SEC Tournament will test Aggies' intense identity and style of play
Extreme exertion exhibited by Texas A&M has the Aggies excited about possibly extending their basketball season.
But could excessive exertion become exhaustive and expedite an early exit?
That’s a question to be examined as the Aggies make the excursion to Nashville for the Southeastern Conference postseason tournament.
Seventh-seed Texas A&M (16-14) faces 10-seed Missouri (15-16) at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.
The Aggies closed the regular season by winning five of their last seven games. The key to that success is giving maximum effort on every possession.
Great effort and intensity have become the basis of the Aggies’ identity. But giving maximum effort on three or four days rest is one thing. Doing so on 24 hours rest could prove to be much more difficult.
Whether the Aggies can maintain that identity on a daily basis likely will determine their level of success in Nashville.
They don’t appear worried about it, though.
“Recovery time, believe it or not, is not really a problem,” junior guard Quenton Jackson said. “We’ve been working hard since before the season even started, so it’s not like us playing hard and working hard is something new.
“Our bodies have adapted to that. The recovery time is not really needed. We just know what we need to do and what’s expected of us.”
When given adequate time to recover, the Aggies have been exceptional, especially lately. They are 7-2 on three days rest.
Their only game with a 24-hour break was a 65-42 loss to Temple in the Orlando Invitational on November 29. That came one day after falling to Harvard 62-51.
Two days after losing to Temple, the Aggies were beaten by Fairfield, 67-62.
“We’ve only had one rep of trying that. Obviously, in Orlando, and I don’t think we were playing hard then,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “We had no success with it.
“This is only the second tournament we’ve played in. As a staff, we’ve tried to figure out what is the best way to handle the preparation leading up to the game.”
Williams indicated he and his staff have discussed their preparation from the Orlando trip to eliminate any problems or issues that might have contributed to that disappointing effort.
The bottom line, though, is the team was struggling overall then. It’s not now.
“I don’t know, in hindsight, if much of anything we did in Orlando is translatable to now because so much has changed. We’ve evolved so much,” Williams said. “I don’t know that there’s anything to learn from Orlando other than we don’t need to do any of that.”
Some say postseason basketball is different, anyway. Teams generally are more focused and intense. Advantageous seeding is at stakes for teams that have already clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Opportunity is there for teams on the bubble.
Those teams that aren’t expected to get into the NCAA can enhance their hopes to get into the NIT.
Therefore, there is more emphasis put on every possession. That’s the way the Aggies want it.
“I hope that’s true relative to us,” Williams said. “Every possession has been a tournament then because we’re so possession-driven.”
If the Aggies can stay driven over the course of several days, they might be able to exceed expectations and earn their way into a postseason tournament.
That would be exhilarating.