Sponsored by Brent Campbell, Fighting Texas Aggie Class of 1998. Brent is a Commercial Real Estate Broker, serving all of Central Texas and specializing in sales, leasing & development. He leads a retail acquisition and sales team and was recognized by the Austin Business Journal as a Commercial Real Estate Heavy Hitter in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 & 2023.
In the last 22 years, he has closed deals with a total transactional value of over $375 million and has leased more than 4.5 million square feet. Brent currently serves as the president of the board of directors for Habitat Homes, Inc. and Pathways Youth and Family Services. He is a former president of the Heart of Round Rock Neighborhood Association and a former member of the Round Rock Zoning Advisory Committee, the Round Rock Business and Retention Committee, and the City of Round Rock Ethics Commission, which has led him to begin developing in Williamson and Travis County.
An Austin native, Brent lives in Round Rock where he and his wife have raised four boys. Brent works for Don Quick and Associates, Inc. in Round Rock, TX and can be reached at brent@donquick.com.
DENVER -- Delayed due to technical issues and, believe it or not, a power outage, here's an NCAA Tournament first round matchup edition of 10 Things for Tuesday:
1. At 22-7 and 13-1 in the Ivy League, Yale isn’t a pushover. They may not be the most athletic or talented team, but they shoot well – especially from 3-point range. The Bulldogs shot an impressive 49% from the field as a team, and 38.8% from beyond the arc. A&M, on the other hand, shot 41.6% from the field and 31.1% from 3. They also shoot 73.2% from the free throw line, while A&M has shot a very bleh 69.5%.
2. Yale’s best scorer is senior guard John Poulakidas. He averaged 19.2 points a game in a little over 31 minutes of playing time, shooting 45.4% from the floor. He likes to shoot from long range, with more than half his shots being 3’s. He makes nearly 41% of them, so he’s a guy A&M will need to guard very closely. This sounds like a job for Solomon Washington.
3. Forward Nick Townsend is Yale’s inside presence at 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds, but he can shoot from outside as well. Townsend averaged 15.4 points a game this season, hitting nearly 53% of his shots – including 49.1% of his 53 3-point attempts. That versatility will make him a threat.
4. Yale has one legit big man in 6-foot-10 Samson Aletan from Lake Highlands. He averages 7.7 points a game and makes nearly 60% of his attempts, but he’s only 223 pounds and doesn’t rebound much, only getting 3.8 boards a game.
5. One area where A&M should dominate is the rebounding department, which is no shock. A&M averages more than 41 rebounds a game, while Yale grabs about 38 against lesser competition. The Aggies grabbed 518 offensive rebounds this year while the Bulldogs only picked up 323.
6. The Aggies also have a decided size advantage. With Pharrel Payne and Henry Coleman, A&M has two bigs that can physically control Aletan and have a couple of inches in height over players like Townsend. Washington and Andersson Garcia are both as tall, if not taller, than anyone besides Aletan on the Yale roster.
7. Yale has a big issue in terms of numbers. After Yassine Gharram went down with an injury in November, the Bulldogs have relied heavily on just six players. Those six play more than 20 minutes a game, and three play more than 30. The only other player on the team who sees double-digit minutes only plays about 11. That could be a real issue in the thin air of Denver, and Aggie guards Wade Taylor, Zhuric Phelps and Manny Obaseki should exploit it by attacking the lane and looking to get the Yale regulars in some foul trouble.
8. In case you were wondering, A&M had only one player – Taylor – average more than 30 minutes of playing time this season and 10 players were on the court for more than 10 minutes a game.
9. The Aggies have gotten some scoring versatility over the past few games, as Obaseki and Garcia have shot the ball well. Both have been in double digits two of the last three games, and they’ve shot the ball well from distance. That could be a big factor in making a run that lasts beyond a game or two, especially since Zhuric Phelps is 11-43 from the field in the last three games.
10. A&M can’t get sloppy with the ball. They average 12 turnovers a game, while Yale forces 11. But they are very effective scoring off of turnovers, getting 13.2 points a game that way. But A&M is the better team defensively – at least, statistically. If they don’t get out on Yale’s 3-point shooters, it could be disastrous.
