Former Mountain Brook and Samford head coach Bucky McMillan returns to familiar territory as he leads the Texas A&M Aggies into Tuscaloosa to face Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama enters the night as a heavy favorite, with Vegas projecting roughly an eight-point Tide victory inside Coleman Coliseum.
But this matchup is far more intriguing than the betting line suggests.
Texas A&M sits atop the SEC standings at 7–1 in conference play and is searching for a statement road win. Despite that success, Vegas gives “Bucky Ball” just a 31.6% chance to pull the upset. It’s the ultimate stress test for McMillan’s system against one of the league’s most talented rosters.
One potential storyline McMillan has little interest in is the status of former G-League player Charles Bediako. When asked, Bucky brushed aside the noise:
“It is what it is. We’ve got to block out the noise and whatever people think about any of their players that are playing or not playing. It doesn’t impact our team. Our team has to be about us playing the best we can play. Whoever they line up across from us is who they line up across from us.”
Anyone who followed McMillan’s run at Samford knows better than to count him out. Just two seasons ago, his team was one call away from knocking off the Kansas Jayhawks. He inherited a Samford program that hadn’t mattered in decades and turned it into a consistent winner: two regular-season conference championships, an NCAA Tournament appearance, and a 99–52 overall record. Simply put, he rebuilt Samford basketball from the ground up.
Now an 8.5-point underdog on the road, McMillan once again leans into the role he knows best.
Tickets are available on SeatGeek for as low as $11. And while the odds say Alabama, history says never count out Bucky Ball.
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