Texas A&M at College Station is getting ready to tip it off against Kansas in Lawrence. TAMUCS has made a name for itself on this site and elsewhere with a schedule that has been hideously pathetic. Because of this, I have been derisively adding the campus location any time I referenced the Aggies. But what you should also know about these guys is that they are not the pushover they were last year. Six conference wins is not a stretch for them this year, which is six more than they had last year. Especially when you consider Billy Gillispie’s miracle revival of UTEP last season.

So why do I bring this up on an evening when the Aggies figure to get smoked? Because if they are going places – namely the NIT – they won’t get smoked. I’m not one for "emotional factors" being all that significant in a game, but tonight is an exception. There’s no way KU or its fans can have the same energy for this game that they had for Georgia Tech. They passed a huge test over the weekend, beating the Yellow Jackets without Mr. Double-Double, Wayne Simien.

The next uncertainty regarding the Jayhawks is how they will play on the road. They get to answer that on Sunday at Kentucky. It’s only human nature to relax for the A&M game sandwiched in the middle. On the flip side, TAMUCS has had this game circled for a couple of weeks. It’s a chance to show if they have any legitimacy at all. Throw in that Antoine Wright has as much ability to score in the paint as anyone wearing a KU uniform tonight, and this appears to be a great opportunity for the Aggies.

Strictly from a numbers perspective, you have to love the Aggies chances. Only once in their last 28 games has the result of one their games been different from the previous game’s result. They lost the first 17 in a row in that sequence and have won the last 11 in a row. Based on that, TAMUCS has like a 97% chance of winning tonight because their most recent game was a win. (OK, that’s a really dumb use of statistics, but I couldn’t resist.)

So here’s my deal for you, Texas A&M at College Station. I know you can’t win against the Jayhawks. KU can sleepwalk through 40 minutes, even without Simien, and manage an ugly victory. But if you can lose by less than the Pomeroy predicted margin of 13, I will never distinguish your campus location again in this here space.

I’m on your side on this one, Aggies. Really, I am.