Always entertaining and rarely without a good one-liner, former Texas A&M coach Shelby Metcalf admits he wasn’t necessarily brimming with confidence as he took his team to Dallas for the 1987 Southwest Conference Tournament. The Aggies had dropped nine of their last 11 games to finish the regular season and pulled into Reunion Arena with just a 14-13 overall record.

A&M, seeded eighth, also had the added challenge of opening the tournament against top-seeded TCU. The Horned Frogs were 23-5 and ranked 15th nationally.

So, when Metcalf addressed the media at the pre-tournament press conference, he acknowledged he wasn’t planning on an extended stay.

"I told (the media) I didn’t bring a change of underwear," Metcalf said with a laugh. "But my dad taught me that when you are negotiating or competing or anything like that, to try to get people to underestimate you. It makes it easier. I guess that’s why I was kind of always poor-mouthing my own teams or making jokes. I always had a lot of confidence, but I didn’t want to show it."

Metcalf caught the media’s attention with his jokes. And by the end of the ’87 tournament, he had everyone else’s attention, as well.

Power forward Winston Crite talks to Shelby Metcalf during the Aggies' surprising 1987 basketball season.

The Aggies stunned TCU in the opener, slipped past defending tournament champion Texas Tech in the semifinals and blasted No. 2 seed Baylor in the championship game. The tournament title put A&M in the NCAA’s "Big Dance" and also earned Metcalf more than he ever imagined.

"When we’d win a game in the tournament, people would bring me underwear," Metcalf said. "I stocked up. That was a fun time at the tournament."

Unfortunately, that was the last time the Aggies tasted any March Madness. There was an NIT appearance for the Aggies in 1994 under Tony Barone, but it has now been 15 years since A&M last laced its dancing shoes.

Metcalf guided the Aggies to five NCAA appearances (the school has six in its history) during his 27 seasons as the head coach. But none was as surprising as the 1987 run.

A&M was the Southwest Conference co-champion in 1985-86, and had won 20 games that season. And the 1986-87 Aggies started quickly, winning eight of their first 11 games. But with a 4-1 record in SWC play, A&M traveled to Houston to face Rice in a game that seemed to cause the Aggies to crater.

A&M lost a close game, 69-67, to the last-place Owls. It was the start of a five-game losing streak and a miserable slide down the stretch.

"We were pretty disappointed about not getting into the (1986 NCAA Tournament)," Metcalf said. "And going into the next season, we felt like we could be a pretty good team. Of course, I always felt good about my team going into a season. We started off the season pretty well, but we had some injuries like Melvin (Watkins) did this past year. That hurt us, and we lost (nine of the final 11 games) to end the regular season.

"We also had an unusual situation with a guy named John Trezvant. He was a transfer from San Francisco. I didn’t believe him, but he told me, ‘Coach, every January and February, I go into a slump.’ It was all mental, but it was true. Fortunately, the (SWC Tournament) was in March. He played very well in the tournament, because it was March."

Trezvant, an athletic forward, wasn’t the only Aggie who came alive in March. One of the team’s top players, Winston Crite, averaged 16.9 points per game and 7.6 rebounds during the 1986-87 season. He was solid throughout the year, but he was especially impressive when the postseason arrived.

"Winston was a tournament player," Metcalf said. "He loved the tournament. He was a great player in March. He couldn’t sustain it for the whole season, but he would really get fired up for the tournament."

The stars, along with Trezvant’s confidence and Crite’s motor, may have been perfectly aligned for the Aggies on March 6, 1987 – the opening day of the tournament. But to add the element of surprise, Metcalf shook things up.

While he joked with the media about his team’s chances, Metcalf changed things up offensively. All season long, the Aggies featured a one-man front. But against TCU, he devised a two-man front that featured Todd Holloway and Darryl McDonald, otherwise known as "D-Mack, the Playground King."

"We ran a match-up zone on defense and spread it out offensively," Metcalf said. "We had Winston working down on the baseline. Todd and D-Mack were a good pair of guards and they were good penetrators. They would drive the lane, draw the help, and Winston would take it and dunk it. We caught (TCU) napping, and we hit our first nine shots."

Darryl McDonald was one of the most dazzling guards in Texas A&M basketball history.

The "Killer Frogs," coached by Jim Killingsworth, were off-guard and out of luck. TCU never completely recovered from A&M’s fast start, and the Aggies posted an 81-70 win. Crite, living up to his reputation as a postseason player, scored 30 points in the win.

Next up was Texas Tech, which couldn’t find an answer for D-Mack. McDonald, a New York native who had transferred from a community college prior to the start of the season, scored a season-high 23 points in leading the Aggies to a 68-60 win over the Red Raiders.

But beating Tech brought another substantial challenge for the Aggies. Second-seeded Baylor featured All-American Darryl Middleton, the leading scored in the SWC in 1987, and future NBA star Michael Williams. The Bears were 18-11 and had already swept the regular season series from the Aggies.

In the last regular season game of the year, Baylor limited Crite to just six points. But that, of course, was in late February. Now, it was March. And now, it was the tournament.

Crite scored 16 points in the title game, while Holloway added another 16 and D-Mac equaled his season-high with 23. Equally as important, senior forward Mike Clifford did an amazing job on Middleton, who scored the first two points of the game. But during the rest of the game, Clifford frustrated Middleton and held him scoreless.

With Middleton limited to just two points, the Aggies coasted to a shockingly easy 71-46 win, tying the tournament record for the largest margin of victory.

"Baylor had the player of the year in the conference (Middleton), and Clifford shut him down," Metcalf said. "Mike Clifford was the greatest defensive player we’ve ever had. He could cover a guy who was 5-10, and he could cover a 7-footer. He was one tough defender."

Clifford again proved that in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies were a 12 seed in the Midwest, earning the right to play No. 5 seed Duke at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Blue Devils, coached by rising star Mike Krzyzewski, featured a talented roster that included names like Tommy Amaker, Kevin Strickland, Quin Snyder and NCAA Player of the Year Danny Ferry.

To have a chance to beat the Blue Devils, Metcalf knew the Aggies would have to slow down Ferry. But Clifford did much more than that. He held Ferry without a single point, which is one of the primary reasons the Aggies held a lead late in the game.

"We played well, and Clifford did an amazing job on Ferry," Metcalf said. "We weren’t intimidated. Duke was a darned good team, and they were led by a darned good coach. We just ran out of gas, because they had so many people."

The Aggies ran out of gas and lost 58-51. But it was certainly a strong showing by a team that had been written off by most basketball fans – even many A&M fans – weeks earlier.

"It was a good group of guys, and we definitely had some characters," Metcalf said of the ’87 Aggies. "We played hard, and we never gave up. Not in games, not on the season. That’s what made it fun. We never quit, and that’s why we won the (SWC) Tournament. That’s also why we gave Duke a pretty good scare."

Indeed, the gritty Aggies came out of nowhere. And earned their lovable coach plenty of new underwear.