by Ian Curtis, staff reporter

On April 3, 2019, Texas A&M announced the hiring of Virginia Tech’s Buzz Williams as the next head coach of the Aggies men’s basketball program.

By December 8, the Aggies had just endured a brutal four-game losing streak, including a loss to Fairfield. Fairfield is a school with 1/10 of the student population of Texas A&M. Fairfield is also a school that many Aggie fans didn’t even know existed until the Stags defeated A&M 67-62 in the Orlando Invitational.

And on March 10, 2020, Williams was named SEC coach of the year by the Associated Press. After being picked to finish in the bottom three of the SEC by all but a few preseason polls, the Aggies put on a show in conference play, going 10-8 with an upset against No.17 Auburn on the Tigers home court. With an overall record of 16-14 and the 7-seed in the SEC tournament, A&M fans were beginning to hear whispers of a possible NIT bid.

Unfortunately, we’ll never know exactly what the Aggies might have accomplished in this year’s postseason. Due to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, nearly every sporting event in the country (including the Aggies first SEC tournament game against Missouri) and most of the world has been suspended, cancelled or postponed.

That said, we still have an opportunity to review Buzz’s first season at the helm of Texas A&M. Perhaps looking back on this year can ease the pain of what has been dubbed “March Sadness.”

Now how exactly did this year’s Aggie squad manage to reverse course? Where was the turning point? In short, there wasn’t one. This year was characterized by a back and forth struggle of which group of Aggies would show up. Would it be the team that would take LSU to overtime and nearly pull off the upset? Or would it be the group that dropped double-digit losses to Harvard and Temple?

By the end of the season, the former had gradually, yet clearly, won out. Every player started to find their place on the court, something Williams had focused on improving all year long. With the losses of much of last year’s team and the addition of several players just before the season, frequent substitutions and lineup changes were a common characteristic of A&M games this year.

Senior Josh Nebo developed into the nucleus of the Aggies inside game, evolving into an excellent shot blocker who could get points in the paint when it counted. Williams and the Aggies also transitioned into a unique style of play best described as gritty and tough.

Williams himself put it best on his postgame radio interview after the Aggies 78-75 upset of Auburn: “We want to be good at making you play bad.” His team certainly accomplished that feat by the dawn of postseason play.

And it wasn’t just Nebo who stepped up. From freshmen Andre Gordon and Emmanuel Miller, to juniors from Bill Kennedy’s tenure such as Savion Flagg and Jay Jay Chandler, a plethora of Aggies were able to make plays this season. Many players never expected to get as many minutes on the court as they did, with even walk-on, 5-foot-8 senior Mark French seeing as much as thirty minutes of playing time during the victory over Troy.

It’s that flexible and workmen-like nature that really shaped Texas A&M’s season. Nobody was taking shots for their own glory. Nobody was complaining when they were subbed out. The Aggies could start nearly any five players on their roster and still walk out with a win. Williams was not only able to teach his players the new scheme, but was able to drive home that modest character and willingness to work needed to succeed in his system. With a group of kids coming from a variety of different coaching backgrounds, that’s an accomplishment that cannot be overstated.

In his first year, Buzz Williams was able to turn the Aggies from arguably the worst major conference team in the country into a solid squad with some postseason potential, however slight. With this season expected to be nothing more than a rebuilding year, Williams and his staff certainly outperformed all expectations.

At this rate, Texas A&M will be back in the tournament, Reed Arena will be rocking again, and the Aggies will compete for an elusive SEC title. It’s only a matter of time.