Kentucky vs. Texas A&M could decide SEC basketball’s Coach of the Year
When No. 8-ranked Kentucky hits the hardwood Tuesday night to tangle with the suddenly surging Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena, something besides an SEC victory will be hanging in the balance. The outcome could decide conference honors for Coach of the Year.
With four regular-season games remaining before the conference tournament in Nashville, the postseason award for the league’s best coach appears to be a two-man race between Kentucky’s John Calipari and Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams.
Surely, Calipari has the upper hand. His Wildcats lead the conference by two full games, despite the fact Calipari has had to navigate his way through a series of unfortunate events, namely injuries to Nick Richards (ankle), EJ Montgomery (ankle), Johnny Juzang (illness), Nate Sestina (fractured wrist) and Ashton Hagans (thigh contusion) as well as the departure of heralded freshman Kahlil Whitney.
But there is plenty of buzz around Buzz, the first-year coach in College Station who returned to his home state of Texas after successful stopovers at Marquette and Virginia Tech. The preseason pick to finish 13th in the 14-team conference, the Aggies are two games above .500 at 8-6, as well as 14-12 overall. They’re also on a three-game win streak.
After their 87-75 victory over Mississippi State last Saturday, losing coach Ben Howland tipped his hat to Williams by saying, “I give great respect for Buzz and what a great job he does and how his team has developed from the beginning of the year to where they are now.”
Surprisingly enough, exactly half of the Aggies’ eight SEC wins have come on the road. A&M has won at Vanderbilt (69-50), at Missouri (66-64), at Tennessee (63-58) and at Alabama (74-68). In fact, Williams’ club is 4-3 at Reed Arena and 4-3 away from its home base.
Don’t be fooled, however. The Aggies are getting tougher to deal with at home, where they have fashioned a two-game win streak with wins over Georgia (74-69) and Mississippi State.
“The first six or seven weeks what we thought was “trying hard” was not trying hard,” Williams said recently. “Now I think they understand that, and at least we’ve got a chance.”
It also makes them dangerous, not that we should be surprised. The frenetic Williams has made a name for himself with his intensity and attention to detail. A former assistant under Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M, Williams went 139-69 in six seasons after following Tom Crean at Marquette. The Golden Eagles reached the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 twice and Elite Eight once. He was 100-69 at Virginia Tech, taking the Hokies to the Sweet 16 last season.
One of those losses came on Dec. 16, 2017, when Virginia Tech lost 93-86 to Calipari and the Cats at Rupp. Afterward, Williams went out of his way to slather praise on the Kentucky coach, calling him perfect for the UK job.
“I love Coach,” Williams said. “Early-entry Hall of Famer. That’s only happened six times in the history of the game. The guy’s still coaching and he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame. I have the utmost respect for him.
“It’s the best job in all of basketball at any level, and I don’t think there will ever be another head coach do a better job at the best job than Cal.”
Now Buzz, who grew up 50 miles north of Dallas, may be perfect for his current job. The A&M administration clearly thought so, opening up its wallet to lure him with a six-year, $23 million contract.
So far, so good. Against Mississippi State, the Aggies shot a season-high 59.6 percent from the floor, which included a 9-of-17 showing from behind the three-point line, to run their win streak to three.
“We’re playing against a team that’s playing well,” said Calipari on Saturday. “They’re going to be feeling good. Buzz is doing a great job with his team.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
