Texas A&M Guard Cade Phillips Explains Why He Wanted to Stay in the SEC

It just means more.

That’s the slogan the SEC lives by and what many fans know the conference for. It is special no matter the sport. It just means more. Especially for Texas A&M basketball forward Cade Phillips, who mentioned how powerful and elite it is compared to others across the landscape competing to be the best.

“I knew I always wanted to be in the SEC,” Phillips said. “The SEC usually always had the best athletes. A lot of draft picks, especially coming from Kentucky in those days.”

Now, he has a golden opportunity this season to play for his second program. He is coming off a season in which he saw limited action due to an injury, but is now ready to be one of the leaders and a part of head coach Bucky McMillan’s program, known for its fast-paced style of basketball.

“It’s a culture that plays hard and plays the right way,” Phillips said. “I think in as modern of a style in basketball as we play, it's few and far between what we play. To have a coach to coach as hard as he does, that’s what goes into winning, and that’s what I wanted to be a part of.”

SEC Footprint

Growing up, the 6-foot-9 star from Jacksonville, Alabama stayed in the loop about the SEC and stayed informed about what was going on in the conference. Phillips touched on how the game used to be when he was younger and how he saw solid draft picks come from there.

“Growing up — SEC basketball was mediocre,” Phillips said. “I knew I always wanted to be in the SEC. The SEC usually always had the best athletes. A lot of draft picks, especially coming from Kentucky in those days.

His relationship with one person in particular played a role in making the SEC incredible to be part of, and seeing the numbers made it neat for him too.

“Being in the SEC footprint, seeing it become what it’s become, I luckily have a really good relationship with Garth Glissman, the associate commissioner of the SEC who’s over men’s basketball, and to see the numbers and how that far above and beyond the SEC is going in men’s basketball alone is honestly incredible for me,” Phillips said. “To be a part of that both in the offices and on the court, it's something really cool to see.”

With the state of SEC college basketball right now, Phillips believes that this conference has stamped and established itself to continue being big time.

“I don't think the SEC is going anywhere,” Phillips stated. “The saying is true. It really does just mean more, and I think that is something we know as a team that when we get to the SEC this season, it’s going to be a dog fight every night.”

A&M will take on Texas, LSU and Vanderbilt twice as mirror opponents, once at home and once on the road. Other schools at home it runs into this upcoming season include Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee. As for the trips away from Reed Arena, they include dates at Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri and South Carolina.

It’s a stacked, heavy schedule, and as Phillips mentioned, it just means more.

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