WHO SHOULD START? Center

To me this is a no-brainer.

Chili Nephawe was the most improved player for last year's team and I think as a senior he should play center alongside a true power forward type. Whether or not that's how the Aggies coaches see it, we will determine in a couple months, but early indications were they want to put one of their many athletic forward types on the floor to free up some space and perhaps open up the Aggies offense we have seen the past couple years.

The obvious question with Nephawe is was his improvement simply a result of teams focusing on Sim Bhullar? It certainly freed Nephawe up for one on one action most of the time, but he scored against Bairstow from New Mexico who is in the NBA now. His rebounding 7.8 and blocks 1.4 were both career highs, which to me were the biggest things he needed to address, especially in conference play. With freshmen playing behind him, the center spot should be his


Tanveer Bhullar is a mystery, but he will certainly contribute. Whether or not he could pass Nephawe on the depth chart probably depends on how he looks when school starts. When Nephawe and Sim Bhullar played together, Sim was actually the power forward because he's such a good passer and he was the last player down the court at the high post. I imagine both posts will play together for spells with Tanveer playing a similar role to his brother, but at least to start the season, Bhullar could be coming off the bench.

Schedule: What do you think?

I'll get into the schedule a bit later on, but here it is. What do you think? Predictions??

Nov. 14 @ Wichita State TBA
Nov. 17 @ Saint Mary’s 1 a.m.
Nov. 19 Northern Colorado 7 p.m.
Nov. 22 @ UTEP TBA
Nov. 24 Stetson 7 p.m.
Nov. 26 Florida A&M 7 p.m.
Nov. 29 @ Wyoming TBA
Dec. 3 @ New Mexico TBA
Dec. 6 UTEP 7 p.m.
Dec. 13 @ Oral Roberts TBA
Dec. 17 @ Baylor TBA
Dec. 20 New Mexico 7 p.m.
Dec. 22 Northern New Mexico 7 p.m.
Dec. 27 Colorado State 7 p.m.
Dec. 30 Texas Southern 7 p.m.
Jan. 3, 2015 California-Irvine 7 p.m.
Jan. 6, 2015 New Mexico Highlands 7 p.m.
Jan. 10, 2015 UMKC * TBA
Jan. 15, 2015 @ Bakersfield * TBA
Jan. 17, 2015 @ Seattle * TBA
Jan. 22, 2015 Grand Canyon * 7 p.m.
Jan. 24, 2015 Utah Valley * 7 p.m.
Jan. 31, 2015 Texas-Pan American * 7 p.m.
Feb. 5, 2015 @ Chicago State * TBA
Feb. 7, 2015 @ UMKC * TBA
Feb. 12, 2015 Seattle * 7 p.m.
Feb. 14, 2015 Bakersfield * 7 p.m.
Feb. 19, 2015 @ Utah Valley * TBA
Feb. 21, 2015 @ Grand Canyon * TBA
Feb. 28, 2015 @ Texas-Pan American TBA
March 7, 2015 Chicago State 7 p.m.
March 12, 2015 WAC Tournament TBA

Who should start? Power forward

I would if all things were equal, this spot would be Remi Barry's to lose next season.

But it's not, so this position is easily the biggest question mark in the lineup. But there are certainly numerous players vying for time here.

Barry has always seemed like an offense-first player and at another school, his game would probably be better suited for the small forward. But two years ago, Barry started getting minutes at the power forward position. He had enough size to defend and rebound in the WAC at the four position. Last year, it seemed like Barry had figured it out. He was averaging six points and 3 points in 12 minutes per game and shooting 50 percent from the field. In 9 games he only attempted one 3 pointer before his season ended with a ACL injury against Colorado State. Barry is just now getting back to work and his health is an unknown at this point, but if he's healthy, at least to start the season, I think he's the best option at the power forward position.

After Barry, the experience factor drops to zero. I would put three names here with nobody ever playing a game in college basketball.

Tanveer Bhullar was able to practice with the Aggies last year. The Aggies have experience with two posts with Sim Bhullar and Chili Nephawe. If Tanveer Bhullar is the best option, the Aggies will play him with Newphawe.

Pascal Siakam is a redshirt freshman that coaches and players talked about as impressive in summer workouts. Anthony January was highly recruited, but has played five junior college games in two years and it's unclear if he will qualify academically. Both have been described to me as raw talents with the ball, but their athletic ability and size would fit in well with their ability to run the floor, defend all positions and rebound.

Sim Bhullar interview

The Sacramento Kings advanced to today's Summer League semifinals with an 80-61 victory over the Chicago Bulls. Former New Mexico State center Sim Bhullar scored for the first time in Las Vegas and was featured in an on air interview, as was Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, who said Bhullar could have a similar impact in India as Yao Ming did in China.

For what it's worth, he got a lot of airtime on Saturday despite a limited amount of playing time in Vegas. Obviously the fact that the owner is talking about him may mean he intends to keep him, possibly at the D-League level.


http://www.nba.com/video/games/bulls/2014/07/20/1521400063-sac-chi-bhullar.nba/index.html

Who should start? POINT GUARD

The consensus and likely player here is sophomore Ian Baker. For consideration though, I'm going to throw Daniel Mullings out there as well.

Ian Baker showed some promise, standing out to me on the defensive end against San Diego State with 31 minutes, by far his most court time of the season. Baker is a strong guard who showed some potential on the offensive end, but what do we really know about him? Enough to start him likely but I would say that's based just as much on the fact that there is nobody else to really push him at the spot. I like Travon Landry, but he's limited offensively but will be a very nice backup. In 20 games, Baker was 10 of 30 from 3 point range and had nine steals and averaged an assist per game. He certainly passed the eye test, but those numbers aren't overly impressive as he steps into a fulltime starters role.

Daniel Mullings started at point guard for the last six games of the season. It didn't hurt his scoring or shooting percentage. During those six games, he had 25 assists to 14 turnovers, although half of those turnovers were against San Diego State. (Baker had no TOs against SDSU in 31 minutes). Mullings is among the best athletes in the WAC and if he goes on to play professionally, with his size PG could be a likely landing spot. He has said he wants to play the position in the past and I'm sure coaches want to give him a chance to play it.

Point guard has been a weak spot or at the very least a spot of inconsistency since Hernst Laroche. To me, this particular team needs a PG that can provide a consistent scoring threat and the ability to hit open shots. Baker could be the better shooting option, but I'm not one to put him that far above Mullings as an option at point guard. 

Who should start?

Now that the roster movement seems to have come to a stand still, I wanted to take an early look at what a starting lineup may look like.

It may not be popular, but I'm going to argue that only two players, Daniel Mullings, and Chili Nephawe, are for sure starters right now. Both should be first team preseason players and Mullings has a good shot at becoming a repeat WAC POY by the end of next season.

In the next week I will look at each position 1 through 5 and throw out two or three names that could be the starter.

But first here is my starting five and I have question marks about all of them except the two names I mentioned before.

PG - Ian Baker
SG - Daniel Mullings
SF - DK Eldridge
PF - Remi Barry
C - Chili Nephawe

Like I said, I will get more into it in the next couple of days. But I wanted to see who you would start for the 2014 Aggies.

Sim Bhullar and the Draft

The NBA Draft is Thursday and I believe Sim Bhullar has hopes either Toronto picks him in the second to last pick in the Draft or Sacramento trades to pick up a second-round pick, but that could very well be rumor two days before the Draft.

Bhullar was "Drafted" by the Harlem Globetrotters, but so was Landon Donovan. Not really news but here is the link if you want to read about it. 

Here is an actual link that I found very interesting comparing all of the Centers in Thursday's Draft so you can see where Bhullar compares from a statistical point of view. He doesn't seem to stand out in any category so it will be interesting to see if his size and PR appeal are enough to get him picked.

Bhullar was also featured in a couple videos today, checking in at the No. 5 spot on the YouTube Draft