Texas A&M basketball is sitting at 13-4 at the moment after a disappointing loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in double overtime on the road— a game where a late blown call could have changed the outcome in favor of the Aggies had it been called correctly.
However, despite the gutting nature of that loss, it was only the fourth of the entire year for McMillan's team. It dropped the Aggies to 1-3 in quad one games, though two of those losses came in overtime on the road, with their lone other loss being a Quad 2 game at home against UCF.
The Aggies are currently a team firmly on the bubble, ranking 48th in the NET ahead of Saturday's showdown with the Texas Longhorns in Austin. Even with the meat of their schedule still ahead, though, McMillan has already shown that he was worth the investment from Texas A&M, as he has this squad decidedly ahead of schedule.
Texas A&M is ahead of schedule under Bucky McMillan in year one
It bears mentioning here that the Aggies have done everything so far this year while functionally completely missing their best player. Mackenzie Mgbako is the most skilled member of the team by far, but an offseason injury meant the action he has seen thus far was extremely limited before he eventually was ruled out for the year.
That in mind, that the piecemeal nature of this team that is still finding how to coalesce and gel properly has not led to a worse record is nothing short of remarkable. The Aggies have pulled off a huge upset already in their win over Auburn, and they almost got another with the game against Tennessee.
The biggest question coming into the year is how quickly things would come together for this squad— a team made up of skilled players, but guys who had never played together. This team still hasn't reached its final form— and in one sense, they won't this year given Mgbako's injury— and they are still looking like a team taht can make some noise in the SEC. The belief that Bucky is marshalling behind this squad is impressive, and it will be fun to see just how high they can fly this season.