Wade Taylor IV makes drastic career decision after March Madness run

12/04/2024 05:00

The 2023-24 season was just s0-s0 for the Texas A&M Aggies. They finished with an overall record of 21-15 and only 9-9 in SEC play. They lost to Florida State in the SEC Tournament semifinals, but somehow they still were selected for the NCAA Tournament. But now, Texas A&M is going to have to figure out a way to replace Wade Taylor IV.

With the explosion of the transfer portal, Wade Taylor announced that he would be transferring following his junior year at Texas A&M. It's a huge blow for the Aggies who lose their leading scorer from last season. Texas A&M advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Houston in the round of 32.

Wade Taylor is one of the best players in the transfer portal

With his decision, Wade Taylor immediately becomes one of the top players in the portal and will likely have no shortage of interested schools. Taylor had a big junior season for the Aggies as their leading scorer. He's been steadily improving his production since his freshman season back in 2021-22.

Taylor moved into the Aggies starting lineup full-time as a sophomore. This year, he appeared in 36 games for Texas A&M at a little over 32 minutes per game. He averaged a career best 19.1 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals with splits of 36.6 percent shooting from the field, 32.5 percent shooting from the three point line and 84.7 percent shooting from the free throw line.

While his shooting efficiency is most certainly a pause for concern, there's no question that Taylor can get buckets with the best of them in college basketball.

In the Aggies first round NCAA Tournament win against Nebraska, Taylor finished with 25 points, one rebound, five assists and one steal. He shot 8-14 from the field and 7-10 from the three point line. During the Aggies loss in the round of 32 to Houston, he finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal albeit not shooting particularly well.

Taylor initially committed to Texas A&M as one of the top ranked point guards in Texas while in high school. He chose the Aggies over offers from Baylor, Florida State, Iowa State, North Texas, Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU, UTEP and Virginia Tech.

Texas A&M hoping to continue upward trajectory

This is Buzz Williams' fifth season as head coach of the Aggies. The team had been improving each season since he took the helm, before this somewhat disappointing year. During his tenure, the Aggies have reached the NCAA Tournament in two out of five seasons and also have an NIT appearance. During their NIT appearance, they were the runner-up.

Buzz Williams has a history of guiding teams to the NCAA Tournament from back when he was head coach at Marquette and head coach at Virginia Tech. His resume includes three Sweet 16 appearances and one Elite Eight appearance in ten NCAA Tournament selections.

Williams began his coaching career at the University of New Orleans where he coached for only one season during 2006-07. He then moved on to Marquette from 2008-14 and Virginia Tech from 2014-2019. He's been the Aggies head coach since then. He's now going to have to find a way to replace Wade Taylor.

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