On Monday, College basketball’s transfer portal welcomed its biggest name yet in Oral Roberts guard Max Abmas, who broke out two years ago as the star of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. It’s not a stretch to say that every school in the country will reach out to the fifth-year player.
Should we be including Texas A&M in the conversation as a potential fit?
The Aggies will welcome back most of their starting five and a large part of their roster after their successful 2022-23 campaign, in which they went 25-10 (15-3 SEC) and earned an invite to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. A&M also appeared in the SEC Championship game for the second consecutive season.
Still, this basketball team would be wise to bolster its roster with more depth whenever the opportunity presents itself. For returning big man Julius Marble, that may mean having Abmas don the Maroon and White next season:
Texas A&M forward Julius Marble and Max Abmas were high school teammates at Jesuit. https://t.co/CmvdNkuWaQ
— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) April 4, 2023
As GigEm247‘s Carter Karels aptly notes, Marble and Abmas know each other well from their high school days playing ball at Jesuit. For Abmas, making the leap in playing against SEC competition could be a bit easier when you have a familiar face alongside you.
The accolades for Abmas alone make bringing him to College Station a no-brainer. In the 2020-21 season, he led the nation in scoring (24.5 PPG) while shooting at a 43% clip from beyond the arc. He’s an all-around playmaker, having averaged 3.2 assists per game in four years at Oral Roberts, and as a career 38% three-point shooter he would give this Aggies team a major boost in that category.
Last season, A&M shot just 32.6% as a team from three (256th in the country). By adding a sharpshooter to the roster, the Aggies would add another layer to an offense that is spearheaded by All-SEC guard Wade Taylor IV, who is liable to make defenses pay when he attacks the rim.
Can you imagine the open lanes he’ll have when opponents are preoccupied with keeping tabs on Abmas from deep? That would be a sight to behold for Aggies fans and an absolute nightmare for the rest of the SEC.
However, pairing Abmas with Taylor would give the Aggies a relatively small backcourt, as the Oral Roberts guard is listed at 6-1 while Taylor himself is 6-0. Thankfully the Aggies have a pair of enforcers in Marble and Henry Coleman who can guard the paint, but it would be smart to consider the effects of having a relatively undersized guard duo.
At the very least, expect Buzz Williams and the Aggies to reach out to Abmas in the near term, as every school should. Having a friendly face in Marble can’t hurt, and could very well move the needle for Abmas to consider making College Station his next home.
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