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As the basketball season heads toward March Madness we all have witnessed the continuation of an important trend so far this academic year – the immediate impact of fish on our athletic teams.

Where would our men's hoops be without Joseph Jones and Dominique Kirk breaking into the starting lineup? Or our women without the first-year players who have played more than half the available minutes and scored about 60 percent of our points?

This is both good news and not-so-good news. The good news is that our coaching staffs have attracted some remarkable freshman classes, and we've already seen them begin to develop. The only trouble with it is that you hate to have to put their feet to the fire at the Big 12 Conference level so quickly.

Coaches would rather bring those young talents along more methodically in most cases. While freshmen love the opportunity to play early, sometimes they encounter some eye-opening experiences from having to adapt so fast not only to the pace of their sport at this level, but also all the other trappings of student life. Being away from family and home-cooked meals. Handling a class load. Dealing with playing on the road. Managing their lives off the court.

As good as they are, you still often see the freshmen mistakes. What I love about it is they make those mistakes at 100 miles an hour. We certainly are not complaining, however, and quite the contrary – a tip of the Aggie cap to this sterling group of new Aggies.

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