Texas A&M basketball is entering a new era. Goodbye Buzz, hello Bucky.
As folksy as both names are, the two coaches themselves couldn't but be more different in their on-court playstyles. That disparity has already become well-trodden ground in the few days that this hire has been official, but Aggie fans are hoping that the gulf in style extends beyond just the baselines.
For all of the positives that came out of this senior-laden Aggie team that we just saw take the court this past season— the continuity being largely unmatched in big time college basketball— it meant that the holes on the roster stayed mostly the same throughout Buzz's time in College Station. Though this most recent team was bolstered by two big portal boosts in Payne and Wilcher, the biggest transfers usually overlooked the Aggies.
That said, one of the biggest questions that A&M fans have already here in McMillan's nascent tenure is how well he can operate the portal. It would be a bit rich to expect Bucky to pull in a top-10 portal player with how much movement there already has been— but whatever expectations there are have been inflated with the latest information on the kind of NIL war chest McMillan will have to work with.
How good is $7 Million in CBB and in the SEC? That’s reportedly how much Bucky McMillan and co. will have to work with.
— Drewtamu (@Drewtamu) April 5, 2025
It’s more than I expected, and seems like part of a push to accelerate the growth of a basketball program - and I mean beyond that fact that the roster is… pic.twitter.com/hmWBI0akR6
Make no mistake: this not only represents a huge investment in the sport compared to what came before, but every little bit of it will be necessary. The Aggies are down to only one player on the team after portal entries, decommitments, and graduations, so building a roster at all is going to be a challenge.
This will be a new era in the most complete sense— from style turnover, to regime turnover, to personnel turnover. McMillan will have a steep learning curve with how elite the conference has become and the dearth of players currently on the roster— but there's no time to waste.
Many will be understanding if the first year is a bit slow, given the bare cupboard in Reed at the moment. But with this kind of investment, the time is now to hit the portal hard. Here's hoping Bucky is the man to do just that.