KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Texas A&M coach Gary Blair revealed a little secret this week concerning the defending national champions. The Aggies, Blair contends, are in serious search of cohesion with the postseason at hand.

"We're hurting for chemistry on this team," he said, later adding, "We're supposed to be a big dog, not a Chihuahua."

Teams that have wrapped up their regular seasons typically have their chemistry questions answered by now - for better or worse. The third-seeded Aggies face sixth-seeded Kansas at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Big 12 tournament, and Blair vows he can still find an answer in time for A&M to make another deep run in the NCAA postseason.

Creatively accountable

"We don't have a finger-pointing problem and we don't have parent problems, but we're lacking chemistry, and when you don't have certain things you're used to having, you've got to create things another way," he said. "That's why they pay me the middle-sized bucks, to figure out a way to create that chemistry now that we're in the postseason."

A couple of wins in Kansas City and a rematch with top-ranked Baylor for the Big 12 title - the powerful programs have each won two of the last four league tourney titles - could go a long way toward shoving this team in the right direction for an NCAA run.

"We lost by 23 (in Waco) and we only lost by seven (in College Station) and we were in the entire game," A&M guard Sydney Carter said following the programs' last meeting. "You see what you did right, and you keep working on those things and keep getting better."

Cooking up wins

It's not like the Aggies are chopped beef (an appreciated menu item in K.C.) this season. They've lost three of four, but prior to that won six of seven. Expectations are simply much higher following the university's first national title in basketball nearly a year ago, when then-seniors Danielle Adams and Sydney Colson led the charge.

As for this year's leaders?

Originally posted here:
Texas A&M notebook: Chemistry still an issue as women enter postseason