Why Bucky McMillan Believes Texas A&M Basketball Is 'A Sleeping Giant'

A season ago, several coaching changes caught the college basketball world by surprise. One of the coaches McMillan knew well was former Kentucky head coach John Calipari, who chose to leave and coach at Arkansas. 

After Calipari chose to move in a different direction following a highly successful tenure with Big Blue, the Razorbacks had barely anyone left on the team when their former coach, Eric Musselman, departed for USC. In a popular quote that went viral, Calipari said that when he met with the team, there was no team. 

Similarly, those were the shoes McMillan was in, and he hoped to fill after former coach Buzz Williams left Aggieland to become the next coach of Maryland. 

"I saw Coach Cal take the job at Arkansas and say he met with the team, and there was no team. I laughed at that, but now I felt his pain. We're not a finished product, but we're a heck of a lot better than we were in April with no roster."

With key additions like Rashaun Agee, Marcus Hill, Jacari Lane, Rylan Griffen, Zach Clemence, Federiko Federiko, and many others, the Aggies have depth and a unique style of play that will look different from previous campaigns. 

"We had some very good players jump on board without knowing who they'd play with,” McMillan said. “I'm elated with the roster we have. We have a good shooting team. We're old, we're deep, and we'll play a style of basketball that's hard to play against."

Assembling a coaching staff that would keep A&M in the national spotlight was vital to the success and chemistry on the court. Adding pieces to the puzzle, such as Mitch Cole, Kyle Keller, Frank Haith, TJ Cleveland, Dave Good, and Darby Rich, has strengthened the player connections and relationships within the program. It was nice for Bucky to have familiar faces in the program that he has known and can rely on. 

“We've had a great staff everywhere I've coached,” McMillan said. “There's familiarity with how we operate. We also added some great staff members who have coached at Texas A&M. Mitch Cole, Kyle Keller, Darby Rich, and Frank Haith have all coached there."

With players hopping on board, unsure of what to expect, and staff who know what Aggieland is all about, it’s starting to create a winning culture ready to compete day in and day out for a national championship.

“We won't win any awards on opening night, but we know that when you look at the Final Four, they all have one thing in common, and that's talent,” McMillan said. “So we just had to find talent." 

A&M opens non-conference play at Reed Arena against Northwestern State on November 3 at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.