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Texas A&M Basketball

Buzz Williams is the 'obvious' choice to win SEC Coach of the Year

March 1, 2023
10,922

Some difficult choices must be made before the Southeastern Conference announces its basketball awards next week.

There should be one easy choice, though.

Selecting Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams as Coach of the Year should be easy as picking Wade Taylor IV to shoot technical foul free throws.

It should be as emphatic as a Dexter Dennis slam dunk on a breakaway.

Alas, we’ve learned not to take any SEC honors for granted.

Frequently, A&M players and coaches have been overlooked when awards are presented.

Years later, it’s still incredulous and ridiculous Erik McCoy never earned All-SEC football recognition.

But the selection of Williams should be obvious.

Dissenters would howl at such a statement.

They would decry it as an SEC version of blasphemy. How, they would say, can someone whose team lost at home to Wofford be a serious candidate for coach of the year?

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Buzz Williams was the AP’s SEC Coach of the Year in 2020 after his first season in College Station saw the Aggies finish 10-8 in the league.

Yet, that loss is among the reasons All-SEC voters should bestow the honor on Williams.

That loss on Dec. 20 left the Aggies with a 6-5 record. The Aggies were written off like a CPA writes off a charitable contribution.

Yet, as anyone paying attention knows, the Aggies are 16-3 since that loss.

They’re 14-3 in SEC play. They clinched at least the #2 seed in the SEC postseason tournament by defeating Ole Miss on Tuesday night. They’re still mathematically in contention to win a share of the SEC championship (if Auburn upsets Alabama on Wednesday night).

The fact that A&M, which was picked to finish sixth in the SEC Media preseason poll, will finish ahead of Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee and Auburn — the top four in the poll — should be sufficient reason to honor Williams.

Williams kept his team together and believing.

Some thought the Aggies had imploded. Instead, they exploded. They flourished when most teams would have floundered.

Williams fixed problems. He motivated. He found a recipe for success and convinced his team to embrace it.

Under his guidance, the Aggies steadily improved as the season progressed.

They gained two hard-fought wins over Florida. They beat Auburn twice. They made clutch plays to topple Tennessee. And when they lost on the road to Kentucky, Arkansas and Mississippi State, they responded with big victories in their next game.

Some think Missouri’s Dennis Gates deserves Coach of the Year consideration. Williams beat Missouri twice.

He did all this without the elite-level talent some of the teams he faced had.

The 2022 national recruiting rankings include eight SEC teams in the top 25 — No. 2 Arkansas, No. 3 Alabama, No. 5 Kentucky, No. 9 Tennessee, No. 17 LSU, No. 20 Auburn, No. 24 Vanderbilt and No. 25 Ole Miss.

A&M’s class was ranked No. 66.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs
Since the loss to Wofford, Williams & Co. have turned Reed Arena into a fortress. The Aggies bring a 10-game home win streak into Saturday’s clash with Alabama.

Williams has relied more on the addition of hard-nosed transfers Dexter Dennis, Julius Marble II and Andersson Garcia than on an influx of highly-rated players like the aforementioned SEC teams.

By the way, A&M is 8-2 against those teams.

What more can be asked from a coach? Well, how about the fact that his team has had no off-court issues?

Alabama’s Nate Oats might still be the pick for some voters.

Boosted by the stellar recruiting class, the Crimson Tide needs one more victory to win the SEC regular-season title. Alabama, 25-4, is ranked No. 2 in the AP poll, No. 2 in the NET rankings and is all but assured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But Alabama also has the black cloud of tragedy hovering overhead.

Of course, it’s well known that a couple of Alabama basketball players — including star player Brandon Miller — were involved in the tragic shooting of a young mother.

Oats was criticized nationally for continuing to play Miller. He drew even more criticism for apparently defending Miller by saying he was “in the wrong spot at the wrong time.” Oats was the subject of even more criticism when a teammate “patted down” Miller in pregame introductions before playing Arkansas last Saturday.

A strong argument can be made that Williams has done more with less. There’s no legitimate argument against Williams as SEC Coach of the Year.

Still, some voters might consider placing Oats over Williams at the top of their ballot next week.

If so, they should consider Oats’ own words:

Wrong place. Wrong time.

Discussion from...

Buzz Williams is the 'obvious' choice to win SEC Coach of the Year

7,949 Views | 18 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Cotton79
AG81
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AG
He can't be SEC Coach of the Year because the Zoo wanted him fired in December. And the Zoo knows all.
Detmersdislocatedshoulder
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it's not even close if he doesn't win in a landslide the voters should lose that privelage.
Fanatic15...Drs2B!
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I think it'll be a tight race between new Mizzou coach and Buzz - with Oats in third place (hurt by perception of how Bama and he have handled the Brandon Miller situation).
Lake08
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Buzz needs to recruit better

But yes, he deserves COTY
JJxvi
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AG
Prepare to whine
FlyingAg
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AG
JJxvi said:

Prepare to whine

Don't know if I would call it that. But if its just up to the SEC media:

It ain't gonna happen.
[i][b]Time to bring back the Wrecking Crew![/i][/b]
phatty26
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Unfortunately you're right he has coached great in conference but non conf was awful.
It's the best and worst non conf vs conf.
I expect mizzou coach Gates to get it.
cageybee77
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phatty26
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Just beat Memphis and wofford we 24-7 probably looking at a 3-5 seed.
Method Man
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Oates prob deserves it.
Expert Analysis
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AG
Stackhouse should get some votes, they are playing well right now. poor nonconference like us, but they actually beat Wofford. they are exceeding expectations as much as anyone.
Gates has some nice non-con wins but getting swept by Buzz has to hurt.
You could make the case Oats has had extra distractions and still has his team exceeding expectations and winning the conference outright with a game to play.
Buzz nonconference was bad, but we clearly turned it around and played great in conference. We have been in every game with no blowout losses.
The Chicken Ranch
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AG
Buzz deserves COTY, but he won't receive it.

A&M is the forgotten school in the SEC.
Method Man
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He won it three years ago.
GrayMatter
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AG
Expert Analysis said:

Stackhouse should get some votes, they are playing well right now. poor nonconference like us, but they actually beat Wofford. they are exceeding expectations as much as anyone.
Gates has some nice non-con wins but getting swept by Buzz has to hurt.
You could make the case Oats has had extra distractions and still has his team exceeding expectations and winning the conference outright with a game to play.
Buzz nonconference was bad, but we clearly turned it around and played great in conference. We have been in every game with no blowout losses.
I'm thinking they're only taking in consideration the conference schedule which Buzz has to be a good candidate given that we have overachieved from our projected finish.
The Lost
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If this team wasn't ranked early season I'd agree, but this wasn't some from rags to riches story.

Lunardi had us as an 8 seed in Nov, and we're barely better than that now.
The Lost
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GrayMatter said:

Expert Analysis said:

Stackhouse should get some votes, they are playing well right now. poor nonconference like us, but they actually beat Wofford. they are exceeding expectations as much as anyone.
Gates has some nice non-con wins but getting swept by Buzz has to hurt.
You could make the case Oats has had extra distractions and still has his team exceeding expectations and winning the conference outright with a game to play.
Buzz nonconference was bad, but we clearly turned it around and played great in conference. We have been in every game with no blowout losses.
I'm thinking they're only taking in consideration the conference schedule which Buzz has to be a good candidate given that we have overachieved from our projected finish.


Gates has over achieved more though and with a team that won 11 total games last year, not a team that should have made the ncaa tourney.
Expert Analysis
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AG
    1. Kentucky t3 -2
    2. Arkansas t8 -6
    3. Tennessee t3 =
    4. Auburn 7 -3
    5. Alabama 1 +4
    6. Texas A&M 2 +4
    7. Florida t8 -1
    8. LSU 14 -6
    9. Ole Miss t12 -3
    10. Mississippi State t8 +2
    11. Missouri t5 +6
    12. Vanderbilt t5 +7
    13. Georgia 11 -2
    14. South Carolina t12 -4

Preseason media ranking, current standing, +- from preseason rank.

Clearly a 4 horse race. This weekend is all they have left to make as statement. Gates and Stackhouse could both move up to tie for 3rd in the conference, with losses they could fall back to tie for 7th. 7th place finish isn't going to do it for COY.
Buzz vs Oats - winner makes his case
Stackhouse vs a team trying to make the tourney - win and finish tied for 3rd (need help) with mizzou loss looks way better for him than Gates.
Gates vs one of the worst teams in conference - must win game, likely have a spot in the tourney locked up but a loss could push them to 7th.
Cotton79
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AG
Good Lord!... pundits - whether official or unofficial - are still punishing Buzz for what happened early in the season? Archaic thinking, much?!

A different perceptual lens: look at the process Buzz Williams has instilled. Look at the performance - the undeniable performance - since that tepid start. THAT should be the focus.

I keep saying this, but it goes back to my old choir teacher who taught us in singing (but what I've since learned applies to everything in my life): Put the right em-PHA-sis on the right syl-LAB-ble.

Damn straight. the "em-PHA-sis" here should be on what the Aggie process produced after its teetering start. THAT's the correct focus. (It's like the golfers say: it's not how you drive, but how you arrive that counts. )
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