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Paul Finebaum: Texas A&M in a ‘much better position’ without Buzz Williams
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Paul Finebaum is not worried about the recent head coaching turnover at Texas A&M with Buzz Williams leaving the program for Maryland. While he did lead the Aggies to 3 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, A&M never advanced past the 2nd round on his watch.
To replace Williams, A&M landed on longtime high school coach Bucky McMillan, who most recently served as the head coach at Samford. While the Bulldogs won 21+ games each of the last 4 seasons, they had just 1 brief trip to the NCAA Tournament in his time.
In spite of those results, Finebaum still sees the arrival of McMillan as a plus for A&M. During his Monday morning appearance for “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning,” Finebaum described the Aggies as upgrading in the move from Williams to McMillan.
“I think there will be some similarities. Alabama picked up a big player over the weekend… Am I going to predict 14 schools in the NCAA Tournament?… No, but I think there’s a lot of things to be positive about,” said Finebaum about his outlook for SEC basketball next season. “I can tell you right off the bat one team that made it to the (postseason) this year upgraded, and I’ll let that one sit there for a minute.”
“Trying to figure out which one it was,” admitted Greg McElroy.
“The easy answer is Texas A&M,” clarified Finebaum. “I think Texas A&M sits today in a much better position with Bucky McMillan to get to a Final Four than it did under Buzz Williams.
“I know it’s easy to pile on Buzz Williams after he left. He was a good coach, he wasn’t a great coach. He can take you to the tournament, he might win you a game, he wasn’t going to get you too much further than that. I think Bucky McMillan has a chance to be an absolute game-changer in the SEC.”
That is certainly high praise for McMillan who enters his first major job in college basketball, especially in the extremely competitive era of the new SEC. Fans have also produced very mixed reviews of the hire, but we will have to see what becomes of McMillan’s time in College Station.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
