The entire SEC basketball world convened in Birmingham, Alabama, this week for the annual media days.
Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams, along with guard Hayden Hefner and forward Andersson Garcia represented the Aggies in anticipation of the 2024-25 college basketball season, which tips off on Nov. 4.
The Aggies enter the season ranked No. 13 in The Associated Press’ Preseason Top 25 poll. This is the second consecutive preseason that they have been ranked inside the top 15, coming in at No. 15 in 2023.
Following a 21-15 season that ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Williams and the Aggies will lean on their veteran core to lift them in 2024.
“I don’t ever want to take credit away from our guys. I think a lot of it has to do with who they are, but in truth, I think it has more to do with who their parents are. There are a lot of voices, a lot of distractions … and I think the relationships are built on truth and built on love that comes long before they get to Texas A&M,” Williams told SEC Network on Tuesday.
More: Texas A&M basketball 2024-25 schedule: All Aggies nonconference, SEC games
“I think our staff has been superb in identifying the right character that also has the right talent relative to what we want to do. So I don’t think that it has anything to do with me whatsoever. I am proud of it. I think it’s important.”
The Aggies return an SEC-leading 78% of their total production from 2023. A group led by Wade Taylor IV, a fourth-year graduate student who, for the second consecutive season, was tabbed as a preseason first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection, according to a release from the conference Monday.
“It’s been easy with the group that we have returned just because of the long-standing relationships they have between one another, and obviously the relationships that all of us have, from a staff perspective, with our guys, it’s been — in truth — it’s been a lot of joy,” Williams said.
In addition to their returning production, the Aggies have reloaded the roster as well, using the portal to land commitments from SMU’s Zhuric Phelps, Minnesota’s Pharrel Payne, and Nebraska’s C.J. Wilcher. Phelps, a guard, averaged 14.8 points a game last season, while Payne, a forward, averaged 10.0 point and 6.1 rebounds, and Wilcher, a guard, averaged 7.7 and shot 39.4% from 3.
The Aggies open regular season play Nov. 4 when they travel to Orlando, Florida, to take on UCF.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas A&M basketball: Buzz Williams at SEC media days
