The Voice of the Aggies: Talking A&M hoops with Andrew Monaco

During Monday's edition of TexAgs Live, we caught up with the "Voice of the Aggies" as Andrew Monaco offered his thoughts on Texas A&M basketball's 4-3 start in SEC play. Monaco discussed the loss at Texas and how he hopes to see the Ags respond vs. Oklahoma.

Key notes from Andrew Monaco interview

• There are Maroon glasses, believe me, and I wear them. Of course, that one hurts on Saturday. It's not just an SEC game. It's the rival game, the 22-point lead. You answer and get up 14 with six, and part of the problem is we've seen this happen before. It happened against UCF. It happened against Oregon. It's something that's going to have to be fixed if they want to be a team that gets to San Antonio at the end of the year. That's where you step back and say, "It's a journey."
   
• At no point, is a season one straight line. As we find out, as Aggies, it's a roller coaster, right? The highest of highs is when you come back and beat Oklahoma and steal one at Ole Miss. The lowest of lows is what happens on Saturday. That's what it is, but how do you respond? We get so focused on responding after losses. How do you respond after wins? That's just as important. This team has won way more than they've lost. You've got to learn from wins and losses.
   
• Tonight, on Aggie Basketball Hour with Buzz Williams, I'm going to ask him, "How do you look at that game? Do you look at the first 20 minutes? Do you look at the last 20?" Because there was so much good that happened, and then it changed. Momentum, it's hard to get it, and when you lose it, it's hard to get it back in that atmosphere. 
   
• The thing that you always want down the stretch is poise. I've just watched 40 minutes at Oxford and saw nothing but poise on that Aggie sideline. It's falling away, and you're seeing that poise as well. That's what you have to have, but in the six-game tournament, where it really matters, you're going to be faced with that. I've always said every national championship has a game that they find a way to win by not playing their best. 
   
• Again, if you look at it as a snapshot, you're crushed. If you're looking at it as a filmstrip, you realize just like any movie, there's going to be smiles. There's going to be tears. Now, how do you go from this point out? It happened. Own up to it. What did we do wrong? But don't forget what you did right in that game as well.
   
• Last week after the Ole Miss game and being worried about free throw shooting, it all came back to bite you. In a game, who plays to their identity? I'm big on that. What's really fun about the SEC is there are so many different identities of all these schools. Of the 16 schools, they all have their own identity. There's also who hides their flaws the best. The flaws were magnified in that loss on Saturday. Because if you hit one free throw, it's a tied game.
   
• Sometimes, it's not the number of turnovers. A&M won with 20 turnovers at Oxford. They had 11 against Texas, but I think seven came in the second half. The empty possessions... Not getting an offensive rebound... Those things get magnified in losses, and that's why you have to go back and learn. A lot of people say, "Such a bad game, you got to go and burn the tape, right?” No, you can do that in the pros. You can't do that in college. The body of work is so much shorter. You've got to look at and see the flaws in that.
   
• Just because you won at Ole Miss, just because you won at Oklahoma, you still have to learn from that. Why did you get in that position? And then what did you do to get back? That's the thing. Dirty little secret. Every team has flaws. We've got to pick at your flaw and keep doing that.
   
• Part of my problem on Saturday was the Aggies got away at times from what they were doing well. Can you feed Pharrel Payne? It's an old NBA thing. You run the same play until they stop it or call time out. If you've got Pharrel, go to him. If you can't stop Wade Taylor IV, keep going to him.
   
• That's where the offensive rebounding comes in. Because teams look at the scouting, "Oh, they're a good offensive rebounding team." Until you have to rebound against the Aggies, you don't understand the relentlessness of the way they attack. It's got to be a predictable shot because when it's a predictable shot, someone's the rebounder, someone's going back. When you take the unpredictable shot, now that leads to a broken floor the other way.
   
• They got away from that every once and a while. Not because they're being selfish, they want to win, but at times, you're not getting everybody else involved. It was magnified because you made this mistake and paid for it on the other end. Because it's a rivalry game, the pain is even deeper. And because the first 20 minutes was some of the best basketball you played all season long. 
   
• So, after Wednesday, you're going, "How could you play that poorly?" It wasn't poor. Ole Miss was playing Ole Miss basketball, and they were difficult to defend. Even then, you kept that game in the 60s. In a lot of those games, it takes a little while to figure it out and then all of a sudden, this defense and its connectivity starts to stop teams, and that's why they're able to make comebacks.
   
• On Thursday morning, if you had lost, you're going, "Wow, that's a disappointing loss." I know Ole Miss is 16. You've had success against Ole Miss in the past, and you're feeling bad, and how are we going to beat Texas. That's the emotion of it all. Because you found a way to win on Wednesday, does that lead to how you play? That's a quick turnaround. That's the late game on Wednesday and then an early game on Saturday. Is some of that emotion leading into the first 20 minutes of basketball against Texas?
   
• It's still a 1-1 week. Everyone wants to go 2-0, I get it. You beat the ranked team. You lose to the unranked team. Where does that affect the net, Quad 1, and Quad 1A? That becomes the bigger picture, but you can't lose sight of the opening tip on Oklahoma. You've got to be prepared because it's another quick turnaround playing a Tuesday game against Oklahoma.
   
• Oklahoma is a mirror opponent. This is the SEC. They just won two conference games. They just beat Arkansas. They were winless when A&M went into Lloyd Noble Center and got that win. Now, they're riding a little confidence. They can't wait to get back on the floor. It's not as much as if you were seeing them for the first time. And it's in your gym. 
   
• What gets lost is how many players have shot at Norman or in the Moody Center. They adjusted beautifully Saturday to have not shot in that building. That's tricky. Some players love some buildings, and there are some that just give them fits.
   
• Now, the familiarity with Oklahoma. They are playing well and have a lot of talent. Here's a fantastic freshman in Jeremiah Fears. Here's Jalon Moore playing his best basketball. Brycen Goodine just went for 34 against you. You can't wait to get back on the floor. The beauty about this team is that let's do what we have to do, one day before, two days before, to be prepared for this as opposed to just stepping on the floor. They'll have all the answers.
   
• You know I'm going to stay for another segment. Even if you wanted me to leave, I was going to stay. You were going to have to kick me out.
   
• The perspective of tackling a broadcast vs. a national broadcast is completely different. You don't want to alienate the other audience, but you can't help it because it depends on what they're hearing. When you're doing a network game, you have the two sides. Where you're playing the game influences it. If you're Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw, you have that comeback, and you're going to play to that comeback. 
   
• Your preparation is for both teams. Can you get to the shootarounds for both coaches, and can you have that time with them? The difference is, for me, it's an A&M broadcast. I am my own producer. That producer for that game for ESPN, or if you're on CBS, is trying to do both sides. If you go back to the Purdue game, the SEC is no longer on CBS. Purdue is in the Big Ten, which is now CBS, so that may be more Big Ten-centric. I get it. If you're Rich Waltz, and you're Jay Wright, and you're Bill Raftery, you're going to talk to Matt Painter, and you're going to talk to Buzz Williams and get that. Now you're talking coach to coach, to both of them. You're going to say what the game dictates. 
   
• Part of the problem in network broadcast is producers will have, "We've got to get this in, this in, this in," no matter what the game is. The game should dictate how you do it. That's not always what happens. I don't mean to throw producers under the bus. If I put all that work into this package, we are going to get it in. Then it comes down to, "Oh, what did I just hear?" 
   
• Sometimes, it can be the cheap shots that get you in trouble. Where you think you're being clever, but it's not coming across as clever because not everybody has the same sense of humor. It's supposed to be 50/50. It's an SEC broadcast, so you want to be fair to both schools. But if you're losing, you're thinking, "Oh, you're not talking about us enough?" If you're winning, it's like, "Oh, why would he say anything about somebody else?" 
   
• Tom Hart has been doing it for a long time. Dave Neal's been doing it for a long time, especially in the conference. It also matters what kind of relationship you have with those coaches. Tom Hart has had one for longer. We've had a lot of new broadcasters come in, which I think is neat because they get to see A&M basketball through a new lens. 
   
• I see Tom Hart an awful lot. It's someone that I like, but sometimes we, as broadcasters, step in it. There's also a lot who would not come on and answer. There's something to that. That's a testament to the relationship that he's had with TexAgs. I've been in those shoes, so I understand. A lot of it comes down to trust.