Bucky McMillan on Texas A&M roster: ‘As good as we could possibly do’

Texas A&M is one of the programs that went through a coaching change this offseason and, with that, saw a lot of roster turnover. Still, considering all things about that shift in College Station, Bucky McMillan thinks the Aggies pieced together the best roster that they possibly could for next season.

McMillan spoke about next season’s team for A&M in an interview last week with CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. He said his new program did “as good as (they) could possibly do” as far as building this roster with when he got hired and what was already off the board at that point in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

“Did as good as we could possibly do based on when we got hired,” said McMillan. “I think we got here officially on the 8th, maybe. And, I think I saw something that 81 of the Top-100 portal players were already taken, something crazy like that.”

“I think our staff, when we got everybody in place, the people of A&M supporting us with the way we had to go about this? I’m not saying that this will be the best team we ever assemble but what I will say is I’m very proud of what we were able to do based on, when you’re looking at the supply-and-demand chain at the time we got hired.”

When Buzz Williams left for Maryland on April 1st, Texas A&M saw seven players, namely Pharrel Payne and Solomon Washington also going to join the Terps, enter the portal. That made it double-digit departures for the program with eight seniors now out of eligibility with Wade Taylor IV, Zhuric Phelps, Henry Coleman III, Manny Obaseki, Andersson Garcia, Hayden Hefner, CJ Wilcher, and Jace Carter all graduating. Those ten players mentioned here made up the entire rotation for the Aggies.

Then, since A&M hired McMillan from Samford later that week, the Aggies have added eleven players with ten transfers and an international commitment. The portal pickups are Pop Isaacs (Creighton), Mackenzie Mgbako (Indiana), Rylan Griffen (Kansas), Rashaun Agee (USC), Federiko Federiko (Texas Tech), Marcus Hill (NC State), Zach Clemence (Kansas), Jacari Lane (North Alabama), Jamie Vinson (Texas), and Josh Holloway (Samford), with Isaacs, Mgbako, and Griffen being rated in the Top-125 of On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players. They also have one incoming freshman with an in-state four-star in Jeremiah Green.

With this team, McMillan noted their shooting as an aspect that excites him, with seven of the transfers, minus Federiko, Clemence, and Vinson, averaging 1.1 made threes per game at a mark of 32.4%. That gives them some volatility in their play that he recognizes could cost them some games but which could also win them some, especially come time for March Madness.

“That we’re a good shooting team. And so, that’s what I see when I watch them. We have a lot of good shooting and, when you have that, you’re capable of beating anybody. You want more than that, obviously, or you’re capable of losing to anybody, right. But I certainly think it’s a team that you’ll see make 20-plus threes in some games this year,” said McMillan. “If it became between one or the other, like a team that, hey, could be, could lose to some teams but also a team that could knock off the best team in the country? Give me that team because we all know, to make a run in the tournament, you’re going to have to pull that.”

“We know the goal, what this is. I mean, basketball is a postseason sport, right. I mean, that’s what it is – a tournament sport. So, if we can do our job, getting into the tournament, and it’s your path, right? You’ve just got to have one of those two games, where you shoot it extremely well. These guys we have? They’re capable. We have multiple guys, I think, who can shoot 40-plus percent from three-point land.”

We’ll have to see how all of this comes together for the debut of this new tenure at Texas A&M. That said, McMillan, seeing this as the best possible roster he could have for this season, is ready for them to take the court in year one of ‘Bucky Ball’ in Aggieland.