» Blair, A&M enjoying S.A.
There is no “I” in the word team, as coaches occasionally preach to their players, and apparently there is not one in San Antonio, either, for Texas A&M’S giddy Gary Blair.
“San Antone is my happy town,” said Blair, whose second-seeded Aggies face 15th-seeded Troy at 5 p.m. Monday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. “I (also) love coming here when there is no basketball going on — this is just a happy town. Because of the river, because of the Mexican food and because of the culture.
“Nobody cares if you’re making five dollars an hour or if you’re a millionaire or a billionaire, (nobody) worries about who you are, they’re just here to enjoy the town of San Antone, and that’s what I like. I’m happy every time I come into this place.”
Blair and his 23-2 Aggies, who are staying in San Antonio for the tournament, must make what they hope is a brief and happy sojourn 100 miles northeast on Monday night, however, considering their tournament opener is in Austin’s Erwin Center, home of the Texas Longhorns.
The first round of the NCAA Tournament is being held in San Antonio, San Marcos and Austin because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the remainder of the annual get-together held at three venues in San Antonio: the Alamodome, Bill Greehey Arena and the UTSA Convocation Center.
“We’re here to do one thing, and that’s to keep advancing,” said Blair, who added that he hoped the traffic on Interstate-35 would not be bad headed to Austin.
Ten years ago the Aggies won the school’s lone national title in basketball in Indianapolis, Ind., site of this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament. Blair, 75, loves the idea that he could add a second championship under his watch at A&M in his “happy town” — but he’s also
wary of Troy (22-5), the Sun Belt champions who are third nationally in scoring with 86 points per game.
“Our first ‘championship’ is going to be against Troy,” Blair said of treating each contest like it’s a title game. “They play the game with no fear, and that’s how you advance in the NCAAS. Cinderella (stories) happen all the time in the NCAA Tournament.”
Troy senior forward Alexus Dye concurred with Blair’s sentiment that the
Trojans would not be intimidated by the Aggies, who spent a chunk of the latter part of the season ranked second nationally to powerhouse Connecticut.
“We don’t let any of that bother us,” Dye said of being decided underdogs in the opposition’s home state.
The Aggies expected to earn one of the nation’s top four seeds for the first time in program history, but a 7468 loss to Georgia in the semifinals of the SEC tournament
in Greenville, S.C., put a wrinkle in their grand plan according to the NCAA Tournament selection committee — and also provided plenty of incentive for the Aggies when the spotlights shines brightest.
“We know we can make a run, and we know we deserve to be on the biggest stage,” A&M senior guard
Aaliyah Wilson said. “We took that (Georgia) loss and were able to learn from that, and have used that as fuel for a fire going into this tournament — to keep dancing.
“Our biggest focus is making sure we don’t go home early.”