Mark Turgeon is going home, and he's not afraid to say or show that it will be an emotional time.
The Texas A&M basketball coach of two years will lead a team into Lawrence, Kan., where he played and coached for a total of nine years, on Monday night for the first time in his 11 years as a head coach.
"I love Kansas. I love Allen Fieldhouse, ever since I was 4 or 5 years old," Turgeon said. "As long as I can remember, I've loved that place. I'll be fired up.
"I know I'll coach well that night because that place makes me feel good."
Turgeon called Allen Fieldhouse home from 1983-87 as a player and was an assistant coach under Larry Brown and then Roy Williams the next five years at KU.
During that time, he won a championship ring when the Jayhawks captured the NCAA title in 1988. The star player on that team was Danny Manning, who is now one of KU head coach Bill Self's assistants. Manning and Turgeon were also teammates on the Jayhawks' 1986 Final Four team.
"It will be exciting for me because I'm going to see a lot of familiar faces," Turgeon said.
As a player, Turgeon, then 5-foot-10, 150 pounds, played in 134 games, starting 34. A point guard, he averaged 3.4 points a game and 3.3 assists (ninth all-time at KU), and maybe more importantly to Turgeon, only 1.2 turnovers a game.
Kansas was 130-41 while Turgeon was an assistant.
Before his stay at Kansas, Turgeon led Hayden High School in Topeka, Kan., to two state titles.
When asked if he expected to be booed when he brought the Aggies (15-3, 1-2 Big 12) onto the court against the Jayhawks (13-4, 2-0), Turgeon said, "No, they won't. Kansas fans make me feel better than any fans I've been around. They've been good to me my whole life."
Last season was the first time Turgeon had ever been on the other side of the scorer's table from his former team. Kansas defeated A&M 72-55 at Reed Arena in the regular-season finale, and a week later the Jayhawks topped the Aggies 77-71 in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals in Kansas City, Mo.
"When I walked out here last year and I saw the red and blue it was kind of emotional, but then we played them in Kansas City and it was like it's just another game," Turgeon said.
Kansas went on to win the NCAA championship with a dramatic come-from-behind overtime victory over Memphis under the guidance of Self, who was a graduate assistant when Turgeon played for KU.
"The A&M game is a great storyline. You have a KU great; everybody loves Turge' around here," Self said. "If they don't, they should. He was good for KU basketball in the time that he was here."
There are more chapters to the Kansas-A&M matchup than the return of Turgeon.
After defeating No. 21 Baylor, A&M is coming off a loss at home to No. 6 Oklahoma and will want to avoid dropping to 1-3 in the Big 12.
"It was an emotional week, Baylor and then a Top 5 team, and then you have to turn around and go to one of the most famous arenas in college basketball," Turgeon said.
The Aggies have a grueling start to the Big 12 season, playing the four teams picked above them in the preseason poll (Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor and Kansas) and the one directly below them (Oklahoma State) in their first five games.
"Not a lot of time to sit around here and sulk," Turgeon said after the loss to Oklahoma on Saturday. "We've got to get on a plane [Sunday] to Kansas. We have to get better on the road, so what a great opportunity this week for us to get better."
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NOTES -- The last time KU lost at Allen Fieldhouse was against Texas A&M in 2007, when Acie Law IV hit a 3-pointer late to beat the Jayhawks on ESPN's Big Monday. The Jayhawks home winning streak is 34 games. ... A&M is the only Big 12 South team to ever win at Allen Fieldhouse. ... Kansas is 2-0 in league play via a home victory over Kansas State and a win at Colorado. ... A&M travels to Austin for a game against Texas on Saturday, finishing out the tough starting stretch.