Editor's Note: Texas A&M head men's basketball coach Melvin Watkins talked about the upcoming season with Tom B. Turbiville for this week's 12th Man Magazine Q&A session:

Q: How would you evaluate your program now compared to how you envisioned it going into your fourth season as head coach.

Watkins: I think we’re about a year off from what I originally thought. I look back on last season and the injuries and the kids who we thought would get playing minutes didn’t get minutes because they weren’t there. So it’s off a year or so. But this can be a big breakout year for us and hopefully we can make up some ground and get things going to where we think the program should be.

Q: This year you’re going to be able to look down your bench and not see so many players wearing a coat and tie. They should all be in uniform. Does that excite you?

Watkins: It does, and hopefully our fans can get excited about that. I think that you look at any good program, football or basketball or whatever, and you have to have the complement of players that you need to do the things you want to do. When we didn’t have that, there just wasn’t a lot we could do some games. You never go into a game thinking that way, but as games unfolded, that would cross my mind. But our kids gave everything they had, but when your undermanned with the type of conference we’re in, there was just not a lot we could do. It’s our challenge now to come out and do something with the players we have.

Melvin Watkins is entering his fourth season as head coach of the Aggie men's basketball team.

Q: How do you want your team to react to being picked to finish at the bottom of the Big 12?

Watkins: I want them to be disappointed but I also want them to know there’s a reason and we’ve talked about that. I think it’s based on some unknowns. We have some of the faces back who were absent last year and we have some new faces that we are going to count on, especially when it comes to our point guard position.

Anytime you have unknowns like that, people have a tendency to say you gotta prove it, and rightfully so. But now it’s up to us. I hope it will motivate us. We can say here’s what they think about us, but what do we think about ourselves? If we are truly upset about the preseason ranking, then let’s go out and do something about it. You start doing it the first day of practice. We’ve had that attitude about it and I think we have some young men who want to prove to some people that while we understand it, we surely don’t want to live with it.

Q: You not only have to wear a coaching hat, but at A&M you also have to wear a marketing hat to get more fans involved and get them to the games. They say winning brings fans, but how do you get the fan support that you want until winning happens consistently?

Watkins: We’ve tried to be more proactive this offseason in going out among the people in the community and try to get them excited about basketball. We’ve had some functions that have been pretty successful, so that’s a good start. And then when we do get the fans over there, we have to put a product on the floor that’s going to be entertaining. Then the word will spread that

‘Hey, you better get out and watch the Aggies play because they’re putting it on the line every night.’ I think we are at a point now where we have to do some performing on the court, and then the word will get out and the fans will be there.

Q: It seems that you’ve emphasized conditioning and strength in hopes of putting the big, strong, broad-shouldered type player on the court, something that A&M hasn’t had in the past. Is that the case?

Watkins: We have bigger people and the people in the strength department have done a great job for us. You’re right, in our conference, you have to have those kinds of bodies and we’ve been behind the eight ball when it comes to that. That’s one of our challenges is to change that. You have to go out there and compete against men, so you better have some men on the team. I think we are gradually getting to that point. We’re close – not there all the way – but we’re close.

Q: In the Big 12, are the usual suspects in Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Iowa State and Missouri the teams to beat?

Watkins: You would have to say that, looking at what those teams have coming back and what they’ve added to their roster and what they’ve done in the past, picking those team is understandable. But what makes this conference so great is that you can say all those things but then again Iowa State was picked sixth in preseason last year, and they won the conference. That’s the beauty of it. You can do all the talking you want to but when you get between those lines that’s what really tells the true story.

Q: The conference is getting some added publicity because of Coach Bobby Knight coming to Texas Tech. What do you think a high-profile coach like Bobby Knight will bring to the conference?

Watkins: It will be a positive thing because he’s bringing recognition to Tech’s program but also to the whole conference. But I’ve been asked that question quite a bit, and I tend not to answer it because I would say ‘what does Bobby Knight think about me?’ I don’t know him personally, so I can’t really comment other than to say I know his track record, and he’s done a hell of a job. He’s won national championships so you have to give him his credit there. But this is a new challenge for him out there and people are not going to just lie down because he’s Bobby Knight.

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