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Top-50 Player Set to Visit Texas A&M Basketball

Coach Bucky McMillan is putting his recruiting skills on display.
DJ Burton|
Texas A&M Aggies forward Pharrel Payne (21) shoots the ball as Vanderbilt Commodores forward Devin McGlockton (99) defends during the first half at Reed Arena.
Texas A&M Aggies forward Pharrel Payne (21) shoots the ball as Vanderbilt Commodores forward Devin McGlockton (99) defends during the first half at Reed Arena. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

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Texas A&M Aggies

The new era of Texas A&M basketball is here. Coach Bucky McMillan has refreshed the program before the season has even begun.

McMillan and his staff have been hot on the recruiting trail. The Aggies have added Southern Illinois transfer Ali Dibba on top of making waves in the high school realm.

The latest news to come out of Reed Arena is class of 2026 four-star, six-foot-eight small forward Ralph Scott has scheduled an official visit to Aggieland on Sept. 5, 247Sports national basketball recruiting analyst Dushawn London reported via X.

The Aggies' Recruiting Efforts

Samford Bulldogs head coach Bucky McMillan
Samford Bulldogs head coach Bucky McMillan looks up at the video board during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Scott has been on the Aggies' radar for some time and received an official offer from Texas A&M on July 20. On top of a visit to Aggieland, he has scheduled trips to Houston, LSU and Tennessee. Scott has flown under the radar up until his senior season. The big man has spent the past summer training in Texas, something that could play to the Ags' advantage.

Coach Bucky McMillan needs to place a strong emphasis on the upcoming high school class. In his first official recruiting cycle, the Alabama native needs to bring in multiple quality players and future leaders. The group he brings in will lay the framework for the culture that he wants to build within the program. While McMillan built a phenomenal team out of the transfer portal, it is not sustainable to keep a program running through portal recruitment only. Former Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams tried, but always fell short of a national championship.

McMillan's list of high school targets keeps growing. Texas A&M is engaged in a fierce recruiting battle with Maryland and coach Buzz Williams for four-star forward Trent Perry. McMillan also has a visit scheduled with Bryson Howard, a 6’5”, 200-pound small forward hailing from Heritage High School in Frisco, Texas. His father, Josh Howard, played in the NBA for ten years after getting drafted 29th in the 2003 NBA draft and even earned an All-Star nod in 2007. 

The Aggies are also looking at Dakari Spear, a six-foot-four 2026 shooting guard out of The Colony High School in The Colony, Texas. He is ranked as the 56th player nationally, the seventh-best shooting guard and the sixth-best player in Texas. In his junior year, he averaged 23 points per game and seven rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field. 

The Aggies are set to tip off te upcoming season on Oct. 26 against the Arizona State Sun Devils.

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DJ Burton
DJ BURTON

DJ Burton is a journalist from Kingwood, Texas. He is a credentialed writer for Texas A&M Aggies On SI. He graduated from Texas A&M with a journalism major and a sport management minor. Before attending A&M, Burton played offensive line for two seasons at Hiram College in northeast Ohio, where he studied sport management. Burton brings experience covering football, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball. He also served as a senior sports writer for A&M’s student newspaper, The Battalion.

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