Most Aggies have probably not yet fully recovered from the unexpected ending to Texas A&M’s 2022-23 basketball season, losing by 17 to 10 seed Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. But the unfortunate end does not completely take away what the Aggies accomplished last season, going 15-3 in conference and finishing second only to Alabama (in both the regular season and the conference tournament). More importantly, they bring back virtually all of their key pieces, which is a big reason why they’re ranked in almost every publication’s “Way Too Early Top 25” for the 2023-24 season.

Way Too Early Top 25 Rankings

Where the Aggies stand

• The Athletic: No. 11
• Sports Illustrated: No. 13
• Fox Sports: No. 15
• USA Today: No. 15
• ESPN: No. 17
• CBS Sports: No. 19
• 247 Sports: No. 22

The Aggies won 25 games in 2022-23, and the only certain departure from their list of contributors is guard Dexter Dennis, who has exhausted his collegiate eligibility. He was the only player with significant playing time recognized on senior night, and Buzz Williams made a point of recognizing Dennis individually following the team’s season-ending tournament loss, so that certainly seems to indicate they expect other, most notably senior guard Tyrece “Boots” Radford, to return (though it should be noted that guard KK Robinson recently entered the transfer portal).

If that is the case, A&M could boast one of the top backcourts in the country in Radford and junior Wade Taylor IV, both of whom made the All-SEC team last season. Add in guard Manny Obaseki (who missed the majority of last season due to injury), a frontcourt of Henry Coleman, Julius Marble and Solomon Washington, and bench players like Andersson Garcia, Andre Gordon and Hayden Hefner, and this is team absolutely dripping with experience heading into next season. Out of the 10 players who appeared in 20 games or more last season, the Aggies return nine of them.

Now a big priority for A&M is increasing the difficulty of their non-conference schedule, and avoiding the sluggish start that has plagued them each of the past two seasons. But it’s easy to understand why a team who returns this much production is so highly thought of nationally, with most rankings having the Aggies beginning the season even higher than they finished this past one.