Texas A&M's basketball program has a new leader. Former Samford head coach Bucky McMillan replaced Buzz Williams, who left the Aggies after six seasons to take on his new role as Maryland's head coach after Kevin Willard departed for Villanova last week.
McMillan is not a household name due to his age (41) and five-year career in the Southern Conference. Still, the praise he received from Kansas head coach Bill Self after Samford's near first round upset over the Jay Hawks during the 2024 NCAA Tournament was just the start of his rise in the coaching ranks.
For those who had a front-row seat during McMillan's Samford career, Alabama-based sports writer Kevin Scarbinsky recently wrote an article titled "Texas A&M basketball wins the lottery by hiring Samford's Bucky McMillan. " The veteran reporter provided an in-depth perspective about a coach undervalued on the market until Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts came calling.
McMillan's high-paced offense focused on 3-point shooting and creating efficient shots near the rim; it's the polar opposite of Buzz Williams' stale system focused on elite defense, rebounding, and turnovers to win close games. For Scarbinksy, Aggie fans should be excited about the drastic change.
"It's out with the old school and in with a new wave of advanced analytics at warp speed. Under McMillan, the Aggies will press for the duration, push the pace past the comfort level of most opponents and shoot almost exclusively from the arc, at the rim or at the free-throw line."
Last season, Samford finished 5th nationally in scoring with 86.1 points per game. As Scarbinsky points out, McMillan lost seven of his eight top-scoring options and still averaged 82 points per game, ranking 13th nationally. As we've seen with Alabama head coach Nate Oats, this run-and-gun system works with more talent and size.
"Expect the Aggies to do what the Bulldogs have done the last five years but with more size, speed, athleticism and skill. And, if you like, McMillan will explain the logic that fuels his approach in a persuasive PowerPoint presentation complete with charts, graphs and calculations that lead to one irrefutable conclusion."
"This stuff works."
This is the future of college basketball, and while Buzz Williams deserves credit for leading the Aggies to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, McMillan's analytics-based approach combined with bringing on his key assistant Mitch Cole, who served under former Texas A&M HC Billy Kennedy for five seasons, the future is extremely bright in College Station.
This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire:
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