We are hitting the home stretch for the 2017-2018 Mountain West Conference regular season, which means it is time to look at where teams are positioned to be seeded for the conference tournament. With the win at Boise State, Nevada has all but clinched the regular season title and the #1 seed for the tournament. Also, SJSU has already clinched the #11 seed, as they are 0-14 with 4 games left. Beyond those two, a few teams are already locked into a certain range of seeds, as Boise State is pretty much locked into the 2 or 3 seed, while Colorado State and Air Force are pretty much locked into the 9 or 10 seed.
Category: Lobo Basketball
Men’s Basketball vs. Boise State: What’s at Stake
The Lobos (12-12, 7-4) have a huge game Tuesday night against second-place Boise State (19-4, 9-2) at The PIT. The Lobos have positioned themselves well through 11 games of conference play, as they sit all alone in third place. During their first meeting in Boise, the Broncos jumped out to a huge lead in the first half, giving the Lobos only a small chance of winning the game. The interesting thing about the first game was that the Broncos didn’t hit a ton of three’s to claim their huge lead, instead relying almost fully on layups. It would not be a surprise to see them try to replicate that success tonight.
In my opinion, it is easy to see that Nevada and Boise State are the top two teams in the conference.That said, the group from 3-8 could end up in a lot of different ways. Because of that, there is a lot at stake for the Lobos tonight, with effects that could continue over the next few weeks.
MW Women’s Basketball Conference Preview
The non-conference schedule is finished for the Lobos (12-1) and the second season, Mountain West play, begins on Tonight. The Lobos have started the season on fire with good wins over Marquette, Western Michigan, UTEP, NMSU (rivalry games x2), Lamar, Illinois and Navy. The only loss on the Lobos schedule was against a very good Oklahoma team when they were without Jaisa Nunn. After being picked 4th in the preseason poll, the Lobos have inserted themselves as the clear favorite to win the MW this season. Looking back at the preseason awards, the Lobos had the Preseason Player of the Year (Cherise Beynon), Newcomer of the Year (Tesha Buck), and Rookie of the Year (N’Dea Flye). All three players have a good shot of winning those awards, with Beynon’s most likely challengers being teammates in Nunn and Buck. You could make a case the Lobos have the 3 best players in the MW this season.
Men’s Basketball Check-in (Pre-Conference)
It’s been a little while since we’ve check in with Men’s Basketball and, unsurprisingly, a lot has happened, both on and off the court. Given that today is the start of Mountain West Conference play, it’s worth taking a look to see how things are going on the court right now.
Men’s Basketball Check-in (11/28/17)
We’re now a couple weeks into the Men’s Basketball season and I think it’s fair to say that we’ve now learned a few things about this version of the Lobos. For one, anyone who was predicting a perfect season is already disappointed. But that was inevitable. However, this is a team that plays hard, doesn’t give up, and, in my opinion, will continue to get better as the season goes on. I’m still having fun, at least.
A New Era for Lobo Basketball
A new era of UNM Men’s Basketball starts tonight. After one of the crazier offseasons that I can remember, featuring a coaching change, 10 players announcing their intention to transfer, two of those players coming back, and an Athletic Director retiring under pressure, the Lobos are hoping to wipe the slate clean and redefine what the program is all about. If early returns are any indication, then mission accomplished. This team is practically unrecognizable from last year’s version and in my view, that’s a wonderful thing.
Rather than one of my standard previews, like I’ve done the last couple of years where I looked at each player’s stats to show how they played and what we might expect out of them, this year I figured that I’d just look at some larger themes to keep an eye on throughout the year. After all, based on the 147 points they dropped on Northern New Mexico on Saturday, last year’s stats don’t mean much this year.
Vance Jackson, Lobo
We’re alive! And so is Lobo Basketball! It’s been a crazy summer so far for the boys in cherry and silver, so we’re going to look at a few of the things going on right now.
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.