2016 was a wildly successful season for Lobo football. They went 9-4 on the year, including their first bowl win in ages, and led the nation in rushing with a ridiculous 350 yards per game. Most importantly, they went from being a truly downtrodden program to one that wins its division. If the past few season had been a movie, the credits would have rolled after a freeze frame of Bob Davie being carried off the field after his first bowl win and everyone would have gone home from the theater with a smile on their face.
Author: Jono
Who We Are
Two years ago, this website went live. In that time, we’ve written about 370 posts, all of which have been written under our pen names, “I.B. Luc” and “Bob Bobbins”. This is the first post where we’ll use our actual names.
What We’ve Learned from Paul Weir’s First Week (and a Half)
Last week, word started trickling out that rather than any of the other names that Lobo fans had been hearing and debating about, NMSU’s Paul Weir would be the next head coach for men’s basketball. It’s fair to say that choice was shocking, as not only was he a legitimate mystery candidate, he’s been an Aggie for 10 years. However, once the initial shock wore off, I’ve certainly become excited about the Paul Weir era. He’s still a bit of an unknown, but I think that we’ve learned some things so far in his brief tenure to give us hope.
Early Thoughts on Craig Neal’s Firing
Four years ago tomorrow, Craig Neal was hired as the head coach for the New Mexico Lobos. In general, it was a well-regarded hire. Neal was thought of as somewhat of an offensive genius, a man who just needed a shot at a head-coaching job, and someone who knew and loved the program already. Beyond that, fans were wanting him to maintain the program that he had built with Steve Alford, especially with a very good returning team that, the thought was, only he could keep together. Because of that, it is somewhat ironic that Neal was let go in large part because he couldn’t keep his team together anymore.
MW Men’s Basketball Tourney: Championship Preview
After a wild conference season, with lots of upsets, a lot of parity, and no overwhelming favorite, here we are: the championship game between the top two seeds, Nevada and Colorado St. Although it felt like there could end up being plenty of chaos in this tournament, we’ve actually ended up with only two upsets: #10 Air Force beating #7 Wyoming and #6 SDSU beating #3 Boise State. In fact, the Aztecs were even favored in that one. Regardless, we’ll be crowning a new conference champion today, so it will be a big day for one of these programs.
Lobo Baseball Series 4 Preview: San Jose State
The Lobos (8-3, 3-0) are riding high, as they are on a four-game winning streak and look to extend it this weekend against the visiting San Jose State Spartans (6-5, 2-1). The Lobos scored a ton of runs and got good pitching for most of the past week, aside from the first 3 innings last Saturday. The Lobos have a chance to create separation early in the conference season, which could pay huge dividends as the season goes along and allow them to host the conference tournament for the second straight year. Look for the Lobo pitching staff to have a great weekend against the struggling offense of the Spartans, while the Lobo bats will be the biggest test this Spartans’ pitching staff has faced this season. It should be a good weekend for the Lobos at Santa Ana Star Field.
MW Men’s Basketball Tourney: Semifinals Preview
If you’re reading this and you’re a Lobo fan, bless you. That was a tough, and somewhat unexpected way to watch the Lobos go out and (likely) end their season. We’ll have more to say about it when some of the dust settles, but for now, there are still a few games left to decide the MW Tournament Champion. Let’s check out the matchups:
Game 8: #1 Nevada vs. #4 Fresno State
As expected, the Wolf Pack took care of Utah State with relative ease, claiming an 83-69 victory after leading the entire game. They got solid games from their big three, with Caroline putting up a 22-8, Oliver a 19-11, and Marshall chipping in 14 points. Utah State’s Jalen Moore went off for 27 points and Kobe McEwen added 17 of his own, but they didn’t get much help from elsewhere.
Fresno was able to advance after taking out the Lobos, 65-60. After the Lobos jumped out to an early double-digit lead, the Bulldogs were able to come back and keep the score close for the majority of the game. They were able to create enough separation at the end with a late run to hold off the Lobos, mostly thanks to some timely plays by the Taylors, Deshon and Jahmel. The Lobos didn’t shoot particularly well, which became a theme towards the end of the season, but most surprisingly was their performance at the free throw line, where they went just 12-22. Just another missed opportunity in a season full of them.
Fresno and Nevada faced each other twice this season and in both instances, the Bulldogs came out on top. However, they were both close games, with the game in Fresno going down to the wire, 77-76, while the game in Reno ended up 81-76. One has to think that this game will be close too.
Stat Comparison
(To read the plots, the further away from the center, the better the team is at each stat. That is, for each stat, the best team will have a value on the outside of the radar plot while the worst team will have a value on the very inside of the plot. For an explanation of the stats, click here. All stats taken from kenpom.com)
Key Players
Nevada: Marcus Marshall (SR Guard, 19.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.6 apg); Cameron Oliver (SO Forward, 15.7 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.9 apg); Jordan Caroline (SO Forward, 14.5 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 2.0 apg)
Fresno State: Jamel Taylor (JR Guard, 11.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.9 apg); Jaron Hopkins (JR Guard, 13.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.5 apg); Deshon Taylor (SO Guard, 11.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.1 apg)
Prediction
On one hand, Fresno State beat Nevada twice already this season, so it’s clear that they have the ability to take out the top seed. However, at this point I feel like we’re on a collision course to a Nevada-CSU rematch, so I’ll take Nevada in this one, 77-72. In our bracket challenge, only 38.9% of our respondents picked Nevada to win this game, but that’s because the other 61.1% picked the Lobos. 🙁
Game Info
Who: #1 Nevada (26-6, 15-4) vs. #4 Fresno St. (20-11, 12-7)
When: Friday, March 10, 2017 at 8pm MT
Watch: CBS Sports Network
Game 9: #2 Colorado State vs. #6 San Diego State
Colorado State did exactly what they should have done to the 10 seed in the conference: they dominated them. The conference player of the year, Gian Clavell, dropped 30 on the poor Falcons, including a 6-11 performance behind the arc. Three other Rams ended up in double figures, while the Falcons only ended up with two players scoring more than 6.
San Diego State recovered from a poor first-round performance to beat down Boise State 87-68 behind 22 points and 10 rebounds by Malik Pope (who may or may not have reinjured the knee that kept him out of 9 games earlier this season). Rather than the types of games they’ve played recently that can only be generously called “basketball”, the Aztecs put together a great offensive performance, including making 9 of 14 threes, while playing solid enough defense to hold off the Broncos. They’re now exactly where they figured to be going into the season, although they’d probably prefer you to forget the route they took to get there.
These two teams faced each other twice, with the Rams pulling out a one-point win each time. If that trend holds, fans will be rewarded for staying up all night to watch this one.
Stat Comparison
Key Players
Colorado St.: Gian Clavell (SR Guard, 15.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.0 apg); Emmanuel Omogbo (SR Forward, 12.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 2.6 apg); Printiss Nixon (SO Guard, 11.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.5 apg)
San Diego St.: Trey Kell (JR Guard, 13.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.8 apg); Dakarai Allen (SR Guard, 8.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.4 apg); Jeremy Hemsley (SO Guard, 13.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.1 apg)
Prediction
These teams are probably more evenly-matched than either fan base would like to admit, but given how their last two games against each other were each decided by one point, it would be hard to argue against. Before the tourney started, I picked CSU to win this game, so I’ll stick with this choice, although I expect it to be close. I’ll pick the Rams to win 69-66. The Lobo fans in our bracket challenge all picked one of these two teams to move on to the finals, with 83.3% picking CSU and 16.7% picking the Aztecs.
Game Info
Who: #2 Colorado St. (22-10, 14-5) vs. #6 San Diego St. (19-13, 11-9)
When: Friday, March 9, 2017 at 10:30pm MT
Watch: CBS Sports Network
MW Men’s Basketball Tourney: Quarterfinals Preview
The first day of the MW Men’s Basketball Championship is behind us, with a couple of teams advancing with blowouts and another team needing a comeback and overtime to survive. That takes us to the quarterfinals, where the top five seeds get their first taste of the action. Again, each of these teams likely need to win the tournament to go dancing, so you better believe that emotions will be riding high.
MW Men’s Basketball Tourney: First Round Preview
After several months of buildup, we’ve finally made it to March, and with it comes the Mountain West Conference Tournament. This year seems like it could be especially chaotic, as there are no prohibitive favorites and every single team needs to win the conference tournament to assure themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament. With so much on the line, and so much parity, expect a lot of close games, a lot of emotion, and a lot of heartbreak. Today, we’ll be previewing the first round of games, featuring the 6-11 seeds in the tournament, and will continue our previews throughout the week.
ALSO: If you haven’t already, you should fill out your picks for the tournament! We’re interested in how everyone thinks things will turn out.
Men’s Basketball Game 30: SDSU
It all comes down to this, as we all expected. UNM vs. San Diego St. playing in the final game of the season with a lot on the line for both teams. Of course, when we were imagining this scenario before the season started, we figured that it would be for the conference championship, but that’s clearly not the case. Instead, the teams are fighting for the all-important fifth seed in the conference, which would allow the winner to avoid having to win four games in four days to win the conference tourney next week. That might not be a conference championship, but you know that both teams really want that seed at this point. Hopefully the Pit is rocking tonight.