2008–09 Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team represents Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

in the 2008-09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team is led by second-year head coach Mark Turgeon

Mark Turgeon

Mark Leo Turgeon is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach for the University of Maryland Terrapins. Turgeon previously served as head coach at Texas A&M for 4 years.-Personal:...

, who coached the team to a 25–11 record and an NCAA tournament appearance his first season.

The Aggies went 14–1 in nonconference play, with wins over Alabama, Arizona, and LSU; the one loss was handed by Tulsa.

Leading into the season

Josh Carter

Joshua Neville Carter is an American professional basketball player at guard/forward. He played college basketball for Texas A&M. He also played for the Athletes in Action basketball team in 2006 and 2007, helping the team win the William Jones Cup in 2006...

and Bryan Davis received preseason Big 12 honorable mention. The team did not make the top 25 of the preseason AP or Coaches polls, though received votes.

During the 2009 signing period, the Aggies signed Naji Hibbert, Khris Middleton

Khris Middleton

James Khristian "Khris" Middleton is an American college basketball player with the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team who is entering his junior season. He attended Porter-Gaud School, where he was coached by John Pearson...

, Kourtney Roberson, and Ray Turner, who are all listed in the Rivals.com

Rivals.com

Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting. The network was started in 1996 and currently employs more than 300 personnel.-Schools:The individual collegiate sites can be found...

Top 150 prospects for the class of 2009. Hibbert, a Rivals four-star, is the highest-ranked recruit at No. 88. The recruiting class placed 23rd in the Rivals' early signing period national rankings compiled on November 12, 2008. ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

's recruiting services ranked the class 25th in November as well.

2008 recruiting class

Roster

Season accomplishments

In the Florida A&M game, the team set a Big 12 game record after shooting all 20 of its free throws. Chinemelu Elonu recorded six blocked shots, the third most in school history. Donald Sloan also scored a season-high of 21 points.
Three players—Chinemelu Elonu, Bryson Graham, and Nathan Walkup—made the season's Academic All-Big 12 team. Elonu made the first team (GPA of 3.20+) while Graham and Walkup made the second team (GPA of 3.00–3.19).
Josh Carter became an All-Big 12 Third Team selection, while Derrick Roland was selected to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team.

Schedule

Leading into the season

2008 recruiting class

Roster

Season accomplishments

Schedule

See also