Texas A&M HC Bucky McMillan reveals one lesson he learned from SEC rival

Bucky McMillan has openly expressed his admiration for Alabama coach Nate Oats. The newly-installed Texas A&M coach revealed the one lesson he learned from his now SEC rival during the latest episode of NCAA analyst Jon Rothstein's podcast on CBS Sports College Basketball's YouTube channel.

McMillan rose to prominence during his time at Mountain Brook High School, winning five state high school titles with the help of his "Bucky Ball" style of play. McMillan continued to find success when he moved to the collegiate ranks to coach Samford, amassing a 99-52 overall record with the Bulldogs before joining Texas A&M.

Rothstein asked Bucky McMillan about the coaches he studied to refine his offensive system. He identified Nate Oats as someone who influenced his hyper-tempo style of play.

"There’s some guys that are friends within the business," McMillan said (Timestamp 30:42). "One of them had a similar route to me. Nate at Alabama, I’ll go ahead and say it. And so, I’ve watched them analytically. We were kind of into the analytics before the analytics were the analytics.”

McMillan shared that when he was coaching high school basketball in Alabama, all the coaches in the suburban schools opted to use a slow style of play. He promised himself he wouldn't utilize that strategy, opting for a fast-paced style instead, and putting emphasis on shooting plenty of threes.

“We were going to trap until they shot the ball, shoot as quickly as possible, take a lot of threes," McMillan said (Timestamp 29:34). And so some of the old-school coaches in the area used to say that as a negative, like it wasn’t disciplined basketball if you played fast and shoot threes."

"And then we started winning a lot and it became known as a positive in the community where I lived in. Basically, up-tempo basketball and shoot a lot of threes.”

Bucky McMillan's Samford wreaked havoc on the offensive end in the 2024-25 season, averaging 29.6 3-point attempts per contest, the 11th-most in the country. The Bulldogs ranked 14th in the NCAA in scoring as a result, averaging 82.9 points per contest.

When Bucky McMillan led Samford to the 2024 NCAA Tournament

Bucky McMillan made history in 2024, leading Samford to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000. The Bulldogs came close to securing a massive upset in the first round of last year's March Madness, losing by just four points to No. 4 seed Kansas.

Samford Bulldogs head coach Bucky McMillan looks up at the video board during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Photo: Imagn

Despite the early exit, McMillan gained plenty of fans with his "Bucky Ball" style of play. He used a frenetic pace to cause chaos on both the offensive and defensive ends. Samford outscored Kansas 48-18 from beyond the arc, with the Bulldogs shooting 16-for-37 from the 3-point area. Their defensive pressure also caused the Jayhawks to commit 18 turnovers.

It will be interesting to see how Texas A&M will benefit from "Bucky Ball" in the 2025-26 NCAA season.