It’s never too early to prepare for the coming college basketball season, and the worldwide leader in sports unveiled their early projections.
Texas A&M is coming off a 25-10 season (15-3 SEC) in which they appeared in the SEC title game for consecutive years and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. That level of success has the media forecasting a strong season ahead for the Maroon and White.
The Aggies landed at No. 19 in ESPN’s latest Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings. The plethora of returning talent has them equipped to pick up where they left off at the close of last season:
Will the Aggies pick up where they left off in the second half of 2022-23, when they won 19 of 22 games before falling in the SEC championship game and the first round of the NCAA tournament? Having Wade Taylor IV back to run the show is a huge plus, while Buzz Williams also has three other returning starters after Tyrece Radford decided to come back. Dexter Dennis is the lone starter leaving, but transfers Jace Carter (UIC) and Eli Lawrence (Middle Tennessee) will help replace him.
After putting together a resounding turnaround campaign last year, it will be a different story in 2023. Texas A&M is no longer under the radar, rather, they are expected to reach new heights with one of the more well-rounded rosters in the country. Wade Taylor IV and the returning Tyrece Radford headline a group that leads the SEC in returning production next season.
To put it bluntly, reaching the SEC title game or merely appearing in the NCAA Tournament are no longer applicable barometers of success. It’s time for the Aggies to win the conference and make a deep run in the month of March. Don’t believe us? Well, head coach Buzz Williams sang the same tune earlier in the offseason.
The Maroon and White did well in the transfer portal with the additions of Jace Carter, Eli Lawrence, and Wildens Leveque. Carter and Lawrence should serve as apt replacements for Dexter Dennis, while Leveque has an opportunity to help mentor a promising frontcourt led by Solomon Washington and Henry Coleman III. All in all, there’s no reason to doubt why Texas A&M can’t be a true contender when it’s all said and done this year.
The Aggies will kick off their 2023-24 campaign against Texas A&M-Commerce on Monday, Nov. 6, from Reed Arena.
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