Guard Law restores order at Texas A&M during tournament

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Moments after Texas A&M defeated Louisville to reach the regional semifinals, Acie Law was crying with joy. Aggies coach Billy Gillispie walked up to his star point guard and said, “Didn’t you believe me?”\nWhen Gillispie took over at A&M three years ago, he told Law the Aggies were going to win sooner than anyone expected.\nA victory against Memphis (32-3) in San Antonio on Thursday will send the Aggies (27-6) to their first regional final, a step no one saw coming after A&M went 0-16 in the Big 12 in 2003-04. Least of all Law, a freshman that season.\nHe was skeptical of Gillispie’s vision and considered leaving when the new coach implemented workouts that resembled boot camp. But Law stuck it out, and ultimately realized his demanding coach was right.\n“This season is something he promised me,” the 6-foot-3-inch senior said.\nAlong the way, Law understood that Gillispie had a plan for him, too – to make him the cornerstone of a resurgent team.\nLaw is a finalist for the Wooden and Naismith awards, given to college basketball’s best player. He led the Aggies in scoring, assists and steals this season, but he gets no special favors from Gillispie.\n“I like the fact that he treats me like one of the guys and he doesn’t make it easy for me,” Law said. “He believes that even though I’m getting all this attention, that I can go further. You feel good inside when you play for a person who believes in you and continues to push you to get better.”\nLaw has taken Gillispie’s tough love and produced all year, especially late in close games. A player from Penn, the team A&M ousted in the first round, called him “Captain Clutch.”\nLaw averaged 6.9 points in the last four minutes of Big 12 games. He sank a 3-pointer and two free throws in the last 24 seconds of A&M’s 69-66 win at Kansas on Feb. 3. Three weeks later, Law hit a 3-pointer to force overtime and another to force double overtime in a 98-96 loss at Texas.\n“He’s developed a great talent,” Gillispie said. “People ask how guys perform like that in the clutch. First of all, you have to be a really good player to do it time and time again. A bad or mediocre player might do it once, luck into it or whatever.\n“A guy like Acie, you have to be very talented and you have to have great confidence. He has both of those things.”\nMelvin Watkins, Gillispie’s predecessor at A&M, said that when Law played for Kimball High School in Dallas, he already had a natural feel for the game.\n“He had a calming presence whenever he had the ball,” said Watkins, who resigned after the Aggies went 7-21 in 2003-04. “But you also had the feeling that when he had the ball, something special might be about to happen.\n“He could make plays you can’t teach,” said Watkins, now a Missouri assistant. “If you could, you’d teach all your kids to make them.