I don't know that my expectations for next season are significantly different than if Buzz was still at the helm considering all of the players we were losing but it will probably be more fun because we don't know what to expect . The beginning of the season will be sort of like Christmas morning when your'e 4 yrs old. You know your'e going to have some new toys to play with but you have no idea what they're going to be .

Until the roster gets filled out it's very difficult to project anything and even then you don't know what it will look like until it's all put together and you see it in action. If God himself offered up a .500 conference record and a play in game in the tourney right now I'd take it in a heart beat but the real joy will be in the journey as opposed to the end result imo.

I dunno I was honestly intrigued to see what we would have looked like with Buzz too. I was already expecting the offense would look pretty different.

But Bucky is bringing a different kind of energy that I think is going to ultimately make his ceiling much higher here.

Totally agree wrt potential Bucky upside vs Buzz upside.

NIT appearance

At least the offense won't be dog crap boring to watch.

Not really fair to have any expectations except to be competitive. We will literally have no players from last years starters playing for us.

JJxvi said:

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Do yall expect the SEC to perform in November and December the way we did last year? Im expecting that we might see a step back

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Given last years non conference performance by the SEC, I don't think that level will ever be repeated again by the SEC or any conference.

Mikesyracuse1

I agree with the idea that I just want to have hope by the end of the season. We have a lot a variables that need to be proven out.

We have a new coach, a new coach with no major conference experience, a complete new roster, a style that no one else really plays, and a conference coming off the best season ever but with a lot of roster turnover. How does this all play out? Who knows. But if at the end of the season teams really don't want to play us and we see the system starting to work, I'll call it a successful season 1.

You know, the interesting thing about this situation that I just thought about is it may be to our benefit that Bucky gets to start 100% with a clean slate in terms of players. Sometimes starting from 0 is easier than reversing the momentum in the wrong direction from a previous system. I'll consider this season a success if Bucky can lay a solid foundation and start moving things in a positive direction

Worked for Pope… talking about the coach, not the Pontiff.

bobinator said:

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Yeah, and we've said this in other threads but the only thing I'm going into next season hoping to accomplish is that we can see the vision by the end of it. I've been calling it a "proof of concept" season.

What that actually looks like could go a lot of ways, but take Buzz's first season. We were absolutely terrible to start, but by the end of it we were a competitive team.

I think there's several scenarios where we don't make the tournament next year but we still come out of it feeling pretty good about the future, especially if some of our pieces with multiple years left have big seasons. (Mgbako, Holloway, Hill)

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This is a great post among many on this thread.

I will probably have about a 6-10 SEC wins expectation range at the very beginning, and feeling more likely closer to 6 than to 10. Impossibly to guess though. Totally new roster with a new coach who will also be new to coaching in a power conference (though he will have some assistants with lots of experience at that level).

bucky needs to be careful,he keeps adding these types of players we might raise our expectations.

hell of a job so far. this team on paper seems more talented than buzz last team.

We have a good team on paper now, but I think expectations are already too high unless you have someone like Griffen truly step up to be a star level player. There's no one guaranteed to be a Wade Taylor level player on this roster yet.

Detmersdislocatedshoulder said:

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hell of a job so far. this team on paper seems more talented than buzz last team.

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Yeah, I mean it's not even close.

The question is how quickly can we figure out how these pieces go together and how they fit into the style we want to run. Non-con is going to be absolutely wild.

A team of all "very good" players can certainly be better than a team of "good players plus one or more elite players" but you're typically talking about a team that has advantages in terms of balance, communication, and playing together and working hard for each other, and those types of things that you dont typically think of when you're talking about having an entire roster of pieces who have never played together before.

Yeah, I don't think there's any debate that this roster is more talented. If you were drafting players for a new college team your first pick would probably be Taylor but then after that I think you could argue that three of the next four picks or so would be from this group depending on how good you think Payne is and how much you're worried about Isaacs' injury history.

But Buzz basketball was never about individual talent so that doesn't mean much. Last year's team had very well defined roles, a lot of team chemistry coming into the year, a deep understanding of our offensive and defensive systems, etc. I still don't really have any expectations for next year because of that, but I do think the upper limit of realistic scenarios has moved up quite a bit for me.

But it's the non-sexy stuff that's going to be what makes or breaks us. I like to joke about the Buzz cult but even our new coaching staff hasn't really been together.

Still sticking with your expectations from a month ago?

I would argue that Payne is probably the most talented of the entire group. IV really struggled in senior season, but would (and should be) the top kid off the board if you are drafting from the two pools. What's more interesting is how Bucky would draft for his system vs. Buzz. Buzz would love the team as currently recruited - guys like Griffen Mgbako, Isaacs would be great to him. I doubt Bucky would think much of most of last year's roster. Payne is the best, but I don't think fits his style all that much. Garcia being the lone exception. Every basketball coach loves guys like Garcia.

Until very recently I was worried that we wouldn't just not win many conference games, but that we wouldn't even be competitive in many of the losses. But this group looks like it has enough talent to have a chance to win on most nights. I'm thinking somewhere between 5 and 9 conference wins now, so I'll say on 7.

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But Buzz basketball was never about individual talent so that doesn't mean much. Last year's team had very well defined roles, a lot of team chemistry coming into the year, a deep understanding of our offensive and defensive systems, etc

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and then we bumped our head on his ceiling

Thats whats so great in May 2025- we're in the dark and don't see any ceilings.

I'm feeling a lot better about next year. We have 2 studs and several solid players. If they gel well and adapt to the new system we might have a decent season.

Easy, middle of pack in SEC and get a bid for NCAA. Not extreme whatsoever and completely reasonable given what Bucky has accomplished in portal. In fact, if Bucky is who we hope he is, he equals Buzz in Year 1.

dcg4403 said:

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Easy, middle of pack in SEC and get a bid for NCAA. Not extreme whatsoever and completely reasonable given what Bucky has accomplished in portal. In fact, if Bucky is who we hope he is, he equals Buzz in Year 1.

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NGL I've been pleasantly surprised by the way he has started out in recruiting and the portal. Looking forward to seeing how this team gels

If Bucky's system produces competitive basketball with it coming down to coaching in the last three minutes and no WTF losses I suspect most of us will be pleasantly content.

85AustinAg said:

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Are you kidding? This is TexAgs. There will be hundreds of fire Bucky, fire Trev, burn it to the ground and go hire a top level coach posts if we have a bad loss, go through a losing streak or finish below or around .500.

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I don't care if we win a natty in all major sports… trev needs to go

Realistically, my expectations are nil. Unrealistically, I expect nothing less than a championship (in all sports, since they are all funded at a championship level per the A&M trustees, President, coaches, and the BMAs, none of which have disagreed with our AD comments).

Personally my expectations have risen based on how he has pulled together a roster that at least statistically looks like they can at least compete in the SEC. Making the NCAA tourney doesn't seem totally unrealistic imo.

Not only will we make the tourney but we'll go farther than Buzz ever went in the last eight years.