Texas A&M basketball has already made major changes. With the departures of Josh Holloway, Pop Issacs and Ruben Dominguez, along with the addition of P.J. Haggerty, the Aggies will be looking at a completely different roster in the 2026-27 season.
For Bucky McMillan, it's going to be another project in the making. While he can control what only he can control, Texas A&M just got some awful news in the portal department. Former TCU forward David Punch could have been a perfect piece to the puzzle, but now, he's going to be a Texas Longhorn.
This isn't the only bad news for the Ags, unfortunately, as Punch isn't the only key piece to commit to Texas. The truth is: Sean Miller is winning in the portal, and the Aggies need to start matching his energy. Former Colorado guard Isaiah Johnson was one of the best guards in the portal and averaged 16.9 points and 3.0 assists this season, and he's just another piece to help Texas.
Texas basketball jumps on star forward David Punch before Texas A&M
The Aggies still have a lot of work to repair their team next season, but this was a great chance to settle the score on their departures, and they came up short.
We don't actually know if the Aggies reached out to Punch directly, but the fact that he committed to Texas shows the Aggies had a chance. He played high school ball less than two hours from College Station, but Austin is slightly closer in his defense.
It also helps that the Longhorns have Miller as their coach. He's a veteran face that's been in the game a long time, and he's the perfect coach to lead Texas to bigger and better things. They were one basket away and less than a second away from going to the Elite 8.
There's still plenty of fish in the portal, but a homegrown talent like Punch made sense in the long run. Now, he's with the Longhorns. Huge bummer for McMillan and the Ags.