COLLEGE STATION, Texas – With the final chapter of the most recent college basketball season written at the Final Four in Indianapolis earlier this month, the attention begins to turn toward the future with several national pundits projecting big things from the Aggie men's basketball team during the 2015-16 campaign.
ESPN recently released its “Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2015-16” and Texas A&M was featured as the No. 22 team in the countdown
College Basketball reporter Eamonn Brennan describes the Aggies as a surprise team to watch out for next season.
“I think Texas A&M is the most likely candidate [to be a sleeper team],” Brennan told ESPN.com after the completion of the Final Four. “Billy Kennedy has the No. 3 recruiting class coming in this year with four really good players arriving on campus. They've got some interesting players coming back from this year's team. Danuel House, among them who was injured off and on throughout the season. If he can stay healthy he's a really solid talented guy who originally committed to Houston. A&M's got a lot of talent coming in, we'll have to see how it all fits, but with what they're bringing in elevates A&M from a team that didn't get in the NCAA Tournament to team that you could see in the Top 25 for much of the year next season.”
Two other SEC teams (No. 1 Kentucky and No. 18 LSU) also represented the league in ESPN's rankings.
Bleacher Report college basketball national lead writer C.J. Moore ranks the Aggies as his No. 20 team in his Super Early Poll for 2015-16.
“If the Aggies had no one of note coming in, they would have still been considered for the top 25, as they have a nice core of Jalen Jones, Danuel House, Alex Caruso and Alex Robinson returning,” Moore writes. “Now about that recruiting class. It's the best in the history of the program and ranks third nationally, according to 247Sports”
Optimism about next year's edition of Aggie hoop stems from the strong core of this season's 21-win squad set to return to the court for the Maroon & White. Highlighting the group are a trio of All-SEC performers in seniors-to-be Danuel House (first team – SEC coaches, second team – Associated Press), Jalen Jones (second team – SEC coaches) and Alex Caruso (honorable mention – Associated Press).
House and Jones made headlines and an immediate impact during their first season after transferring to Texas A&M for last season. House, a 6-foot-7 guard, paced the Aggies and ranked fourth in the SEC by averaging 16.2 points per contest during league play. The Fresno, Texas, native emerged as one of the SEC's most prolific scorers against conference opponents when he shot 41.7 percent from the floor and 41.1 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Jones, meanwhile, averaged 13.8 points and a team-leading 7.1 rebounds per contest while notching his 10th and 11th career double-doubles.
Caruso saw his scoring average rise to 9.1 points per game as a junior in 2014-15 and dished out 182 assists to lead the SEC in dimes for a second straight year, becoming the first SEC player since Nick Calathes of Florida in 2008 and 2009 to do so.
In addition to the Aggies' three All-SEC performers and solid core of other returners, the program will receive a significant infusion of talent as Texas A&M's incoming four-member 2015 recruiting class is ranked in the national top-five by most recruiting services.
Aggie signees Tyler Davis (C / Plano, Texas [Plano West HS]), Admon Gilder (G / Dallas, Texas [Madison HS]), D.J. Hogg (SF / Plano, Texas [Plano West HS]) and Elijah Thomas (PF / Lancaster, Texas [Lancaster HS]) are all four members of ESPN's Top 100 in the Class of 2015 and rated among the top six players in the state of Texas.
Davis, Hogg (Plano West HS – Class 6A) and Thomas (Lancaster HS – 5A) are all three coming off state championships last month to cap off their senior seasons while Gilder was named Gatorade's Texas State Player of the Year after averaging 30.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.4 steals per game to lead Madison High to the state semifinals last season.