Last season Texas A&M was one of the 14 SEC teams that made their way into the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies had another great season under Buzz Williams, though it turned into the final of an era. Williams bolted for Maryland shortly after the season’s conclusion and the Aggies have been left in the hands of Bucky McMillan.
The former longtime high school coach has achieved recent success as head coach at Samford, getting the Bulldogs to the 2024 NCAA Tournament while winning at least 20 games in each of his last four seasons at the helm. The issue with McMillan is that that five-year run is his only collegiate experience and it’s quite a jump to the SEC, especially in its current state.
Fortunately, the first few months have shown that McMillan and his new staff are up to the challenge. While recent stars like Wade Taylor IV and Zhuric Phelps are gone from College Station, a bolstered transfer class further built over recent weeks could keep the Aggies right in contention.
The first name that jumps to the top for Texas A&M is Pop Isaacs, the former Texas Tech and Creighton point guard who landed with the Aggies just a few weeks ago after a roster change at Houston. He’ll become a major part of the equation in the backcourt alongside Jacari Lane, who put up great figures over at North Alabama.
There’s a long list of frontcourt additions for this team, with a few that really stand out. Rylan Griffen hopes for a bounce back campaign after some struggles with Kansas last season and should be the starter at small forward. Former Indiana big man Mackenzie Mgbako should carve out a nice role at the 4 while Rashaun Agee from USC and Federiko Federiko out of Texas Tech will also fight for those minutes in the paint.
A first offseason is all about using the portal and claiming enough talent to contend as quickly as possible. Despite his lack of collegiate experience, McMillan isn’t shying away and has an intriguing group coming together. The Aggies get a rising star in Isaacs and while he might not be on the same level as Taylor was in recent years he alone makes this a winning offseason.
Texas A&M is not in the same conversation as conference rivals like Alabama, Auburn, and Florida who have all made the Final Four in recent years. They’re not considered up there with the Kentucky’s or Tennessee’s of the world with that sustained success. Regardless, Buzz Williams was building something here and McMillan might just be the young coach with the potential to take that to the next level. Nothing is guaranteed, but it’s definitely been a good first few months in College Station.