Bucky McMillan could shift the tides in College Station after latest recruiting win

Bucky McMillan's Texas A&M basketball team is gearing up to run it back this year with a high-level assembly of transfer portal players that the head man has handpicked, but don't think for a second that he's neglected high school recruiting. The Aggies landed a top-35 player last night in small forward Dylan Jones, who is the highest-rated commitment yet in the McMillan era.

Jones, as a matter of fact, is the highest-rated commitment for the Aggies since Manny Obaseki back in 2021. For all of the team-building that Buzz Williams did in his time in College Station, he didn't do a heck of a lot on the recruiting trail— one of the things that eventually held him back as a coach here— so that tracks.

Jones selected the Aggies over teams like Providence and fellow SEC school Ole Miss, as well as the in-state Tennessee Volunteers. This is a big pickup for the Aggies, in other words, and shows that McMillan is intent on using multiple pipelines to bring in talent for this Texas A&M basketball program— he's already shown it through the portal, but now he's doing it through the high school ranks as well.

Texas A&M's latest basketball recruiting win signals changing tides in College Station

Two of Bucky's biggest high school recruits yet are already on the team in G Neiko Mundey and F Josh Irving, both of whom will get some chances this season even on a senior-laden roster for Texas A&M. Having players that McMillan hand-selects for his Bucky Ball system is a huge plus, and that's beginning to take effect even in his second year.

The world of college basketball now is so built around the transfer portal that even some programs that were bringing in highly talented high school players every year have fallen off a bit— Kentucky being one of them (though the coaching change there plays in as well). It's a sport where one transcendent player can still elevate a team, but there aren't many Cooper Flaggs out there— so building a solid team through the portal is the approach most teams end up taking.

Nevertheless, you have to be able to bring in talent from the high school ranks and begin developing them, even if there's a worry that they may end up heading out via the portal. Just like in football, you can't just write off recruiting from the prep ranks and focus solely on the transfers.

McMillan is showing that his program will be built on both streams of talent. That's exactly what the Aggies need to see for this program to become truly competitive again in what is maybe already the toughest basketball conference in the country.

And, let's be completely honest: with the way the football program has disappointed so far this year, McMillan is now facing an unprecedented opportunity to win the fanbase to the basketball team. This isn't to say that the A&M fanbase will abandon football at all, but interest in the program sometimes takes a while to kick up when the football season is still going on: right now, though, fans are ready to see what McMillan is going to put out on the hardwood this year.

This is a big win for Bucky Ball in College Station, no doubt about it. Hopefully, he continues ascending in the recruiting world, and places the Aggies firmly in the top tier of college basketball programs for years to come.

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