walk-on who played the 2001-02 season at the University of Texas-Dallas, an NCAA Division III school where he was named conference freshman of the year. As a senior at Grapevine High School, he earned his district's offensive player of the year honors.Two players will sit out this season under NCAA rules after transferring from other Division I schools - Josh Johnston (UTEP) and Logan Lee (Hawaii).
Gillispie is intent on instilling a "team first" attitude and it appears the current players have bought into that ideal.
"Everybody is a part of the team," Gillispie said. "The head coach isn't the only guy responsible for winning. He's the guy who either gets the praise or gets blamed for losses -- and I gladly accept that responsibility -- but that's only a small part of it. Everybody has their role and if they perform that role within the framework of a team, we'll have a chance to win. We try to take baby steps; we don't always try to hit a homerun. We try to do what our responsibilities require and hopefully that adds up to a victory."
The Aggies play a school-record 18 home games this season, not even including a pair of preseason exhibitions. The previous record was 15 home games at G. Rollie White Coliseum in 1991-92. The Aggies play their first 10 non-conference games at home, starting with North Carolina A&T on Nov. 19. The home stand concludes with a game against Houston on Nov. 29. A&M plays its lone non-conference road game on Jan. 2 against Penn State in University Park, Pa.
The Aggies will play Big 12 South Division opponents Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Baylor twice each on a home-and-home basis. A&M faces North Division teams Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State at home and Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado on the road. The Big 12 Tournament will be March 10-13 in Kansas City. The first six Big 12 Tournament were played at Kemper before moving to the American Airlines Center in Dallas the last two years.
Gillispie said his goals for his first team at A&M are simple, and he hopes the fans buy into the concept.
"We just want to improve, play hard every game, practice hard every day, and learn to really like and care for each other," he said. "I don't really have any tangible goals. I want us to get better every day and I want our fans to get better every day. One of the biggest things we can achieve is for our guys to play hard and together. If that happens, we'll like the results at the end of the year as far as wins and losses."
Last year at UTEP, Gillispie not only engineered one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in college basketball history, but the Miners also led the nation in increased attendance from the previous year. He wants to accomplish the same thing at A&M.
"The fans are totally important," Gillispie said. "The fans have to be here physically and can't just wait around. If people start showing up to games and we average about 10,000 fans, which is not asking too much, the basketball program will be built. People have to get into Reed Arena and they have to come even if we get beat. If that happens, then I guarantee we'll be successful.
"We need some faith on the part of the students and fans." he added. "Everybody needs to jump on board and say 'let's do this and see if what this guy is saying is right.' If they do that, we can get it going and they won't be able to wait until the season starts. If people come and dedicate themselves to showing up every time, they will be amazed how fast positive results can be shown."
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