Print story | Email story

Updated March 8, 2007 8:18 AM

Croome: No. 1 seed does mean something
Photos: A&M-Colorado slideshow | A&M-CU: Aggies win to open Championship
Notebook: Aggies on a roll against next opponent | Roundup: Iowa State, Oklahoma advance

By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Sports Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY - For the first 5 minutes, it was difficult to tell which team was which.

First, there was the uniform issue.

Texas A&M came out in their lucky grays - 18-0 in the off-white unis - and Colorado had on a light gold jersey (no word on whether they are lucky or not ... I'm guessing not). It almost looked as if all 10 players were on the same team.

So while the fans and, more importantly, the officials did their best to differentiate between the two teams, the Aggies and Buffaloes continued on.

Enlarge photo

Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Butch Ireland Texas A&M's Katy Pounds (left) and Morenike Atunrase had a chance to laugh during the Aggies' win Wednesday.

Just not in a normal fashion.

The slower-of-foot Buffaloes opened in a man-to-man defense, and A&M had four turnovers before Colorado, which turned it over 27 times in its 71-67 win over Texas Tech the night before, had committed one. During that span, the shorter Aggies outrebounded CU 10-1.

The score reflected the topsy-turvy play: 7-6 Aggies 5 minutes in.

But as everyone got used to the color scheme,the game settled into a more predictable sequence of events.

Eighth-seeded Colorado started turning it over and missing shots by feet, not inches. The quicker Aggies took over.

A&M coach Gary Blair said later he always feels the team that plays the day before has an advantage in tournaments.

Yeah, but coach, this is why you play for the No. 1 seed.

Once everything and everyone settles down, a No. 1 is so much better than a No. 8 in a 12-team league that it affords a top-seeded team the luxury of handling that initial momentum a lesser team carries over from its victory the day before.

And it worked out that way Wednesday. Colorado opened strong, while A&M held on for most of the first half. But by the second half, the Buffaloes were out of gas, and the Aggies were in overdrive.

"I decided in the second half they couldn't score enough to beat us unless we made a mistake on the press, so I went back to the half-court defense," Blair said.

Translation: If they had to work for a basket, the Buffs didn't have much of a chance - to score or win.

The Aggies earned the right to ease into the tournament. Sweeping Baylor and Oklahoma during the conference season should not go unrewarded, and the Aggies weren't on Wednesday afternoon.

A&M played sluggish. Against Colorado, though, the Aggies would have had to play much, much worse for the Buffaloes to have an opportunity at an upset.

Enlarge photo

Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Butch Ireland Texas A&M's La Toya Micheaux and Colorado's Kara Richards jump in the tip off of the teams' quarterfinal game at the Big 12 Championship on Wednesday. The Aggies, who had a first-round bye after winning the Big 12 regular season, beat the Buffaloes 62-45 and will face Iowa State at 6 p.m.

CU finished with 26 turnovers, and the Aggies rarely pressed. A&M did it all out of its half-court defense. CU shot 26 percent for the game, and of its 34 misses, close to a dozen of those shots missed everything but the state of Oklahoma.

Twice, both stats ran together as the Buffs were charged with turnovers because their last-ditch shooting effort fell aimlessly short of the rim as the shot clock expired.

It got so bad for CU that its 5-1 run in the final 35 seconds of the half accounted for one-third of the Buffs' points for the first 20 minutes.

The only problem for the Aggies? A&M wasn't running it's offense much better.

Blair sat A'Quonesia Franklin for a short spell, because the point guard was playing so poorly, and A&M's 0-for-8 shooting from 3-point range kept the Aggies from breaking away from the Buffs, who converted on just 5 of 27 shots in the first half.

The Aggies got their tournament legs under them in the second half. Franklin started running the team the way she has for the majority of the season, and Takia Starks took advantage of her quickness and drove the basket for a team-high 16 points.

The 62-45 victory led to more perks for the No. 1 seed: More rest for Thursday's semifinal game against Iowa State, which had to win in overtime to beat Nebraska in the game after A&M's.

The victory also should assure the Aggies of having at least a No. 3 seeding at the NCAA Tournament.

And those are both worth more than a police escort to Franklin's cousin's house for dinner, or a story in USA Today, two more bonuses afforded the Aggies before they ever stepped on the court at the Big 12 Championship.