By Kevin Duffy
7/15/07
Texas A+M basketball took a huge step forward last season, as the Aggies finished 26-7 and reached the Sweet 16 before being bounced out by Memphis. Repeating their success from last season will be a tall task, however. Gone are All-American PG Acie Law (the 11th pick in the NBA Draft) and program-changing coach Billy Gillespie. In are a slew of new freshmen, including High School All-American center DeAndre Jordan, and former Wichita State Head Coach Mark Turgeon.
While the Aggies looked to Law in the clutch last year, this season the team will rely heavily on junior G/F Josh Carter to shoulder the load offensively. Carter averaged 11.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2 assists as a sophomore, but look for him to step up his play even more this fall. Carter has been preparing for his expanded role with vigorous training everyday this summer. Here is a sample of the sweet-shooting Aggie’s daily routine:
7:18- Wake Up Call
My alarm clock goes off at 7:18. Usually I hit snooze and get about 7 more minutes of sleep and get up at 7:25. For breakfast I head to either Sonic for a breakfast toaster combo or McDonalds for a sausage McGriddle meal. I eat it on the way to weights which start at 8:00.
8:00- Weight Room
I begin my weight workout and conditioning work with my trainer. I work out by myself in the weight room 4 days a week. I came to college 175 now I’m about 205. So I’ve just been trying to put on healthy weight focusing on lower body strength and flexibility work. I do a lot of hang cleans, squat work, explosive jump training, and also some upper body work. I finish up my workouts around 9:45.
10:00- Study Hall
I only had one class this summer which was English 104. We had to write a ton of papers in that class so I would be at study hall from 10 to about 12:30 everyday working with Pat Dicuffe, my writing specialist.
12:45- Lunch
I usually go to Subway for lunch. I get a foot long subway melt or chicken bacon ranch sandwich, a bag of jalapeño chips and powerade.
2:00- Class
After I’m done eating, I have my English lecture until from 2:00 to 3:45.
3:45- Shootaround
I would arrive at Reed Arena and do some dribbling and shooting drills by myself(most of my teammates were usually at weights at this time).I also would get on The Gun and put up a couple hundred shots before open gym started. I work on pulling up off the dribble going both left and right. I’ve been labeled as a catch and shoot player, but I can do more than that. I’ve been spending time expanding my mid-range game. I also have been doing chair drills for ball handling, working on staying low and improving my quickness with the ball.
5:00- Open Gym
We do individual work a couple of days a week as a team. Dominique Kirk, one of our senior captains, leads the guard side and Joseph Jones, our other senior captain, leads the post side.
Open gym starts after that and everybody competes and plays hard everyday. I try to lead and enforce that everybody plays hard on offense and defense so we are all getting better as a team. All of our guards are playing well and are almost unstoppable on any given day. Our big men have also been doing a great job this summer.
Side note: Incoming freshmen DeAndre Jordan has really been impressive. He has been improving everyday and is an absolute beast down low. I am excited to see how he does next year.
6:30- Personal Shootaround
After open gym ends at 6:30, I’ll get a manager to rebound for me and put up some more shots until I get tired or start cramping up.
7:30- Dinner
I arrive home at my new house and my roommate Trey Kubacek (old high school friend) usually has grilled some chicken, pork chops, fish or whatever we have in there to eat. I’ll walk in the door and he usually has my plate ready to eat with some corn and green beans. Trey’s my boy and he pretty much takes care of dinner every night. I take care of the dishes though so it all evens out.
8:30- Time to Relax
After dinner I usually just chill and hang out with my teammates or just random friends. I watch film occasionally over the summer and look at different games and practices that I feel I can learn things from. I usually hit the bed around 11:30 or 12:00 on a good night; wake up the next morning at 7:18 and do it all over again.
Early Look at Next Season:
With Carter, Joseph Jones, and DeAndre Jordan all anchoring the SF-C postions, A+M appears to be set in the frontcourt. Question marks do linger about the backcourt situation, however. Dominique Kirk returns as the starting shooting guard, but because Acie Law dominated the ball so much last season, the Aggies do not have a lot of experience at the PG position. Donald Sloan averaged 5.2 points and 1.8 assists in 17 minutes per game as a freshman and is expected to take over the starting position this year. Junior guard Bryson Graham, who suffered a torn ACL early last season, will also figure into the mix if he is healthy. The team expects Graham back in September. BJ Holmes, a 5’10’’ 160 lb freshman PG, may get some minutes if Sloan and Graham falter. Nathan Walkup, a 6’6’’ freshman small forward with a deadly three point shot will get some time off the bench. A+M will have to learn Turgeon’s system and recover from the loss of their All-American leader, but this team still is loaded and should contend in the Big 12 once again.
