Dec. 22, 2009
Wednesday: Lobos (12-0) at Oral Roberts (6-6), 6 p.m., Tulsa, Okla.
TV: My50-TV; DirecTV (617), ESPN Full Court; ESPN360.com
Radio: 770-AM KKOB / Lobo Radio Network
Online: Game story, stats, game notes on GoLobos.com
Up Next: Texas Tech at Lobos, Dec. 29 (SOLD OUT).
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
A national ranking is something the Lobos have earned, something they deserve, something they should enjoy, and something they need to put into perspective.
It’s December.
You might have noticed that Lobo coach Steve Alford keeps talking about fundamental stuff such as defense, ball handling, rebounding – things that honest effort and concentration can turn into constants to carry a team through an entire season.
“We are a very young basketball team and we do a lot of things wrong still,” said Alford.
It’s that entire season that Alford focuses on because he knows that even though his young Lobos have carved out something special in December, a special season also is built from accomplishments in January, February and March.
Yes, this is a race and the finish line is the final defining point.
|
LOBO ROSTER |
The Lobo coach also knows that in order to look back at a special season, things have to be special both in non-conference and in Mountain West play.
There is no question that the non-conference stuff has been special. It’s been a dazzling ride. The Lobos have returned to the national rankings for the first time in ten years. If UNM wins at Oral Roberts on Wednesday, Alford’s Lobos will become the second New Mexico team in 107 seasons to open at 13-0.
This really an amazing accomplishment for these young Lobos and for Alford and his coaching staff. This is the third-youngest team in D-I basketball out of 346 teams when it comes to returning upperclassmen (seniors/juniors) with D-I experience. The Lobos have junior transfer Darington Hobson, but only senior Roman Martinez and junior Dairese Gary played for UNM last year.
This is the week Alford should be breaking the news to his pups that there is no Santa Claus rather than telling them they are the No. 12/13 team in the nation and off to the school’s best start in 35 years. UNM’s best start ever was 17-0 in 1967-68. That team would have been 21-0, if not for a one-point loss at Arizona (one day after a win at ASU).
Already, and probably a bit prematurely, these quick-draw Lobos are being compared to the best teams in UNM history. The Albuquerque Journal is conducting a poll for fans to vote on UNM’s best team ever.
It’s a fun thing – like Alford says of UNM’s national ranking – as long as perspective isn’t lost.
We still have January, February and March. We still have the Mountain West and Utah, Brigham Young, UNLV, San Diego State….and tough stops like Laramie, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs.
The Lobos still have some finishing touches to put on their non-conference season. Oral Roberts is undefeated at home. The Lobos will be tested in The Pit on Dec. 29 by Texas Tech and on Jan. 1 by Dayton. UNM opens league play against SDSU and UNLV – two teams picked ahead of Lobos in the MWC race.
Yeah, Alford’s Lobos need to keep improving — not to remain unbeaten, but to keep losses to a minimum. The next step come at Oral Roberts.
“They are 4-and-0 at home,” said Alford. “Their starters are phenomenal. This is a scary team. I think it’s a team that going to win 23, 25 games. This becomes a big RPI road game for us.”
While rankings, at this time of the season, are more for fun, show and ego, they do carry meaning. You are ranked because of your record and who you have beaten. This translates into RPI and national respect. This stuff is important, and remembered, when the NCAA Selection Committee meets to decide who gets to join the BCS conferences in the Big Dance.
The Lobos are building a nice December resume. “We are getting recognized for our work through 12 games,” said Alford. “We still have some work to do.”
It doesn’t get easier for the Lobos. It gets harder. As sophomore Nate Garth put it: “Now, we have a target on us.”
With the target, comes pressure. With the MWC, comes pressure and a target. There are some solid MWC teams looking to improve their RPI, their respect level, by shooting down Lobos. Alford doesn’t expect an undefeated ride through the MWC wars, but he likes his young Lobos’ attitude going into the fight.
“I’ve had players, who were maybe a little soft, and didn’t want this type of heat,” he said. “But I got a bunch of guys, who want more. They are pretty excited to know they are a Top 15 team.”
Said Garth: “We want to keep on going and see how high we can go.”
The Lobos are having fun. They have earned that fun by knocking down teams such as Texas A&M, Creighton, San Diego, Cal-Berkeley, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State.
It’s also fun, and not farfetched, to envision this young team as becoming one of UNM’s best ever. Heck, they have 12 wins with at least 20 games to go – ten games in The Pit.
The poll in The Journal lists these UNM teams: 1963-64 (23-6), 1967-68 (23-5), 1973-74 (22-7), 1977-78 (24-4) and 1995-96 (25-8).
The guess here is that the legendary 1977-78 team of Michael Cooper and Marvin Johnson will win that newspaper race. It just might be the best UNM team ever, even though its season was tainted by a first-round NCAA loss to Cal State Fullerton.
The rap against that Norm Ellenberger team has long been twisted too much by expectation rather than reality.
The Fullerton team that upset the Lobos in Tempe, Ariz., was a possession and a shot away from replacing Arkansas in The Final Four. Arkansas beat Fullerton by three after the Razorbacks beat a 25-2 UCLA team that beat a 24-4 Kansas team. Fullerton beat a 24-3 UNM team and then beat a 23-5 San Francisco team that beat North Carolina. Fullerton was pretty good.
There is point here that the 2009-10 Lobos won’t have any problems grasping because it will be pushed home by a coach, who has been-there, done-that:
A good start needs a good finish.