SEC Basketball: Alabama, Auburn leads way-too-early power rankings for 2024-25 season

3. Texas A&M Aggies

It was an up-and-down, whirlwind of a season in College Station last year. After roughing through a notoriously difficult non-conference slate, the Aggies would become wildly inconsistent in SEC play, even finding themselves at just 15-13 (6-9) in late February -- firmly outside of the NCAA Tournament picture.

However, Buzz WIlliams’ group caught fire late, winning their next five games to put themselves firmly in the field of 68, where they earned a nine seed, falling to Houston in overtime in the Round of 32.

Even if Texas A&M didn’t necessarily live up to the lofty preseason expectations last season, this year can -- and should -- be different thanks to the fact that the Aggies have a strong nucleus returning in 2024-25.

Addressing the elephant in the room, Wade Taylor IV -- a 2024-25 SEC POY candidate -- is back after averaging 19.1 PPG last season. Manny Obaseki is back. Solomon Washington is back. Henry Coleman III is back. Andersson Garcia is back.

Despite losing Tyrece Radford at the SG spot, Buzz Williams found his replacement in SMU transfer Zhuric Phelps, who averaged 14.8 PPG and 4.1 RPG last season for the Mustangs.

However, what catapults Texas A&M from a middle-of-pack SEC team to the top half is their additions of Minnesota transfer Pharrel Payne -- a physical big and terrific offensive rebounder -- and Nebraska transfer CJ Wilcher, giving the Aggies a spark behind the perimeter.

Last season, Texas A&M was one of the best offensive-rebounding teams in the country. Expect that trend to continue. The physicality and rebounding prowess of this team is through the roof and if they can find a way to shoot consistently from the field, this is a team that will compete for an SEC title in 2024-25.