Bucky McMillan isn’t trying to sell Texas A&M basketball as just another night out at Reed Arena. He wants the building to feel like the center of the whole place.
“I love the people here,” McMillan shared. “We’re going to have a heck of an atmosphere here.
I don’t care if you love basketball, don’t like basketball, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to make Reed the place where the party is.
That’s where everybody hangs out, and we like making it miserable for other teams to come here. We’ve got to heat teams up when they come here.
Aggies fight together.”
That message fits the mood around a program that has plenty of attention on it after last season’s success. McMillan knows the 12th Man can be part of what pushes this team forward, but he also knows the on-court product has to keep giving people a reason to come back.
And this version of A&M looks different.
After the run to the Round of 32, McMillan had to replace several familiar names from the foundation he was building. Rashaun Agee is gone, along with Reuben Dominguez, Jacari Lane, Josh Holloway, Pop Isaacs, and Marcus Hill. That’s a lot of production and personality out the door, but it also opened the door for a new group with more size, more speed, and more ways to attack.
The headliners are easy to spot. Kansas State transfer PJ Haggerty and Texas guard Jordan Pope give McMillan two notable guards to work with.
LMU transfer Jalen Shelley and freshman Josh Irving add to the frontcourt mix. Tyshawn Archie, Lucas Walls, and Jalen Reece are also part of the new look.
The result is a roster with plenty of change and plenty of options. McMillan has depth to manage, star power to balance, and enough pieces to choose from depending on the matchup.
At SEC Media Days, he made clear what he believes this team can do better than last year’s group.
“I thought last year's group was able to play how we want to play in terms of they were heavy three-point shooting, full-court defense,” McMillan said at SEC Media Days. "We didn't have a lot of slashing. The players that played the majority of the minutes were the smallest Power Four team in the country.”
He said the new group gives him more ways to create pressure on the rim and more physical answers when the game tightens up.
“It's strange, we played a scrimmage the other day, and when the ball came off the glass, we didn't have to have the ball fall perfect to us to rebound. We had more attackers, guys that can get to the free-throw line, guys that can get to the charge circle, guys that are going to get fouled.
The later the season goes, when you're at high-level basketball, it becomes a real player's game. You got to have players that can create advantages without actions.”
Then he pointed to the shape of this roster and what it should look like once the season gets rolling.
“I think this year we've got a lot more of those, a lot of more positional size. It'll look very similar, but I think we're going to attack the basket a lot better this year.”
In Other News...
Texas A&M Fans Got Robbed Of The Blackout Stage They Wanted
Texas A&Ms annual Operation Blackout was supposed to have the kind of stage that matches the buildup, but the Southeastern Conference has instead slotted the Nov. 14 game against Tennessee into an afternoon window. Depending on how earlier games shake out, kickoff will land at either 3 p.m. ET on ESPN or 4:15 p.m. ET on SEC Network, a setup that takes some of the drama out of what had been expected to be a later start.
For Aggies fans, it is a frustrating piece of scheduling because this is the sort of game that usually benefits from a night atmosphere and the full effect of the blackout look. The SECs decision also stands out because other matchups with less obvious appeal appear positioned for more favorable time slots, leaving Texas A&M with a marquee home game that wont quite get the stage many around College Station were hoping for. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&Ms 5-Star WR Commit Opens Up About His Road Back
Eric McFarlands road back has already become part of the story for Texas A&Ms 2027 recruiting class. The five-star wide receiver, who committed to the Aggies, suffered an ACL tear in September and recently had surgery, a setback that would test any high school prospect with this much attention on him. Even so, McFarland has stayed focused on getting healthy and on the chance to eventually bring his game to College Station.
For Texas A&M, the encouraging part is that McFarlands commitment has held through the injury, and he has the backing of offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins as he works through the recovery process. The next checkpoint comes next month, when McFarland is expected to sign with the Aggies, giving the program another reminder that the long game still matters in recruiting, especially with a talent this highly regarded. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Frontcourt Bet Now Rests On Cade Phillips
Texas A&M is already looking ahead to the 2026-27 season under Bucky McMillan, and the frontcourt picture has changed in a hurry. After finishing sixth in the SEC last year, the Aggies had to replace Rashaun Agee when his eligibility ran out, and they turned to Cade Phillips, the Tennessee transfer, as part of the answer. Phillips arrives with a reputation for bringing defense and toughness, the kind of profile that fits a team trying to stay in the upper half of a rugged league.
What makes Phillips such an important piece is not just what he does, but what he allows others to do around him. He is expected to complement players like Mackenzie Mgbako, even if his scoring load may not resemble the one Agee carried. For Texas A&M, the bet is that Phillips can steady the interior and help balance a roster that is still taking shape, which makes his role one of the more interesting subplots as McMillan builds toward next season. [Read more 🡒]