When Bucky McMillan took over as the new coach of Texas A&M in early April 2025, there was only one player on his roster. The portal had been open for several weeks and a majority of the top transfers had already made their decisions. McMillan had to race to assemble a staff, then immediately dive into recruiting. As the calendar flipped to June and teams began reporting to schools across the country, Texas A&M was still a work in progress. “We were practicing for most of June and a lot of July with five and six guys,” McMillan tells Hoops HQ. “I think we might have had five practices total over the course of the summer where we had 10.”
At that point, it was hard to envision the Aggies making any noise in McMillan’s first year at the helm. And yet, here they are, alone atop the SEC with a 7-1 league record (17-4 overall). They have won 10 of their last 11, including a 92-77 victory over Georgia on Saturday that vaulted them into Hoops HQ’s Top 25. A team with zero continuity has bought into McMillan’s unique style of play and thrived as a result. After being picked to finish 13th in the conference in the preseason media poll, Texas A&M has been one of the best stories in college basketball. “Every practice, every game, we’ve just gotten better and better,” McMillan says.
It was less than 10 months ago that McMillan arrived in College Station, making the jump from Samford, where he won two Southern regular-season championships and made one NCAA Tournament appearance — the program’s first in more than two decades — during a five-year stint. He brought with him a distinct approach to basketball that’s come to be known as “Bucky Ball.” Going back to his days coaching Mountain Brook High School in Alabama (2008-20), McMillan’s teams have played a fast-paced, analytics-driven style that combines a three-point-heavy offense with an aggressive fullcourt defense. Last season, his Samford team ranked in the top 25 nationally in points per game (14th), steals per game (third), three-pointers per game (seventh) and pace (24th).
In an ideal world, McMillan would have had a lot of time to scout the perfect fits for Bucky Ball, mulling over a long list of options at each position. That wasn’t the case this past offseason. Once his staff was built and could begin scouring the portal, options were limited. Most transfers had committed early due to the large contracts on the table prior to the House settlement.
Still, McMillan attacked the recruiting process with intention. “It wasn’t a situation where we were just going to take anybody who was talented,” he says. “If there were three guys we could go after, we had to go after all three of them. But there was certainly an order of who we wanted (most), and I would do those based on system fit. Usually at that point there might be 30 guys you go after. We had three.”
To make Bucky Ball work, McMillan needs ample shooting, playmaking and athleticism. He had familiarity with many of the program’s top targets, either from recruiting them in the past, watching them play or coaching against them. Over a two-month span, Texas A&M signed a whopping 14 players, including nine from Power Four schools, three from mid-majors, one freshman and one former professional overseas. There were some prominent names in the mix, such as 6-foot-9 junior forward Mackenzie Mgbako (Indiana), 6-foot-2 junior guard Pop Isaacs (Creighton), 6-foot-5 senior guard Rylan Griffen (Kansas) and 6-foot-7 senior forward Rashaun Agee (USC), as well as a slew of other capable scorers and facilitators. Thankfully, the group got along well and exhibited zero red flags off the court. “They’re all good guys,” says McMillan, “so that helped us a lot.”
It also helped that the roster was loaded with veterans. Texas A&M ranks ninth in the country in experience, per KenPom, which made it easier for McMillan to introduce Bucky Ball. He spent a lot of time breaking down why he prefers to play that style, and the team understood the benefits of it. “At this level, it’s become like the NBA. And what do NBA players value? A coach that’s confident,” McMillan says. “So I think my level of confidence and showing them something that makes sense — that two plus two equals four — if they see that and they get it, they’re probably going to roll with it.
Even then, it took a few games for the players to fully grasp just how serious McMillan was about the things he was preaching every day in practice. “Even with a veteran group, it takes them understanding that as a coach, you’re going to put your money where your mouth is with what you value,” McMillan adds. “And what I value the most are players who play hard and unselfish.”
He made it clear in the first few weeks of the season that those who don’t play hard and unselfishly will be benched, regardless of their talent or how much money they’re being paid. The team struggled a bit while he got that message across, losing back-to-back games to Oklahoma State and UCF in mid-November. But McMillan knew that it was necessary for any chance of success down the road.
Sure enough, his players responded. They have embraced Bucky Ball, executing the system beautifully as they’ve grown more comfortable with it. Even without Mgbako, an NBA prospect who went down with a foot injury in December, the Aggies have the NCAA’s No. 3 offense, averaging a staggering 91.8 points. They rank in the top 25 nationally in bench scoring (second), assists per game (fifth), three-pointers per game (sixth) and pace (25th). During the nonconference portion of their schedule alone, they set the program record for most 100-point games in a season (six); and in a dominant 109-68 win over Manhattan on Nov. 21, they knocked down 18 threes, the most in a single game in school history.
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Five players are averaging at least 10 points, led by Agee’s 13.9 and 12.9 from 6-foot-6 sophomore guard Ruben Dominguez, a seasoned pro from Spain. Dominguez, Griffen, Isaacs, 6-foot-5 senior guard Ali Dibba and 6-foot-11 senior forward Zach Clemence are all shooting at least 39 percent from behind the arc. The team shares the ball tremendously well, always hunting for the most efficient looks. It has dominated league play, winning seven of eight with its sole loss coming to Tennessee in double overtime in Knoxville.
“I feel like we just do it for each other,” said Agee, the team’s captain. “We don’t do it for any outside noise. We don’t do it for the media. We beat each other up every day and we know what we’ve been through. And we know what it means to win a ballgame.”
As the midway point of the SEC slate approaches, the Aggies are in control of the conference and firmly in the NCAA Tournament picture. Hoops HQ’s Brad Wachtel has them as a No. 7 seed in his latest installment of bracketology. The road won’t get any easier going forward, as Texas A&M will face Alabama and No. 17 Florida this week. But McMillan’s squad has already vastly exceeded expectations, and it’s only getting stronger.
“If we beat Alabama, we’ll be in sole possession of first. If we lose to Alabama, we’re tied for first with an opportunity on Saturday to be in sole possession of first. And we’re going to the back nine games in the league with five at home,” McMillan says. “If we would have said that in April with no players on the team — where do we sign up for that? There’s no pressure on us. Just keep doing us and let it fall where it may.”
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