The Southeastern Conference’s mantra of “It Just Means More” has become a tired adage over the years. Its claim of dominance in just about every major sport has — at times — been exposed as simply a hypothetical toughness it can’t live up to when games are actually played.
But there’s nothing hypothetical about how good the SEC is in men’s basketball this year. Not only is it the best conference in the sport, it’s bordering on being the best season any single conference has had in the history of the sport.
By the beginning of January, the worst record in the conference belonged to South Carolina at 10-3. Overall, the league went 185-23. The entire conference is ranked in the top 75 teams in the country by KenPom.com, and six SEC teams — including No. 10 Texas A&M — are ranked in the top 10 in the AP Poll.
As of now, every single conference road game apart from any teams visiting the Gamecocks will be a Quad 1 game thanks to the NCAA NET Rankings. Combine that with A&M’s stellar 11-2 mark against a ridiculously tough non-conference schedule that allowed the Aggies to rank up plenty of Quad 1 and 2 wins already, and it’s not a surprise to see the Maroon and White ranked in the AP Top 10 for the first time since 2017.
Here’s why A&M is projected as a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN and what they need to do to contend for their first conference title since 2016.
A unique formula
As was the case last season, the Aggies lead in the country in offensive rebounding percentage and have a stellar defense.
So what’s different this season? How about the fact that the Maroon and White have improved in both categories. Their offensive rebounding percentage is up to a whopping 44.3% — a full 2.3 points over Milwaukee, the country’s second-best in that category.
That’s enough to turn seemingly lackluster shooting numbers into an offense that ranks 39th in the nation, per KenPom’s offensive efficiency ranking. If you can turn nearly half of your misses into another possession, why does it matter if your field goal percentage is well into the 200s?
The other half of A&M’s winning equation has been their defense, the sixth-most efficient in the country. The Aggies are masters of working opponents late into the shot clock and force their fair share of turnovers.
Combine the Maroon and White’s defensive effort with their offensive rebounding, and you have a team that can easily handle squads that can shoot lights-out, like Texas. The Aggies handled the Longhorns to the tune of an 80-60 victory in their SEC opener, despite the visitors coming into the game with a three-point percentage that ranked in the top-10 in the country.
Future tests and new faces
A&M will have plenty of chances to prove that its formula is successful against top-tier SEC competition. Three of the nation’s four most efficient offenses, per KenPom, belong to conference foes Auburn, Florida and Alabama.
And every conference foe boasts its fair share of talent, including several national player of the year contenders. Particularly, watch out for do-it-all Auburn senior forward Johni Broome and Florida senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. — two players the Aggies have beaten in the past but who are playing better than they ever have before, as each school is ranked second and eighth in the AP Poll, respectively.
The Aggies’ leading scorer, graduate G Wade Taylor IV, has been a star throughout his time in Aggieland. But as he deals with a lingering injury, look for others to step up in his place, including a couple of faces new to those fans who haven’t been following hoops through the fall might not recognize.
Senior guard Zhuric Phelps has been A&M’s most-used player this season and ranks second behind Taylor in both points and assists. The transfer from SMU has been a force defensively, ranking second in the SEC in steals.
But it’s not just about guard play for the Maroon and White. A&M has plenty of rebounders in its frontcourt, but Minnesota transfer junior F Pharrel Payne has joined graduate F Henry Coleman III as both a legitimate scoring threat and rebounder. Coleman ranks third in both categories for the Aggies, while Payne is fourth.
Overall, this is still a coach Buzz Williams-coded A&M team. But in a loaded SEC, it will need to be Williams’ best he has had in Aggieland if the Aggies want to have any new banners hanging in Reed Arena this time next year.
