How ‘And1’ T-Shirts Helped Get the Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Team to the Players Era Festival

On November 27, 2024By Pranco

(KBTX) – About three decades into his coaching career, a special memory lingers about current Troy head coach Scott Cross’ career at Texas-Arlington, where he played under assistant coach Buzz Williams.

For a program that didn’t have enough budget for the coolest things in the basketball world, he managed to give the team some of the hottest gear the ’90s had to offer: And1.

This week, Williams’ Texas A&M men’s basketball team will participate in the inauguration Players Era Festival in Las Vegasan innovative approach to the Thanksgiving week tournament that ties name, image and likeness compensation to participation. All these years later, those T-shirts were crucial in getting the Aggies to the festival.

“I met the people who run it my first year as a college coach and just because of my relationship, Texas A&M was invited,” Williams recalled. “And I did everything but burn down Vegas so we could get invited.”

Williams began his career at UTA, spending part of his work organizing summer camps for the program. He wanted something to differentiate their camp and knew training gear featuring the sleek, faceless mascot would be a hit.

Williams called the And1 offices every day in an attempt to get his hands on those items.

“I called every day so belligerently that they actually just gave us the T-shirts so I wouldn’t call again,” Williams said with a small grin.

Through those calls, Williams formed a relationship with Steve Rosenberry, the former director of team basketball for And1. At the time, Rosenberry mentioned an up-and-coming coach to one of And1’s founders, Seth Berger.

“(Rosenberry) told me — this was the early to mid-’90s — about Buzz Williams and how great a coach and how great a person he was,” Berger began.

As camp came to an end, Williams realized there were plenty of shirts and shorts left. All UTA players were given a few pieces of clothing to use during practices during the season, including one of the first players Williams recruited to UTA; Crotch.

“We walked around campus like we were the coolest guys,” Cross said. “It was the most amazing thing ever. It made you feel like you were at a big university even though we had zero money. (Williams) went out of his way and developed that relationship and it was pretty, pretty cool.

So much has changed in the world of college basketball in Williams’ 30 years of coaching. The advent of the one-time transfer rule and the legalization of NIL compensation in the NCAA have created a free-agent system in sports. The amount of money in a collective’s coffers can determine how talented a roster is produced for a season.

Not to mention, And1 is no longer a power player in the sport. However, Berger impresses again as one of the co-founders of the Players Era Festival.

The festival provides guaranteed NIL compensation of at least $1 million for each of the eight teams participating in the first tournament, Berger said. In total, the festival has committed to providing $9 million to college basketball players by 2024 for non-competition engagement activities.

Along with the 23rd-ranked Aggies, the inaugural festival includes No. 7 Houston, No. 8 Alabama, No. 14 Creighton, No. 24 Rutgers, San Diego State, Oregon and Notre Dame.

A&M will take on Oregon on Tuesday, followed by Creighton on Wednesday. Saturday’s opponent in the final match of the tournament will be determined through tournament play.

Williams used the relationships built over the years to ensure the Aggies had a spot in this tournament, including withdrawing from the Charleston Classic, another multi-team event for which the Aggies were already registered. In this new world of college basketball, Williams knew he would need that infusion of NIL money to build a roster that hopes to return to the NCAA Tournament, he said.

“We have to find a way to be competitive and to have this squad we had to play in the event. I was yelled at by a lot of people in a lot of different ways because I canceled the tournament we were supposed to be playing in,” Williams explained.

The Aggies will be part of the Players Era Festival for the first three years of the tournament.

Berger called it a “no brainer” to involve A&M in the tournament. The event’s founder has since met Williams, while the Aggie coach recruited a player from one of his high school teams and has built his own relationship with the coach.

“When we were looking for teams to bring in, Texas A&M was at the top of the list… With (Wade) Taylor coming back, and with (Zhuric) Phelps and (Henry) Coleman, (Williams) got a group of the three that is excellent,” Berger told KBTX. “Andersson Garcia is an unsung hero. I think he is so important to that team and coming back was crucial. Then Buzz can just coach him off. So for us he has a chance to win the Players Era Festival.”

For a man who has brought inspiration to the sport, Burger said Williams added some more inspiration to his thoughts on the tournament. Over the summer, William sent him one of his monthly packages with exercise plans, schedules, and motivational quotes. One that stood out to Burger was simply: “The free market rewards the exceptional.” It’s one of the reasons Williams has made himself one of the best coaches in college basketball and reflects what he wants to bring to the Players Era Festival, he said.

“It motivated me to think, ‘I get it. Everything we have to do for Players Era, it can’t be good or great, it has to be exceptional on a completely different level,” said Berger.