Sy cleared for good

As of Monday, Bandja Sy will be cleared to play this season with the Aggies. As you may have read in my last post, international students have to pass two hurdles to be cleared. Sy was cleared earlier this week on the academic piece, and I have received word that as of Monday, he will be cleared as far as amateurism, meaning they take a look at international players to make sure they haven't played professionally. It's a bit a of good news for the Aggies, who are still waiting on BJ West as of Friday and who will open the season without Troy Gillenwater and Wendell McKines. .. Also, in case you were wondering, Gillenwater and McKines can not play in Monday's exhibition game against WNMU or any other game or scrimmage if another team is involved.

Notes

It seems like the two things people want to read about the most are the clearinghouse issues and Jahmar Young. Following are some quotes from Menzies on both situations and I have a story on Sy and Tyrone Watson probably Saturday or Sunday. Sy practiced for the first time on Wednesday since the team normally takes Tuesday off. He was cleared to practice all year but he can't play in games yet. I don't know if you read my story on the Aggies 3-point shooting/3-point shooting defense, but here it is. It seemed to me that rebounding and transition defense were the biggest weaknesses last year and hopefully they address those two things early on. We get to see for the first time in Monday's exhibition game.

Menzies on Bandja Sy's eligibility
"He has been cleared to receive his scholarship and practice for the whole year. There is a portion of the Clearinghouse where they have to check your amateurism to make sure you were never a professional and being that he was a international student and we recruited him so late, you fill out that paperwork and the process of checking and going through the background that the NCAA has to do, we are still in the balance there so we are kind of at their mercy. It's just a matter of time with him. He has got through on the academic piece. Worst case scenario he redshirts this year and he's ready to go next year and that's not all bad either. I'm OK with redshirting guys except for the fact that without Troy and Wendell we could probably use him."

BJ West has all of his paperwork submitted to the NCAA.


Menzies on reports that Jahmar Young will sit on Monday
"I haven't made a decision. He doesn't have to. That's my call. He was going to have some trouble with his ankle a little bit and we have so many guys that I have to take a look at and it's an exhibition game. We have a lot of new guys who have to get their feet wet. Everybody else is good to go. As of today, as far as I know, that is the only one that had a question mark and he got that resolved."


Menzies on addressing the rebounding
"You have to get out there and emphasize things. We talked about it last year but obviously we didn't emphasize it enough. We didn't drill it enough. Every single possession, whether you're talking about offense or defense, is an opportunity to rebound so we have tweaked some of our drills so the rebound is the completion of the drill. A lot of times, certain drills end with the shot. Now we secure the rebound and try to push it to halfcourt or get the outlet pass before the drill is over. Who knows if it will work or not. At the end of the day you have to have guys who make that a priority. Just like defensively, they want to get stops so it's not like let me survive this possession so I can go score again. When you look at the total body of work from last year and you show your players that and they see they could have done a better team if they had done these things, that in itself should be enough of a motivator for them to be more consistent in practice."



Finally I have a question. Last year I did a little running blog entry for the games I was at. I enjoyed doing it and plan to do it again. Do you have any suggestions? I tried to update at every media timeout as long as the game was competitive. Do you follow them during games or are you at the same game? anything you would want added? Keeping in mind that I'm working on the story for the paper so go easy on me....

N'Doye practices, Menzies still waiting on NCAA

7-foot center Aboulaye N'Doye practiced for the first time today (Wednesday) I'm doing a story on the big fella from Africa for over the weekend. I didn't really know what to expect but I came away from the short interview impressed. One non-basketball thing that I found interesting about him came when we were talking about what he had been doing the past year. It seems that we have been talking about this kid for two years and Wednesday was his first practice. He said that his studies in Africa really prepared him and were more demanding than what he has faced in the short time he has been at the university level in America. Some noteworthy hoops info on him – he has only been playing basketball for four years and his first game in an Aggie uniform will be his first time in organized basketball. ... Also, because of a complicated transfer process, the Aggies will have his services on the court for three years. ... As far as his physical ability, it has yet to be determine.

Here are some quotes from Aggie assistant Mick Durham, who works with the Aggie big men on how they will work him into the flow after getting a knee scope last month. I will say that when we were talking, Hamidu Rahman walked by and N'Doye clearly has a couple inches on Rahman, who is listed at 6-11, although Rahman has had the benefit of three years in the weight room.

"We had him in individuals for a handful of workout sessions but his knee kept swelling and he had to get his knee scoped. We have to start really basic with him. The downfall is missing six weeks of conditioning so we have to get him back in shape and then slowly work on his skills but we need another big body in practice."

Bodies in practice doesn't seem to be an issue. I've only been around the team for two seasons so far but I can't remember a time where there were so many able-bodies guys in the practice gym. I believe there were 15 guys there on Wednesday.


Finally, Menzies on the eligibility of BJ West and Bandja Sy


"There is a 50-50 chance that BJ could be done (Thursday). There is an outside chance that Bandja could be done the following day but not cleared. Just cleared to practice. Then we are going to start a waiver. You get to go until they finish the waiver."

Menzies on Justin Standley and Jacoby Patton

"It's nailed down that (Standley) is going to redshirt but its not nailed down if he will be able to practice or not. We are still working on trying to get him to be able to be a practice players. Jacoby is also in the same boat. We are trying to hopefully get him cleared so he can be a full practice player but he is going to redshirt either way."

Menzies on the first week of practice

"We have a lot of new kids who are trickling in with the process. They are picking it up very quickly based on their own basketball IQ as well as the returners helping them through things. It's easy to develop in a basketball system if you have a lot of people who know the system. Everybody goes out and runs the plays the right way. The first group goes out. They all know everything that we are doing already, we are going to tweak some things later. So the new guys get to sit back and watch their position go and run through it correctly first even if it's just repeating what that guy did, eventually they will understand the nuances of reading the defense and the options within it. But they get a chance, every rep, to see it done correctly before they actually step on the floor."

Notes

The Aggies men were off on Tuesday. I spoke to Jahmar Young briefly, who said that the practices over the weekend were tough and that he needed an off day.

I was also informed that Abdoulaye Ndoye is expected to practice when the Aggies return to the practice court on Wednesday. As far as I know, BJ West and Bandja Sy were not cleared as of Tuesday.

WAC men's official poll

COACHES
1. Utah State (8)
2. Nevada (1)
3. NMSU
4. Idaho
5. Louisiana Tech
6. Fresno State
7. Boise State
8. San Jose State
9. Hawaii

First team
Luke Babbitt, Nevada
Mac Hopson, Idaho
Armon Johnson, Nevada
Jared Quayle, Utah State
Jahmar Young, NMSU

Second team
Roderick Flemings, Hawaii
Paul George, Fresno State
Kyle Gibson, La. Tech
Sylvester Seay, Fresno State
Tai Wesley, Utah State

POY Luke Babbitt, Nevada

MEDIA
1. Utah State
2. Nevada
3. NMSU
4. Idaho
5. Boise State
6. Louisiana Tech
7. Fresno State
8. San Jose State
9. Hawaii

First team
Luke Babbitt, Nevada
Mac Hopson, Idaho
Armon Johnson, Nevada
Jared Quayle, Utah State
Jahmar Young, NMSU

POY
Luke Babbitt, Nevada

Women's WAC official polls

COACHES

1. Fresno State (5)
2. Louisiana Tech (3)
3. Boise State (1)
4. Idaho
5. NMSU
6. Nevada
7. Utah State
T-8 Hawaii
T -8 San Jose State

First team
Shanavia Dowdell, La. Tech
Tasha Harris, Boise State
Adrienne Johnson, La. Tech
Jaleesa Ross, Fresno State
Madison Spence, NMSU

Second team
Hayley Munro, Fresno State
Yinka Olorunnife, Idaho
Derisa Taleni, Idaho
Jessica Van Hoogen, Boise State
Lydia Whitehead, Utah State

POY
Dowdell, La. Tech

MEDIA
1. Louisiana Tech
2. Fresno State
3. Boise State
4. Idaho
5. Nevada
6. NMSU
7. Utah State
8. Hawaii
9. San Jose State

First team
Shanavia Dowdell, La. Tech
Adrienne Johnson, La. Tech
Yinka Olorunnife, Idaho
Jaleesa Ross, Fresno State
Madison Spence, NMSU

Second Team
Crystal Boyd, NMSU
Tasha Harris, Boise State
Hayley Munro, Fresno State
Derisa Taleni, Idaho
Jessica Van Hoogen, Boise State

POY
Shanavia Dowdell, La. Tech

Aggies women's commitment

NMSU received a verbal commitment from Andrea Chenier from Piedmont, Cali, a 5-10 player who can play any of the three guard positions. Chenier is a top 70 player who played on the same club team as current Aggie freshman Camilla Rosen.

The NMSU women's program is still hoping that Crystal Boyd will be rewarded another year of eligibility after battling injuries her whole career. If she is granted the additional year, the Aggies are full of scholarships after receiving a verbal from guard Jasmin Rutledge last month.