Whatcha got?

Was last season's team on it?

(In my lifetime)

1. 2007
2. 2006
3. 2016
4. 2024
5. 2008
6. 2018
7. 2005
8. 2022
9. 2023
10. 1987

What makes the 2005 team better than last years team? Other than we hadn't been there in ages and it was more exciting because it was new?

I know it is your opinion a not bashing at all, but curious on why is 2023 not higher than this year? I know tournament success was better but we were great during conference in 23.

Nothing wrong with good discussion. I thought '23 was great and that year started bringing the crowds back during conference.

Mine since I became an Aggie in 2010-11 is:

1. 2023
2. 2016
3. 2022 (end of year especially)
4. 2024
5. 2018

I thought '23 was great and that year started bringing the crowds back

I would have 2010 as my third or fourth of the modern (BCG and after) era. That was a good team.

The 2023 team had the following losses:

Murray State
Colorado (by 28)
Boise State (by 15)
Wofford

The 2023 team was very similar to the 2018 team, IMO.

You gotta post your own ranking before you start questioning anyone else's, so...

I'm ranking this by my experience as a fan, doesn't mean team A was better than team B, the prompt was "top seasons" not "best teams".

1 - 2007
2 - 2006
3 - 2016
4 - 2023
--- it was easy up until this point---
5 - 2024
6 - 2010
7 - 2018
8 - 2005
--- even harder from here ---
9 - 2008
10 - 2009

It's my thread I can do what I want.

That makes sense, I just loved how that '23 team came together and the big wins were great at years end. 2018 team did destroy UNC and UK which was also incredible

1. 2006-2007
2. 2016
3. 1979-1980 or whatever
4. 2022-2023
5. 2009-2010
6. 2017-2018
7. 2008-2009
8. 2023-2024
9. 2005-2006
10. 2010-2011

2005-2006 was elite experience wise.

bobinator said:

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You gotta post your own ranking before you start questioning anyone else's, so...

I'm ranking this by my experience as a fan, doesn't mean team A was better than team B, the prompt was "top seasons" not "best teams".

1 - 2007
2 - 2006
3 - 2016
4 - 2023
--- it was easy up until this point---
5 - 2024
6 - 2010
7 - 2018
8 - 2005
--- even harder from here ---
9 - 2008
10 - 2009

---

I second this list

The 1979-1980 was a very solid, defense-first team that could score on the inside and beat North Carolina and took eventual national champ Louisville to OT before losing.

Equivalent of an S16 team today. Best Creighton first round. The game felt like our S16 game against Memphis under BCG and the Round of 32 game against UCLA under Turgeon. It's hard other than the amazing performance against Louisville (under Denny Crum) to compare the various S16 teams we have because of things like shot clock, 3pt line, "era", but that team remains my favorite all time. Of course it WAS my freshman year so I might have some confirmation bias…

I can rank every team in the last 20 years...

#1 2006-07 - The only truly elite season in my lifetime and the culmination of the Billy Gillispie era at A&M. The only nitpick would be a relatively weak or uninteresting schedule. Nonetheless, there were several strong wins and great performances, including over elite programs like Kansas and Louisville. We were ranked wire to wire, most of the time in the top 10, and we performed like a top 10 team as well according to the efficiency rankings.

#2 2015-16 - Strong roster overhaul being built by the Kennedy/Stansbury/Keller coaching staff combination pays big dividends. Only minor blemishes and several big wins, including Kentucky as well as nonconference supremacy over rivals Texas and Baylor. Season capped with a rare regular season conference championship. Memorable comeback in NCAA Tournament salvaged what would have been a disappointing postseason.

#3 2009-10 - Mark Turgeon's third season was his best at A&M. Strong and talented roster, marred a bit by the loss of Roland early in the season after a very strong non-conference performance. A&M kept the performance up and turned in a very good season with good victories, including wins over Texas and Baylor at Reed. Played to seed in the NCAA Tournament with overtime loss to Top-10 Purdue, but many felt we should have beat Purdue regardless because of injury to Robbie Hummel.

#4 2007-08 - Solid season for first year coach Mark Turgeon. Strong opening in the beginning of season fizzled out a bit toward the end of the Big 12 slate. Several memorable wins and performances including beating LSU and Texas at Reed, as well as winning at Baylor. Also, a memorable 40+ point beatdown of Tech in Reed and 5OT thriller loss to Baylor at Reed. Unlucky seed and arguably highway robbery by the referees led to 2nd round NCAA loss to UCLA.

#5 2005-06 - Good team put together and forged by Billy Gillispie finishes strong. A weak non-conference slate, combined with a big of a slow start in Big 12 play eventually gave way to the emergence of a bit of basketball power at the end of Big 12 play. Win over Texas at Reed is arguably the biggest and most satisfying win in my lifetime, and another memorable win vs a major program in Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament on top of that.

#6 2017-18 - Strong roster led to a good but ultimately disappointing and frustrating season. Discipline problems and frustrating losses led this team to underperform its potential. Nevertheless there were some good win in there, and none bigger or more memorable than the NCAA Tournament beatdown of North Carolina.

#7 2022-23 - Team puts everything together in a big way under 4th year coach Buzz Williams. Pushed hard for, but ultimately failed to obtain second regular season SEC Championship. Team scuffled again in nonconference play, but by the end of the year had won many big games. Disappointing seed and loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament took away much of the shine that could have been on this season.

#8 2023-24 - Solid season with insane Jeckyl and Hyde performances. Another Buzz Williams year with a solid handful of big victories, this time including a good performance in the NCAA Tournament. Losses to bad teams in SEC play did threaten to derail everything, and made it all more stressful than it needed to be.

#9 2008-09 - Turgeon's second season was a bit of a step back from his first, but still a solid season. Wins over Texas and Baylor at Reed as well as beating LSU in Houston. Season ended in a blowout loss in the NCAA Tournament to UConn where we looked completely outclassed in every way.

#10 2021-22 - A really good season in Buzz Williams third year which was marred by a poor schedule, a slow start to SEC play, and a failure to convince the NCAA Tournament Committee. This is probably a better team than some of the other just above it on this list. Won several big, convincing SEC games, and followed it up with a decent games in the NIT against some other power conference opponents.

#11 2010-11 - Mark Turgeon's last team was good, for A&M, but ultimately for a lot of fans failed to live up to the previous 6 years of incredible program building by he and his predecessor. Not a lot of big wins on the schedule. 5 combined losses to Baylor and Texas. Wins over Kansas State and Temple arguably being the jewel wins. A solid record, but really not a great performing team and all capped up with a disappointing loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This is a team where the real promise was in bigger things to come with returning veterans, a superstar player, and another huge scorer redshirting waiting in the wings, but unfortunately, the promise would go unfulfilled.

#12 2004-05 - The rebirth of Texas A&M basketball. This season punches a bit harder than its weight due to the complete resurrection of the program achieved by first year coach Billy Gillispie. However, an extremely poor schedule, an extremely slow paced defensive team, and only an NIT appearance drag this one down from how it felt at the time.

#13 2014-15 - A fourth season into what became a complete rebuild under Billy Kennedy. This year produced, finally, a good team with a reshuffling of the coaching staff and an infusion of talent. A mediocre year with no real memorable wins, just good enough to make the NIT, and hope that eventually the talent being accumulated would show in the results, and it would the next season.

#14 2016-17 - A scuffling season with not a lot of memorable moments. The team lost a huge amount of talent and this was by and large a rebuilding season with a highly regarded sophomore class given the keys. We weren't good, but we weren't like godawful or anything either.

#15 2018-19 - Bad year. The death knell for Billy Kennedy's head coaching career. This felt like a return to the bad old days of 2011-14 at the beginning of Kennedy's tenure, and he was justifiably let go at the end of this one, which included a loss to Texas Southern at Reed.

#16 2012-13 - The only good thing I can say about this season is that at least the weak schedule allowed us to have a winning record, and also changing to the SEC meant that we didn't have to see the team get pasted by all of our rivals.

#17 2013-14 - Eric Hymen started the year talking tough to 3rd year coach Billy Kennedy, stating that a postseason appearance was expected. Ultimately, Kennedy managed to finish one game over .500, allowing the Athletic Department to buy a spot in the CBI, proving that Texas A&M basketball was back. Probably the biggest joke of a season in program history. Virtually no big wins, out of conference losses to SMU and North Texas. In hindsight, due to coaching staff changes, good days were around the corner, but at the time it certainly didnt feel like it.

#18 2019-20 - A bad start to Buzz Williams era. Almost nothing went right in terms of jump starting the program. Unfortunately a spell of late season better performances and a big win against Auburn only led to the chaos of the 2020 pandemic.

#19 2011-12 - What could have been the culmination of the Turgeon era at A&M with a team led by a pair of stars in Khris Middleton and Elston Turner along with veteran role players and high regarded freshman, fizzled before it began when Turgeon left for Maryland after Gary Williams' late retirement. The subsequent hire of Billy Kennedy, and the ultimately the shakeup did not mesh well at all with the roster, leading to not only a bad year. But arguably the most disappointing season in A&M basketball history.

#20 2020-21 - Just, absolutely the worst.*

*worst since 2003-04

MMantle said:

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If the refs get that block / charge call on Britton correct, late in the game, we beat Louisville.

RR

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Sounds familiar, huh???

anyone that doesn't have 05-06 in the top 3 didn't experience it, most exciting season of this century with multiple clutch game winners in the final seconds including The Shot of which every one was needed to secure our first tourney bid in 20 years, plus the huge upset over Syracuse a couple seasons post championship in front a national prime time audience, all while we came off 0-16 just 2 years prior

*I took this as ranking the seasons and not the teams/roster, 05-07 will be immortalized in my memory more than any other seasons until we make a Final 4

Elite post

Far more enjoyable than last season but how is it objectively better than last season?

The 1986-1987 team was a lot of fun especially sweeping the SWC tournament for the auto-bid despite a 6-10 conference record. Only Rice was worse and didn't make the tourney: (I missed the TCU game but was there for the rest of the weekend.)

But top ten all time? We were a 12 seed and got bumped in round of 64 by #17 Duke. Perhaps not.

How many other programs have made 10 NCAA Tournaments in the last 20 years actually?

I know theres a lot of theoretically superior programs that have less. Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State all immediately come to mind.

We need to have that one or two "kick the door in" seasons with the deep NCAA run

Like with football and baseball we have some decent overall success but our ceiling is lower than the guys we compare ourselves to.

At least in basketball it's justifiably lower. Like I wouldn't say we're underperforming relative to what we invest in the program overall over the last two decades.

bobinator said:

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At least in basketball it's justifiably lower. Like I wouldn't say we're underperforming relative to what we invest in the program overall over the last two decades.

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We were until BCG though arguably the recruiting Shelby accomplished with the UIL disallowing summer basketball camps was pretty good. Since BCG it has been more interesting.

Is this the Golden Age of Aggie Men's Basketball?!?

Your software needs updating. I said "in the last two decades"

bobinator said:

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Your software needs updating. I said "in the last two decades"

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So BCG and following? Sure. But it was a wasteland prior so the contrast is stark.

Any list of all time best A & M hoops teams without 79-80 isn't a serious list imo.

1979-1980