Saturday, December 11, 2010

Seven straight

If there is a more snake bitten team in America, please start posting their names.

This Lobos team right now was more beatable than the previous two years I think, yet something or another got in the Aggies way. Tonight it was an ankle injury to Troy Gillenwater. Gillenwater looked fine during warmups so he must have rolled it during the first half. Hamidu Rahman comes back with a 14 and 17, but with no Gillenwater to compliment him, the offense struggled again.

However, I was impressed that the Aggies were down six at halftime. At one point, I think I saw Dixon, Watson, Rahman, Laroche and Gordo out there. Not really a scary offensive lineup. Yet they battled back.

Christian Kabongo continues to improve, but he's a freshman and sooner or later, the Aggies always seem to unravel and get away from whatever it was they were doing well. Tonight it was getting the ball to Rahman in the post and getting out in transition.

I was surprised to see the result get away like it did. I thought if the Aggies were going to be blown out in the first half, but they kept it close, only to get blown out in the second half.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry for Menzies' loss of his father and I don't know him on a personal level to say whether he's a good guy or not....but enough is enough. He's not a good coach and I'm sick of people trying to make all these excuses for him. This is not football, this is basketball and for the most part NM State basketball has been very successful. NM State and their fans need and deserve a better coach. I know Menzies didn't coach this particular game, but he created this mess we now call Aggie basketball.

Get off your b*tt Boston and do something about this...this is a joke. No other Division I school on earth would let it go this far. Only New Mexico State.

Anonymous said...

Sorry about your dad Menzies but, your teams are now, 3-16 in rivalry games!!!
Those empty seats inside the Pan Am are your doing!

You've been swept by UNM three straight years now and I don't see things changing any time soon.

Time to make a change and hire a new coach.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:21-

I'm glad you're passionate, and I don't complete disagree with you. However, your last comment is a little misguided. Menzies took this team to the tournament last year. There are over 200 D1 teams that didnt get to the tournament, so to say that no other D school would let Menzies hang around is not accurate. I hate the slow starts that this team has, and don't buy into "we'll do great in the WAC" comments. However, its not anybody's fault that Big Wen is hurt. Believe me, his heart and motor make him a huuuuuge loss. To side with you, Menzies is at fault for not knowing how to coach any offesive sets, and for not developing or recruiting a great outside shooter. If we only had one, our inside game would open up and dominate. I too had great optimism heading into this season, but it has been lost.

It looks like Big Wen will redshirt, so maybe next year we'll get that great start! Yeah, maybe next year.........

I almost forgot, Sy is a big disappointment. He just looks lost out there.

Anonymous said...

Am not a fan of Menzies. However, I'm not prepared to place the blame entirely on him. When you lose your starting all-conference forward in McKines, you give up 10 points and 10 rebounds; and more importantly, you give up that huge heart of his. You lose Gillenwater early in the game, our other forward, and give up those 25 points and 12 rebounds, you will see some dropoff.

So you replace them with freshmen. One picks up the slack decently, but the team is stuck with a depleted bench.

The problem I see is the lack of another scorer in a good combo guard. We don't have that anymore. We had that in Gibson for four years. We also don't have that pure scoring guard like we had in Young...a guard quick enough to drive the lane, play defense, and score big from the outside.

I think the Aggies will get better as the season wears on. I also believe that we'll be at the top, or pretty close to it, of the WAC at the end of the year.

Anonymous said...

Lobos Beatable? We lost on our home floor! How in the world did you think we were going to win in the Pit!? They have more talent and balances attack. All we has is Gillenwater who puts up 29 shots for below 30% shooting. Stop being a homer and call this team what it is!

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:21 I'm not sure what you mean by this "mess we now call Aggie basketball". I do understand you're not a MM fan. I'm sure it was bad coaching when he lost 40 points and 2 players that created shots for themselves when JY and JG left last year. I'm sure it was bad coaching when WM broke his foot this year, HR hurt his calf and TG rolled his ankle. There is nobody on this team that is able to hit an outside shot yet and maybe that is the coaching staff's fault or it may be the shooters are Freshmen and haven't adjusted to D-1 BB. I do agree that MM didn't take the rivalries to heart when he was hired and that was a mistake. Every year he says it is important to peak at tournament time and his teams have done that. Whether you agree with his ability as a coach, he has averaged over 20 wins a year and has been first or second in the WAC each year. I think there are plenty of D-1 schools that would accept that. You're entitled to your opinion, I just don't agree with it.

Anonymous said...

I'm anon 9:21 and although I don't agree totally with everyone's responses I do appreciate everyone expressing their opinions in an adult and respectful manner.

It's true, some injuries and other unfortunate things have happened. Yes, the Aggies have made it to 20 wins a couple times under Menzies; but they had the potential to win a lot more and that is what is most disappointing. I don't believe Menzies' coaching won the WAC tourney last year. Jahmar Young got hot and the Aggies got lucky.

NM State has the resources to land a much better coach than Menzies..sorry, that's just the plain truth. I don't wish any ill will towards Menzies on a personal level.

Anonymous said...

Okay Menzies haters & lovers.

We have seen a very sad decline in attendance.
Who do we blame for the declining attendance since Reggie left?

A). Menzies
b). The Players
C). Both

C'mon, someone needs to take the blame.

Anonymous said...

A. definitely...the players need someone to lead them. Menzies is an excellent recruiter and I would never take that away from him. He has brought some good talent to NM State, but he has failed to develop that talent. He is not too good of a gametime coach either. I feel Menzies would be a good fit as a recruiter, not the head coach.

The players are doing the best they can the best way they know how.