Initial Thoughts: It wasn't pretty, but it was a win. This time of year, that's all you need. It isn't about how you do it. When your season is on the line you have to win games. Tonight we did just that. Early on, we established ourselves in the paint and ended up with an impressive 16 point advantage. I am not sure that we outplayed ISU, but we were and are better than the Cyclones, end of story.

Why we won: Because ISU was overmatched. The Cyclones only got points from 5 players, and two of those players only contributed 2 points a piece. The Cyclones only hit 27% of their shots, and some how found a way to shoot even worse from the foul line than the Ags(50% to 62%) The Aggies shot their normal 43% from the field and struggled from long range (3-12), but got timely points from a key components when Donald Sloan began attacking the basket, and Josh Carter and Dominique Kirk hit timely jumpers. It's hard to say what the difference was when you know that you are absolutely better than your opponent, but looking forward, getting any points from Junior Elonu, Beau Muhlbach, and BJ Holmes will be crucial, especially if we are without Deandre Jordan.

ISU Player of the Game: Brackins was the best player on the court tonight. The freshman showed why he will be a staying force in the Big 12 as he owned the Aggie big men down low scoring 20 points and snagging 12 rebounds.

A&M Player of the Game: Donald Sloan was a rebound and an assist from the rare triple-double with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists. Even when Sloan is good there is so much room for improvement as he was only 4-11 from the field and a par for the course 4-9 from the charity stripe.

What does it mean? I would like to say that it means we are dancing next week, especially with the following Bubble teams losing: Baylor, Oregon, UMass, Arizona State, UF, Ole Miss, Dayton, Villanova, and Maryland. We don't have to be great, just let the conference focus on their losses and don't do anything to bring negative attention to ourselves (aka play a solid game tomorrow and win or lose we are in the dance).

oh, and remember when Baylor football lost a game when they should have been kneeling the ball? Being the Big 12's first No. 5 seed to bow out to a No. 12 seed may be the basketball equivalent in terms of making the NCAA tournament. Thanks for being Baylor guys, thanks for being Baylor.

Be sure to check out Hildy's "Live from KC" post below. A full KSU preview is coming tomorrow.