The Lobo Howl is this Friday, which means that we are oh-so-close to seeing the Lobos take the court again. This team has a couple of legitimate stars, a lot of returning players, and some talented newcomers, which makes me feel like they have a real shot at returning to the NCAA Tournament this year. So it’s a little weird to me that it doesn’t feel like there’s the same level of excitement for this coming season as what I typically see from the fan base. Maybe that’s to be expected after a couple of relative down years, which have tempered some expectations, but I think this has the potential to be a very exciting year of Lobo Basketball. Here are a few reasons why:
- The Lobos have two returning first team, all-conference players in Elijah Brown and Tim Williams. I can’t remember that ever happening before. I mean, it’s rare enough to even have two first team, all-conference players, period, much less have them both back the next year. Plus, they’ve had a whole six months to work on their game, with Elijah even getting feedback from the NBA about what, specifically, he needed to improve on. Getting to see them lay waste to their opponents is going to be fun this year.
- They’re not the only ones coming back, of course. The team has nine scholarship players returning, including four starters. Last season, we regularly heard how young and inexperienced this team was, which was true. KenPom.com had them as the 302nd most experienced team in the country and with the 276th highest minute continuity from the previous season. That last statistic is fairly new, but to give a frame of reference, here are the Lobos’ rankings over some previous years:
2011-12: 53rd
2012-13: 81st
2013-14: 84th
2014-15: 317th
That seems like it’s a big deal to me. Thanks to a decent amount of stability in the program this year, I think that ranking will be much higher than it has been the last two years. That in itself could make a world of difference. - Because the team was so young last season, there’s a good chance that we’ll get to see some big improvements from several of the players. Did you know that Sam Logwood did two and three-a-days all summer to get better? I can’t wait to see what all that practice did for him and I doubt he’s the only one who worked that hard this offseason.
- The team also added some talented pieces in Connor MacDougall, Jalen Harris, Damien Jefferson, and Aher Uguak. It sounds like Connor could be the front court help that this team desperately needed last season, complementing either Tim Williams or Obij Aget. Jalen was described by Tim as being the fastest guy he’s ever seen with the ball, which sounds fun to watch, Damien is a top 150 recruit who has the talent to force his way into the rotation, and Aher is thought of as being one of the best high school players in Western Canada. This feels like the sort of incoming class that you can build around.
- There’s also continuity in the coaching staff, with all four coaches returning for the first time since Coach Neal took over, and I think that can be a significant factor to having a successful season. That continuity means that the team has received consistent coaching and has heard a consistent philosophy for a full year, which I think will help things, particularly on defense. This coaching staff is also pretty inexperienced in their roles, so an extra year of seasoning should help them improve as well.
The Mountain West Conference men’s basketball teams are having their media week, which means that we get to hear about what the community around the conference expects to see out of the various teams this year. Based on the results, I’m not the only one who sees a lot of potential in this year’s Lobo team. They were picked third in the conference, just a handful of points behind Nevada for second, and received three first place votes. On top of that, Tim and Elijah were picked to the preseason all-conference team, with Elijah selected as the preseason player of the year. There are absolutely high expectations for this Lobo team, but that’s only because they have the potential to reach them.