Texas A&M's Buzz Williams named SEC Coach of the Year by AP

A surprising rise in the Southeastern Conference basketball standings led to a not-so-surprising announcement on Tuesday that Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams was named SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press. 

The Aggies were picked to finished 12th in the SEC preseason polls. Yet, under Williams’ guidance, they finished the regular season 16-14. A&M is 10-8 in SEC play, tying South Carolina for sixth place in the conference standings.

The overachieving Aggies accomplished that despite ranking last in the SEC in scoring, assists, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and blocked shots.

Texas A&M is seeded seventh in the SEC postseason basketball tournament. They play Missouri on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

Williams was selected as coach of the year over Kentucky’s John Calipari, who led the Wildcats to the regular-season conference championship.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Buzz Williams with his three seniors (L-R, Josh Nebo, Wendell Mitchell and Mark French) before the Aggies’ final home game against Arkansas on March 7.

The honor came as a surprise to Williams, who never was named conference coach of the year at New Orleans, Marquette or Virginia Tech. On Monday, Williams said he did not expect that to change.

“I don’t anticipate that I’ll win this year,” he said. “I don’t participate in that sort of thing.

“I think everybody has a different lens on who should be coach of the year. Everybody is entitled to that. I haven’t spent any time thinking about that.”

Plenty of college basketball observers did. The Aggies were 5-6 in SEC play following a 78-61 loss to Florida on February 12. But mirroring their coach with great physical exertion, the Aggies rebounded with consecutive victories over Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi State.

That led to several national college basketball writers expressing support via Twitter for Williams to be named SEC coach of the year.

Those tweets increased after the Aggies went on the road to upset then-No. 17 Auburn, 78-75. It was Auburn’s only loss on its home court all season.

A&M then avenged an early-season loss to Arkansas by capturing a 77-69 victory over the Razorbacks in the SEC finale.