I'm Worried.

Well, I watched the Aggies play their second lackluster (to put it politely) game in a row yesterday. And, as the title of this post informed you, I'm worried.

We are now off to a 1-2 conference start. However, this is not an insurmountable problem--this is basketball, after all, and we've overcome worse.

In the 2005-06 season, for example, we started at 1-3, had to battle to 6-6, but then finished 10-6. That was enough to get us into the tournament, which is really my hope for the team this year. After all, under a first-year coach, it seems unfair to demand improvement upon last season (which was, as you will recall, the greatest season in Aggie basketball history).

But this is what worries me: when we were 1-3 in '06, those three losses were by 2 points, 1 point, and 4 points. We didn't win any of those games, but it was plain to see that we could have. But this year? Losing by 15 points to Tech and 21 (twenty-one!) points to K-State? I ought to be worried.

Now, I've only gotten to see one game so far (my friend Lindsay had a great idea: "You and Neal need to get cable. It can be your wedding present to each other!" Hear, hear); then of course, I don't really know that much about the nuts and bolts of basketball (the only way I'd be able to tell a zone defense from a man defense is if ESPN developed a graphic for the top of the screen for it). Nevertheless, I believe I have identified the major problems that the Ags just need to fix to be successful.

One: my Aggies are getting out-hustled. No no no no no. I understand when you have an off-night and get out-shot. I can sympathize if, on defense, you get out-manuevered. I can't come up with any solution if God just did not make you as tall as guys on the other team. But there is no reason to let yourself get out-hustled. Dive for that loose ball! Do it now!

I know this team has more natural talent than it has in the past, so hustle is no longer the only thing going for it. But imagine if the talent was coupled with hustle! Oh, what a wonderful thing that would be.

Two: I hate to say it, but there's no Acie. It sounds mean, because nobody but Acie needs to be exactly like Acie. Still, there are some roles Acie took (besides the whole clutch shot gift he had, which--how could you replicate that?) that need to be filled. Sometimes yesterday, it just didn't look like there was a whole team on the court. There were five guys, sure, but they weren't gelling right or complementing each other. (It was like those episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus from Series 4, where there's no John Cleese, and the whole thing just seems off.) Acie not only knew what he needed to be doing, but he made sure everybody else was doing what they needed to be doing.

More than that, Acie would take the responsibility for winning. When it was necessary, he would ut the team on his back and do what needed done. (This is why Acie was a much bigger asset to the Aggies than Antoine Wright was. [And, as a note from The History Has Vindicated Me Department: I always knew Acie was better than Antoine.])

Somebody on this team has got to get that "This is my team!" mentality. It could be Joe, or D Kirk, or Josh, DeAndre . . . anybody. But somebody has to be willing to be the leader, somebody has to feel personally accountable for how the team performs. (Obviously, it would be easier for everybody to play well at all times, but that's never going to happen.)

In any event . . . just please, please, beat Baylor next Saturday. PLEASE.