The Texas A&M Offensive Rebounding Coach is a Cartoon Character
Texas A&M is undoubtedly the weirdest school in the SEC. They’re probably the quirkiest large college you will find in this country. We’re well aware of the many oddities, but Big Blue Nation was introduced to a new one Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.
Ahead of the matchup with Kentucky, Texas A&M was the top offensive-rebounding team in college basketball. They had the nation’s best offensive rebounding rate, securing 44.1% of their misses by grabbing 17.1 offensive boards per contest.
According to ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes, Steve Roccaforte deserves credit for some of that success.
If you were at Rupp Arena, you did not get to hear Jimmy effusively praise the Texas A&M assistant coach at every chance he got. These opportunities arose whenever Texas A&M went to the free throw line. That’s when Roccaforte walked to the end of the bench and showed his players a signal. According to Jimmy, A&M has four different actions they use to try to grab offensive rebounds off of missed free throws.
Why the Texas A&M Free Throw Rebounding is Silly
“A coach calls a play during a break in the action” is nothing noteworthy. It happens countless times during a Kentucky basketball game. This was unusual for a few reasons.
First and foremost, Jimmy went way over the top. Are you surprised? The play-call worked one time, allowing A&M to corral a loose ball, but we didn’t need the camera focused on the Texas A&M assistant every time an Aggie shot a free throw.
Secondly, why are we praising a team for missing free throws? Shouldn’t you want to make them? That is one of A&M’s biggest issues. They take the fifth-most free throws in the country but they rank No. 265 in free throw percentage, making less than 70% of their shots from the charity stripe. Texas A&M needs to spend more time shooting free throws than trying to rebound the misses.
Finally, just look at Steve Roccaforte. We all know Buzz Williams loves his three-piece suits. This guy is taking his look to another level. He does not look like a college basketball coach. As Chris Tomlin pointed out, he looks more like a college professor.
The only thing missing from Roccaforte’s ensemble were elbow patches and burn marks on his smoking jacket. The Texas A&M assistant is an offensive rebounding wizard who could also be a contemporary of Sherlock Holmes.
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