Texas A&M Basketball: Aggies get a tough draw in Maui Invitational
Nobody surrounding the Texas A&M Basketball team will have any complaints about the Aggies’ preseason basketball tournament in Maui. That said, the Aggies got a pretty rough draw in the tournament, set to face Wisconsin in the first round.
The Aggies will open up their season on November 22nd against the Badgers, with opponents to be determined in the next couple of rounds. This will be a great experience for an extremely inexperienced team ahead of a brutal SEC schedule. Here’s the full bracket.
https://twitter.com/MauiInv/status/1420043921703456770?s=20
The tournament has eight teams competing from all over the place, though a large majority hail from the midwest. Here’s a full list of the teams.
- Houston
- Notre Dame
- Saint Mary’s
- Oregon
- Wisconsin
- Butler
- Texas A&M
- Chaminade
The Texas A&M Basketball program is somewhat of a mess right now, with Buzz Williams making a lot of year-one changes in his third year as head coach. Clearly, the athletic program believes Williams is worth giving one more shot, as he has completely overhauled the roster from a season ago.
The Texas A&M Basketball team will likely lose but will gain valuable early-season experience
As a fan, we’re supposed to be optimistic about any situation. That said, this is a tough one to draw optimism for.
As mentioned, the Aggies are a bit of a mess at the moment, with over half of the roster set to be new faces. That said, Buzz Williams has done a fantastic job bringing some of the best talent in the country to College Station.
Notably, we’ll get our first glimpse at Manny Obaseki, an incoming 5-star freshman out of Plano, Texas. He leads a 2021 class that also holds strong players in 4-star Wade Taylor and 3-star Ashton Smith.
We’ll also get a look at Duke transfer Henry Coleman, who wasn’t receiving enough playing time with the Blue Devils. For him, tough competition in the Maui Invitational shouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary. Aggie fans will be excited to see their new team out on the court, even if they don’t get a win.
They’ll also see the return of Quenton Jackson, one of few returning players from last year’s squad. The super senior is an important part of this brand-new team.
Quentin Jackson's return is vital to the Aggies' success. dark. Next
That said, this is an extremely talented team full of players who know how to play the game. They may not mesh well, but Texas A&M might be a sleeper competitor, even if they rank as the second-worst team in most preseason projections.