Sunday, October 10, 2010

No. 5 — New Mexico State senior forward Wendell McKines

McKines has averaged 8.6 rebounds per game for his career at NMSU. He continued to be a rebounding and double-double machine when he returned to the court last year. He was in double figures rebounding in 14 of the 24 games he played, leading the WAC for the second year in a row with 9.8 boards per game in WAC contests. McKines had nine double-double efforts last season. He enters the season at No. 6 on the school's all-time rebounding list with 761. Since he is around the rim, he gets a number of easy baskets. He averaged 10.7 ppg last year and showed a continued improvement with his jumpshot, although he was still just 16 of 43 from 3 point range last year. While his rebounding shows up on the stat sheet, the Aggies were in trouble last year before McKines rejoined the team as his leadership could be his greatest asset to a team.

No. 10 — Nevada's frontcourt trio of forwards Olek Czyz, Dario Hunt and Malik Story
No. 9 — Boise State senior forward Daequon Montreal
No. 8 — Louisiana Tech junior forward Olu Ashaolu
No. 7 — Utah State senior center Nate Bendall
No. 6 — New Mexico State junior center Hamidu Rahman


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I predict this will be Wendell's breakout year. He's going to lead the WAC in rebounds and be right up there in field goal percentage.

He's the one guy no team in the conference has an answer for.

Anonymous said...

Everyday is Wensday

justin said...

I think Ham leads the league in boards this year. Wen will spend too much time away from the basket on defense. He will still be the leading O rebounder in the WAC. I predict something like 16/8 for Wendell this year as he gets a large portion of the shots JY and Gib took last year and has developed a quicker release and a reliable off-the-dribble jumper.

Jason Groves said...

Justin, I agree with you but I don't know if that's a good thing for this team. Wendell has improved his jump shot over time but I don't know how much you want him on the perimeter. Gillenwater can be a good rebounder but I'm not sure how interested he is or how consistent on the b oards and the defensive end. It's never been a question for Wendell. So I think the shots will be there, but I hope the majority of them are from 15 and in

Anonymous said...

I hope the majority of them are dunks!

Anonymous said...

both wendell and troy are talented players. lets all hope their lack of discipline doesnt show up at all the wrong times this year. lets also all realize that these two got their opportunities because they were always open as the defense was keyed in on gib and jy, no question about that. also with the growth of ernest running the point, he is going to be taking more shots, as is our local golden boy gordo. the real test is going to be if marvin the magnificent can get them in an offense that best suits the talents of the team, but more importantly can he get them to play some freaking defense! we will have to sit through another year of watching them stand around in a zone instead of letting his athletes get out and put some heat on the opponents. thats the big question mark right there. good thing menzies still has mick durham on his bench because thats the guy who is really keeping things organized on the court. mick is awesome.
also, i heard big trei steward is now on the staffs of both our mens and womens basketball programs. guess he is dong strength and conditioning. if so, that is awesome to keep him in the mix. he will help both teams.