KANSAS CITY – Page 53 of the 2001-02 Texas A&M basketball media guide features an interesting Q&A with Michael Gardener, the sophomore transfer point guard who began the season with such high expectations. One response, in particular, leaps off the page like Drew Gooden on a dunk.

Q: How do you want to be remembered when your college career is finished?

A: "As a winner and one of the best players to come through here."

Nice thought, Mike. Very ambitious. Too bad for you, your teammates and all Aggie fans that your legacy at A&M will be far more notorious than glorious.

Gardener will be remembered – if it all – as just another one of the forgettable faces who have "come through here" in a seemingly never-ending list of forgettable seasons for the Aggies.

Junior Bernard King hopes to have some help in the scoring department as Antoine Wright and Mazrcus Watkins arrive next year.

Gardener, who was expected to be a trigger-pulling playmaker, may have been able to make a difference for A&M if he had accompanied the team to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. Instead, he was booted off the squad near the start of conference play, leaving the Aggies without a legitimate starter at the all-important point guard position.

And without a big-time presence at the point, the Aggies’ sixth journey to the Big 12 Tournament once again seemed rather pointless.

As expected, Texas A&M (9-22 overall, 3-13 Big 12) ended another disappointing season in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament at Kemper Arena, falling 80-71 to Texas Tech on March 7. A&M, which completed its 12th losing season in the last 13 years, remains the only school since the formation of the Big 12 that has yet to win a tournament game.

To their credit, the shorthanded Aggies went down fighting in the finale. A&M led the Red Raiders at the intermission, and the Aggies cut a 12-point Texas Tech lead down to just two with a little over three minutes left in the second half.

But, as was the case so many times this year, the Aggies simply ran out of steam down the stretch. A&M was either in the lead or within three points of the lead in the final eight minutes of 11 losses in the 2001-02 season.

Translation: The Aggies, who have now endured four 20-loss seasons in the last five years, still don’t know how to finish games off. And that has a great deal to do with A&M’s lack of a playmaker at the point.

"We played hard, we fought and we hustled," said A&M head coach Melvin Watkins immediately following the season-ending loss to Tech. "But we just have to have better play on the perimeter. Our guard play has been a struggle all year, and it was again (on March 7)."

That’s not an indictment of Bradley Jackson, the junior transfer who was left to handle the point by himself when Gardener was dismissed. Jackson performed admirably all year, and he displayed some significant signs of improvement as the season progressed.

But Jackson was brought in to be a back-up point guard; not the full-time floor general. He is an excellent option to provide some quality minutes off the bench. But he’s not the answer to the Aggies’ troubles at the point.

Neither was Jamaal Gilchrist, who manned the point during the previous two seasons. Not coincidentally, the Aggies are a dismal 27-62 during the last three seasons.

The only time the Aggies have featured a big-time point guard (Clifton Cook) during Watkins’ four-year tenure at A&M was in 1998-99. That’s also the only year during that time the Aggies even came close to reaching the .500 level (12-15).

Watkins knows his mission now is painfully clear: Find a true starting point guard, sign a true starting point guard and keep the true starting point guard in the lineup.

Bradley Jackson performed admirably for the Aggies, but A&M remains a point guard shy.

"Oh yeah, we are surely hitting the recruiting trail hard," Watkins said. "We need some help, and we will sign two or three or more kids to make sure we get that help. It would be nice if we could finally get a good break or two."

It would be nice, indeed. And it’s about time for the Aggies to get lucky.

Texas A&M is just 39-77 in four seasons under Watkins, and you would be hard-pressed to find any coach in America who has endured more bad breaks than the Aggies’ head coach.

Injuries have decimated the Aggies the last three seasons. In the 2001-02 season alone, the 13 scholarship players on the roster at the start of the season missed a combined 77 games due to injuries, suspensions, court cases and other personal reasons.

That’s probably enough to drive most coaches insane. But Watkins remained remarkably upbeat even after yet another disappointing season and another one-and-done performance at the Big 12 Tournament.

"On one hand, it is frustrating because I envisioned us being much further along at this stage," Watkins said. "But you can’t anticipate injuries and illnesses and all the other setbacks we have had. And, on the other hand, I really am not frustrated in terms of being at wit’s end, because I truly believe we are close.

"We are only losing one senior off of this team (back-up guard Andy Leatherman), and I think we are just a few pieces away from being very competitive and getting to that level where we want – and need – to be."

Perhaps so. The Aggies do appear to have some impressive pieces in place. Sophomore center Andy Slocum finished the year strong and seems to be on the verge of becoming a consistently impressive presence in the paint, while sophomore forward Jesse King has the tools to be one of the best finishers and defenders in the Big 12. King also has his legal headaches behind him, as he was exonerated from a messy court case in Massachusetts.

"It’s good to have all that behind me," King said. "Now, I can focus all my efforts on school and basketball. In some ways, this was probably a lost year. But there are some things we can build on, and I am certainly looking forward to making a big turnaround next year."

In addition to Slocum and King, the Aggies can also hope that talented forward Nick Anderson bounces back from his sub-par sophomore season and that sophomore forward Tomas Ress can finally recover from the lingering physical effects of the life-threatening staph infection he suffered near the start of the 2000-01 season.

Junior forward Keith Bean is also a key piece in the puzzle, and when he plays with intensity, Bean is a man among boys. And, of course, there’s Bernard King, the multi-talented shooting guard who once again led the Aggies in virtually every statistical category.

King, who averaged nearly 17 points and five assists per game in the regular season, indicated at the Big 12 Tournament that he had no plans of leaving school early. That’s good news for the Aggies, especially if King controls his emotions and his teammates learn to utilize his talents instead of being so completely dependent on them.

Trouble from Michael Gardener (1) and Daryl Mason set the Aggies back.

Far too many times this past year – and, in reality, for the past three years – the A&M offense has deteriorated into little more than Bernard King freelancing and four other players in maroon and white watching.

When King is a focal part of the A&M attack, the Aggies are pretty good. When he is the sole part of the attack, the Aggies are in trouble.

That point has been proven plenty of times, and it was once again in the loss to Tech. During the first half, the Aggies received plenty of contributions from Slocum, Anderson, Bean, Jackson and Jesse King. Bernard King had only two points in the opening half, but the Aggies had the lead at the break.

In the second half, however, King was forced to take over, pouring in 24 points in 20 minutes. But as impressive as he was, the Red Raiders outscored the Aggies by 11.

"We can’t be entirely dependent on Bernard," Watkins said. "We know that, but we seem to fall back on bad habits during stretches of games."

A true force at point guard could alleviate Bernard’s burdens and send the Aggies toward the upper half of the Big 12 standings by next year. Talented shooting guard Antoine Wright is on his way to Aggieland next year. So is prolific scorer Marcus Watkins, also a shooting guard, and 6-foot-8 forward Luis Clemente.

But the Aggies are still in desperate need of a terrific point guard – one who could truly be remembered as "one of the best players to come through here." And until they get one, anticipating dramatic turnarounds or significant improvements seems rather pointless.