Texas A&M and its new coach are taking the SEC by storm, but where's the love?
AUBURN, ALABAMA - JANUARY 6: Bucky McMillan head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies watches play during the first half against the Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena on January 6, 2026 in Auburn, Alabama. The complex gray matter of an AP Poll college basketball voter wasn’t designed to comprehend the divine simplicity of Buckyball.
How is Texas A&M in first place in the SEC without any preseason All-Americans?Who the heck is Bucky McMillan and why is this new coach’s entire starting lineup short enough to fly Spirit Airlines with comfort and ease? Much to the bewilderment of the always-erudite college basketball establishment, Texas A&M won again on Saturday. This time it was a 92-77 victory at Georgia. The Aggies’ record is now 17-4 overall and 7-1 in the SEC. A tasty regular-season showdown at Alabama awaits on Wednesday night.Why does college basketball hate Buckyball? It’s a running gag at this point in the season. I love it, and couldn’t be happier for McMillan, who is only five years removed from his last state championship as the Mountain Brook High School boys’ basketball coach. McMillan is still a mystery to people outside the state of Alabama. His alma mater doesn’t even exist anymore. His first college coaching gig was at Samford . There’s this rumor going around that McMillan is some kind of analytical genius, but his teams clearly win with old-school heart and toughness.Here’s what college basketball is slow to figure out,Buckyball is suddenly the toast of Texas A&M, but Birmingham-area hoops junkies are well-schooled in the scheme. It’s fast-paced. The full-court press never ends. Everyone shoots 3-pointers and can make their free throws. Positions are fluid. It worked at industrious Mountain Brook, but a lot of people doubted it could translate to college. Then McMillan won instantly at Samford and nearly upset Kansas in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Samford was robbed. I was there, sitting court-side. The floor was egregiously titled to favor the Jayhawks. The refs weren’t letting Kansas lose that day.Texas A&M came out like a flyweight boxer wildly throwing haymakers from the opening bell. Georgia wasn’t ready to match the energy. The Bulldogs didn’t make their second field goal until the seventh minute of the game. The Aggies led 24-6. Georgia made a run in the second half, but didn’t have the legs to last a full 40 minutes. That’s Buckyball. Birmingham has been watching it for years. Buckyball can give opposing ball-handlers fits, but Georgia didn’t even commit that many turnovers in the 15-point loss . “You come on the road and make 19 of 20 free throws, that’s a good sign,” McMillan said. “That’s not easy to do in an SEC road game.”Lots of money. Heavy on the bro-dork ratio. Maybe a little strange from the outside looking in. I appreciate the uniqueness of Texas A&M, but I can see how it doesn’t agree with the folks in Austin. I ran into McMillan on the sideline of Kyle Field last football season. He was showing a recruit around the school on an official visit. At the time, McMillan seemed a little worried about his new team. He bet big on experienced players in the portal, but didn’t know how it would all translate to the SEC. Bucky was smart to find a bunch of hungry, overlooked guys, including former Alabama player Rylan Griffin. They enjoy creating havoc during games and dumbfounding the college basketball poll voters, and it shows. “We’re going to play fearless basketball, and our guys have bought into that,” McMillan said after the Georgia game. “And it’s easy when you’ve got a group of guys like we got, veteran guys.”The team was up by 15 points with under a minute to play and still pressing and making steals. Maybe “enjoyably annoying” is the best way to describe Buckyball. Can McMillan actually win the SEC in his first season in the league? We’ll know a lot more after the Alabama and Florida games.Can Buckyball survive through the long slog of an SEC season? How will the legs hold up in the SEC tournament? Will bigger teams in the NCAA Tournament be a problem?Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything for the reader mailbag. Joseph is the lead sports columnist for AL.com and author of the highly controversial book "We Want Bama." SEC provocateur and expert in the field game management, Joseph's columns have been voted the best in...
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