New Mexico State Aggies

[Bob Green]

I don't know anything about NMSU so I went to ESPN and looked at their team page. It appears they will have five Seniors on the team who averaged double-digit minutes as Juniors including their top two scorers:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=166

They were the Western Athletic Conference Champions last year going 25-9. They lost to Texas in the 1st Round of the NCAA tournament.

Anybody have knowledge of the Aggies?

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

[MulletMan]

I don't know anything about NMSU so I went to ESPN and looked at their team page. It appears they will have five Seniors on the team who averaged double-digit minutes as Juniors including their top two scorers:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=166

They were the Western Athletic Conference Champions last year going 25-9. They lost to Texas in the 1st Round of the NCAA tournament.

Anybody have knowledge of the Aggies?

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

Good team, hard nosed, pressing D, a little offensively challenged in the half court, but they like to run and are good in transition. Very quick, very disciplined. Reggie is an up and coming coach, anc the folks in New Mexico (the state as a whole, I mean) are pretty excited about what's going on in Las Cruces. Pretty big coup to keep Theus this off-season as he was courted by some other programs. I like this add to the schedule a lot.

[dbowen]

It comes down to the Alma Mater vs. The Best Team Ever.

I recently graduated from NMSU this last spring.
I have personally seen this program go from 6 wins to 25 wins in two seasons.
Theus is bringing in a high profile recruit named Herb Pope. I think he plays PF.
There should be plenty of senior experience but the point is going to be interesting changing from Elijah Ingram(sr. last year) to Jonanthan Gibson(soph).

Anyways, this game should be great for the beginning of the season.
I'm going to tell you guys right now that this is no easy out.
Should be fun

[jaimedun34]

It comes down to the Alma Mater vs. The Best Team Ever.

I recently graduated from NMSU this last spring.
I have personally seen this program go from 6 wins to 25 wins in two seasons.
Theus is bringing in a high profile recruit named Herb Pope. I think he plays PF.
There should be plenty of senior experience but the point is going to be interesting changing from Elijah Ingram(sr. last year) to Jonanthan Gibson(soph).

Anyways, this game should be great for the beginning of the season.
I'm going to tell you guys right now that this is no easy out.
Should be fun

Grrr. I remember that name. I think he was the St. John's player who hit the 3 pointer that tied the game at 70 in MSG during the '03 season!

Nice. Doesn't sound like a bad opponent to me.

[dbowen]

Yes.
He was a transfer from St. Johns.
Good player, but he always drove the ball too far into the lane and got himself into trouble.
He also had a problem of jacking up threes for no reason.

[Green Chile]

As an NMSU grad (1996-BS) and a Duke grad (1998-MS), I'm happy to see (a) Duke not going the easy way out and actually schedule a mid-major early in the season; and (b) happy to see NMSU actually schedule some good opponents.

Hate to say it, I think I'll pull against Duke for this one. NMSU gave Texas a run for the money in the first round, perhaps a cinderella story will happen.

I'd also add that I'm not sure the sate as a whole is excited about what is happening in Las Cruces. New Mexico State is the second team to the Lobos and the state's one major newspaper devotes the majority of coverage to UNM. NMSU is still recovering from the sanctions resulting from academic and recruiting violations in the early 90s. But forget the state, I'm happy about what is happening in Las Cruces.

Go Aggies!

[dbowen]

I guess the main question is if Theus will still be around next year.
The Kings are showing quite a bit of interest in him right now. I think he just had another interview with them recently. We'll see what happens.
No matter what, Theus has performed miracles for nmsu is trying his best to tap into the rest of NM.

Aside:
Green Chile: Did you happen to play any sports while at nmsu?

[shadowfax336]

Herb Pope is a center/forward from Pittsburgh who at one time was rated as high as 8 or 9 in the '07 class. He was originally expected to end up at Pitt or Louisville (he actually verbally committed to Pitt as a freshman in HS), but ended up at NMSU. He dropped in the ratings by his senior year because to put it bluntly he would mail a lot of games in and people questioned his work ethic. I saw him in person twice (and actually played against him once) and he never impressed me as much as might be expected by his press. He was in the hospital earlier this year after being shot in a drive-by, but is expected to be fully recovered by the beginning of the season.

[Schleimer24]

The person you're thinking of that hit the 3 against us in the Garden in '03 was Marcus Hatten, who I always thought would be able to catch on in the pros. Ingram was one of the St. John's players who left the program after the incident when they were in Pittsburgh for a game.

Another interesting tidbit about NMSU is I believe they still have Martin Iti on the team who was a HS All-American that decided to go to Charlotte before transferring.

[dbowen]

Yes, Iti is a transfer from Charlotte.
They also have Justin Hawkins(transfer from Utah?) and Fred Peete(transfer from K-State).

[Green Chile]

dbowen:

Not any NCAA sports, but I did spend a semester getting killed on the Rugby pitch and a couple years biking. Even did a couple years of the unofficial NMSU "ski team" which back then was more of an excuse to get 40 guys in shoved in a couple condos up at Copper Mountain drinking for three days. Heh. But no sports. I was on the student loan scholarship.

If Theus is still around next year (he seems to have some sense of loyalty to NMSU) it looks to be an interesting year for both football and hoops. personally, living in New England I'm just happy to see NMSU getting national attention for something other than NCAA violations.

- GC

[Bob Green]

I guess the main question is if Theus will still be around next year.
The Kings are showing quite a bit of interest in him right now. I think he just had another interview with them recently. We'll see what happens.
No matter what, Theus has performed miracles for nmsu is trying his best to tap into the rest of NM.



This could be good news for the Aggies:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2906277

Maybe the Kings will hire Larry Brown and Theus will stay at NMSU.

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

[dukelifer]

Not sure about the first part but the rumor is that Theus is off to coach the Kings and will not be in Cameron next year.

http://hoopshype.com/

[dbowen]

Well,
I guess it was inevitable. Theus was bound to go to the NBA sooner or later.
I just wish he would have stuck around for at least two or three seasons.
This coaching change just made our November matchup against NMSU a lot easier.
Anyone have an idea on who might want the position now?

[Green Chile]

Anyone have an idea on who might want the position now?

Maybe some down on their luck, fallen from grace coach who once did time at a BCS conference school will step up and take the helm (which seemed to work ok for football): Quinn Snyder?

He's got the suits, the style, the pedigree, could be a good fit.

- GC

[MulletMan]

Maybe some down on their luck, fallen from grace coach who once did time at a BCS conference school will step up and take the helm (which seemed to work ok for football): Quinn Snyder?

He's got the suits, the style, the pedigree, could be a good fit.

- GC


Quin just signed to coach an NBDL team, right? I bet they try to find another young coach like Theus. I feel like these guys are the best recruiters, and that seems like what NMSU needs... more talent.

Thoughts?