OKLAHOMA CITY — Texas A&M coach Bucky McMillan didn’t seem to make all that much of the moment as he shook the last hand in the Saint Mary’s handshake line Thursday night, but the gravitas appeared to sink in as he turned the corner and saw a sea of maroon across from him.
When McMillan saw the crowd, he cracked a smile and gave them a thumbs-up, as if to let them know he appreciated their presence. A&M players followed their coach across the court en route to the tunnel and when Aggies guard Rubèn Dominguez arrived at the scorers’ table for a radio interview, he delivered the climax that did the moment its due justice.
Dominguez waved both of his arms up and down to tell the crowd to raise its noise level, and it worked. It’s a moment that will live on in Aggieland after a night in which 10th-seeded Texas A&M (22-11) got the first of what could be a long line of NCAA Tournament wins under McMillan.
“Those people, they are cheering for us every time, every day, even when we’re losing,” Dominguez told HoopsHQ as to why the moment was special to him. “And it’s on them, too. It’s not just the people out there playing. We’re playing for them.”
This group and this fan base weren’t supposed to be here this fast, but A&M players were running to the locker room waiting for the celebration to start after their 63-50 win over No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s in the South Region. When they got there, they blared the speakers and threw a big party. Perhaps some would tell A&M to act like it has been here before, but this group believes it deserves to celebrate. If they listened to public perception, they wouldn’t have been here.
The skepticism over “Bucky Ball” ran rampant after A&M hired the then-Samford coach, who brought his fast-paced, ball-pressure-oriented style from the Southern Conference to the SEC. Even Aggies guard Rylan Griffen – who made stops at Alabama and Kansas before transferring to A&M – told HoopsHQ he was skeptical of “Bucky Ball” being employed in SEC games.
That style turned McMillan, 42, into an Alabama high school coaching legend, then the architect of one of the nation’s best mid-major builds in recent memory. Still, even the biggest believers had to see it work against non-turnover prone Power Five guards before they made their judgments.
This team knew early that it had something, though. Guard Marcus Hill, an NC State transfer, says he knew two weeks into preseason practice that “Bucky Ball” would work. McMillan’s other guards, Josh Holloway – who played for him at Samford – and North Alabama transfer Jacari Lane, knew it would work right away. Lane had too much experience struggling against the full-court press when he played against Samford last season to think it wouldn’t translate.
“I already got a good taste of it and how ‘Bucky Ball’ was and, man, I can tell you, after the game I was really tired,” Lane told HoopsHQ. “You’ve got to be in complete shape. It’s up-and-down, fast-paced. You’ve got to be in really great shape.”
Behind the Scenes of UCLA’s Skyy Clark’s Midnight Trip to the Dentist
The Bruins guard broke his tooth in Friday’s win over UCF. But he’s good to ‘hoop like normal’ against UConn, says his emergency dentist, Dr. Jeffrey Goldfine.
But even if the style was guaranteed to work, A&M was up against it as McMillan entered his first season. He was the last Power Five coach to be hired, and A&M had just one returning player. Every shred of logic indicated that this would be a rebuilding season, yet here’s A&M – heading to the second round to face No. 2 seed Houston.
A&M never trailed Thursday and led for 39:15; the Aggies built a 20-point lead with 10 minutes left and never led by less than 12 the rest of the way. There was a thought “Bucky Ball” wouldn’t work against a composed group like the Gaels. But Randy Bennett’s group turned it over a season-high 18 times and couldn’t get into its offense consistently. The Gaels shot 38.2 percent from the field (18-of-47), and of the seven Gaels who played at least 10 minutes, just two scored in double figures.
“They say styles make fights, but really players make fights,” McMillan said afterward. “I challenged our guys to take their matchups more personal. You have to fight for your baskets. Our guys took that challenge in this game. There was blood in their eyes.”
This A&M group has had to find out who it is a few times along the way this season. Hill said the group didn’t feel it had come together until it beat Georgia by 15 in Athens on Jan. 31 to move to 7-1 in conference play. From there, though, it lost four in a row and had to regroup.
The Aggies were in a similar spot entering Thursday’s game after the 83-63 trouncing it suffered a week ago against Oklahoma in its lone SEC Tournament game. McMillan says the performance helped A&M as it prepared for the NCAA Tournament, leading the Aggies play with a chip on their shoulders. This group clearly is at its best when it feels as if it’s doubted, and it doesn’t feel as if it’s going to be complacent anytime soon.
“I feel like we are all the underdog,” Hill told HoopsHQ. “Everybody counted us out, but, you know, we are just proving to the world that we are supposed to be here and we deserve it.”
Meet your guide
