Texas A&M Basketball Receives High Praise; SEC Champions?

Texas A&M basketball continues to receive honors

Texas A&M basketball has been regarded as one of the top teams to watch in the league this preseason following their excellent showing throughout last year’s conference slate. The Aggies finished tied for the best record in the SEC last year, and made it all the way to the conference tournament championship before losing to eventual NCAA 1-seed Alabama. Though Texas A&M basketball was bounced in the first round of March Madness, the level of returning talent the Aggies bring had many pundits regarding them as a team to be reckoned with in 2023.

The leader of the Aggies, sophomore point guard Wade Taylor IV, really started to blossom offensively in 2022-2023. As Taylor went, so did the Aggies—and it was rare for the sophomore to not be rolling on any given night. Taylor brings a reputation with him into this season as one of the most polished offensive players in the league and the nation, and it looks like college basketball media is rewarding him accordingly. Taylor was named today as not only preseason all-SEC first team, but also the preseason conference player of the year.

The Aggies also were picked to finish second in the conference behind the Tennessee Volunteers, who had their own entry on the all-SEC first team in Santiago Vescovi, who appears to be playing in roughly his 17th year of college basketball. Texas A&M basketball defeated Tennessee in their only meeting last year, which took place at Reed Arena, by a score of 68-63. In the upcoming season, the Aggies host the Vols on February 10 and travel to Knoxville on February 24. If these polls are correct, those will both be huge games for each program.