This is an opinion column.

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Bucky McMillan was coaching the high school basketball team in Mountain Brook five years ago.

Today, he’s the newest coach in country’s toughest league for college hoops.

Bucky Ball is making the move from Samford to Texas A&M, and I can’t wait to see how McMillan’s approach to the game influences the SEC. How will he adjust his system? Will the conference be forced to adapt to his brand of breakneck basketball? How soon before Bucky Ball breaks through to the Final Four?

No pressure.

Well, actually, yes, there will be pressure, and tons of it.

Bucky Ball is known for its relentless use of the full-court press combined with a new-age analytical approach to the game. It’s fun to watch and Texas A&M is going to absolutely love McMillan’s passion and charisma. He is a perfect fit for Texas A&M and its culture. McMillan is the son of a retired judge. He is exacting, meticulous, relentless, loyal and brilliant.

In other words, Texas A&M and Alabama are going to have some epic shootouts over the next couple years.

McMillan confirmed for me through text message yesterday evening that he would be the new coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. He’s replacing coach Buzz Williams, who is the new coach at Maryland.

Considering Texas A&M’s considerable NIL war chest, and the new changes coming to college basketball next week, don’t be surprised when McMillan starts stealing recruits from rival programs in the SEC. Players all know and respect McMillan, who won five state titles at Mountain Brook before making the jump to D-I.

McMillan turned Samford into a SoCon champion despite being hired at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m still angry about the Bulldogs getting jobbed by the refs against Kansas in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, but McMillan impressed a lot of people that weekend and it led to his opportunity at Texas A&M.

Readers familiar with my columns about McMillan over the last many years already know that I am in no way surprised by his rapid ascent into the SEC. I’ve been a believer in McMillan since I moved back home to Birmingham from Miami in 2006.

McMillan is headed to Texas A&M five years to the day since leaving Mountain Brook for Samford. Here’s what I wrote five years ago when Bucky Ball made the jump from high school to college: “‘Bucky Ball’ will be a national brand when this is all over. That’s my prediction.”

Get ready. It’s coming.

McMillan’s move to College Station begins at a critical time in the evolution of collegiate athletics. Beginning next week with the expected settlement of House v. NCAA, college programs around the country will begin sharing revenue with players. The salary cap across the country is expected to be $20.5 million for an entire athletics department. It’s up to schools how they want to spend that money, but boosters and schools can still use NIL riches to sweeten deals for top talent.

McMillan will be arriving at Texas A&M with a plan to win immediately and we already know that the Aggies will spend desperate amounts of cash to make that happen.

Don’t be surprised if McMillan makes his first huge splash this weekend during the Final Four.

The No.1 target in the transfer portal is Yaxel Lendeborg. He’s the former player for UAB who led the Blazers to the 2024 AAC tournament championship. Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky and Michigan have all been linked to Lendeborg, who is also emerging as a possible first-round draft pick.

Lendeborg to Texas A&M? Texas A&M certainly has the money to fill McMillan’s locker room with talent, so don’t rule out the Aggies.

The SEC is packed with the best coaches in college basketball. It takes an enormous amount of courage and confidence to make the leap into this tank of bloodthirsty sharks. It’s professional sports but without the pesky rules. Can McMillan go toe-to-toe with Bruce Pearl at Auburn, Nate Oats at Alabama, Rick Barnes at Tennessee, Todd Golden at Florida, Mark Pope at Kentucky, John Calipari at Arkansas, Chris Beard at Ole Miss, Sean Miller at Texas and, out of conference but nearby, Kelvin Sampson at Houston?

Can Bucky Ball win in the SEC?

Y’all already know what I think. Bucky Ball was made for SEC.

I’ll never doubt McMillan, and especially not at Texas A&M.

McMillan is the SEC’s outlier, just like his new school. He’s different and he likes it that way. He’s bold and no doubt he’s going to be a hit at Midnight Yell Practice.

Bucky McMillan started coaching basketball before he even graduated from Birmingham-Southern. He was made for this moment, he was molded by basketball in Birmingham and he always bet on himself.

BE HEARD

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”