Texas A&M basketball sees first transfer portal casualty of Buzz Williams departure

Texas A&M basketball loses first huge name to portal after Buzz Williams departure

This has been a wild ride over the last few days for Texas A&M basketball fans. The early loss in the NCAA tournament was a real bummer, but it had nothing on the up and down that Aggie fans were about to undergo.

Rumors of Buzz Williams' departure had been floating for quite some time, and they intensified after the Aggies lost in March Madness. However, the ebb and flow here was hard to keep track of: all of a sudden, it looked like the Terps backed off, and then just as quickly, they were back in the thick of things.

Now that Buzz is out the door, fans knew that it would cost the Aggies some of their bright returning talent, of which there was already going to be a major dearth. Now, even as the Aggies seem to be circling in on their top target, we've seen the first casualty of this coaching change.

Pharrell Payne departing Texas A&M basketball for transfer portal

News came down today that Aggie big man Pharrell Payne, who emerged in a huge way down the stretch of the season, has decided to head out the door following Buzz Williams' departure.

Payne was the most consistent Aggie in the tournament, tying and then breaking his career record for points in the Aggies' two March Madness games. It wasn't enough to lift A&M over Michigan, but it had Aggie fans with a little spring in their step knowing that Payne was set to return.

Now, though, they'll be forced to look elsewhere for production. Whoever they hire— whether Chris Beard or someone else— will have to hit the portal hard to build a contending team next year.

This may not be all of the departures, either. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see Solomon Washington follow his teammate into the ranks of the transfers here pretty presently. It's no fun to see, but it's the way the game works nowadays.