HOUSTON (AP) — With only one player on his roster taller than 6-foot-9, Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon knows he won't have the tallest team around. But he's pretty sure he'll have one of the quickest.
He plans to use that to Texas A&M's advantage this season.
"I think we have a lot of versatility in things we can do offensively and defensively," he said. "We're really fast. We've got a lot of speed. We're trying to play a little bit faster."
The Aggies are trying to build on unprecedented success for the program. They have made the NCAA tournament the last four seasons after never going two straight years before the streak. Texas A&M also has won 20 games in a school-record five straight seasons, including last year's 24-10 record.
Returning starter Donald Sloan is looking forward to the up-tempo play.
"We're spreading the floor and getting guys the ball that can make plays," said Sloan, a 6-foot-3 senior who averaged almost 12 points last season. "I think it will help us. It will be easier to space guys out and try to get them to move their feet a little bit. We're back at doing the same thing we did in high school, just at a much higher level."
The Aggies lost last season's top scorer Josh Carter and leading rebounder Chinemelu Elonu, who left early for the NBA. They will rely on Sloan and fellow seniors Derrick Roland, the team's best defender, and Bryan Davis to pick up the slack.
Turgeon likes what he's seen from Davis in practice so far.
"I think he's in better shape now than he's ever been in his life," the coach said. "He's really playing well. His confidence level's up. He's improved a lot of parts of his game."
Without Elonu, they'll need Davis to improve on the 6.5 rebounds a game he averaged last season.
"That's going to be a big part," Davis said. "But I think rebounding-wise it's not just going to be one individual person filling in, it's going to have to be a team effort."
Beyond Davis and Sloan, Turgeon said he's still working on which starting lineup will work best. He likes the improvement of forward David Loubeau, who averaged almost five points a game as a freshman last season.
"It might be a year where I change lineups depending on who we're playing," Turgeon said. "We have a lot of guys who are in the mix."
Whoever ends up starting, Turgeon needs his seniors to lead for his team to be successful. He said none has been a vocal leader so far.
"They're getting a little bit better, (Roland's) probably the best," Turgeon said. "We've been really trying to force feed them some things to help them be better leaders. But they've really just led by example. The first 7-10 practices our seniors practiced harder than any group of seniors I've ever had. That was impressive and that was kind of their way of leading the team. Hopefully that will continue."
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