Saturday, January 29, 2011

Aggies into second

I wonder if folks will jump back onto the bandwagon after a home stand?

Either way, the Aggies had to win both games or they would have been a middle of the pack WAC team — not good. They did what they had to, although neither game this weekend was pretty.

NMSU and Idaho combined for 43 turnovers, but NMSU hounded Idaho with 11 steals and Castillo came up big as the Vandals sent two or three guys at Gillenwater all night.

I'm curious as to what you thought about Idaho's defense. They entered the game giving up the second fewest points in WAC games (62.1 ppg). I thought they were solid defensively, shutting down the paint and collapsing on Gillenwater. It was only when the Aggies got out in transition during the Gordo Run that NMSU found some offense and then kind of choked the Vandals out, hitting 15 of 20 from the foul line in the second half.

At the end of the day, it was NMSU's 11th straight home win. The schedule finishes nicely for them before hosting Utah State and Nevada on the last weekend. They could win out until that weekend or they could drop one they shouldn't. Neither would surprise me.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Weak
Athletic
Conference

That's what this league has become, WEAK!!

I may jump on the bandwagon IF they can beat a legit top 25 Utah St. team & a so-so Reno team.

It's still tough to get excited about an 11-11 team. Yawn, ZZZzzzz.

El Guapo

Anonymous said...

It certainly can't be a surprise to the Aggies that the opposing teams are paying "special" attention to Gillenwater. It doesn't take a coaching genius to plan for the double and triple team, but for some reason, it took the Aggies until the second half to adjust.

Gordo did well taking up the slack. We need others to step up.

Flava Flav said...

El Guapo -
Lobos take down BYU and UTags lost to BYU by 6 missing 11 tosses from the charity stripe while "holding" Fredette to only 26 pts. So UTags get to 21 in the Coaches Poll and 22 in the AP poll but can't beat anyone in the Top 25? NMSU mounted a 2nd half comeback in Pan Am to tie the Lobos so you figure they have ast least as good a resume as UT State, and that's w/o Wendell. Head to head I guess we'll see in just 4 weeks from Wednesday.

If you don't think that parity in the WAC makes for exciting contests then you're buying into the ESPN hype so you'll keep paying for hi-def cable and hi-speed internet. Fight the power, dude; get pumped for an 11 and 11 effort that is the toughest 2011 schedule in the WAC! Rock on Robert Lumpkins at Rutgers! Props to Menzies. JG - your bandwagon will never have the anti-Boston/Menzies crowd on it but they seem quieted after two more Pan Am comebacks...

Anonymous said...

Jason,

I doubt it will happen but the Aggies COULD win-out in the WAC which I don't necessarily consider a good thing. If the Aggies beat Utah State on the last weekend, Morrill and company would make huge adjustments for the next matchup with us in the WAC Championship game. This whole season will boil down to the championship game in Vegas between us and the Utags. If Utah State beats us in Cruces that will set up a chance for them to beat us 3 times in a season which is very difficult. Go NMSU!

-DB

Anonymous said...

From the anti-Menzies crowd...I was there I, I cheered on the Aggies as they beat 2 more teams ranked below 150 in the RPI. Let me know when they actually beat a good team.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:06

1) We cant help who we play in conference, its CONFERENCE

2) I'd rather beat teams that are below 150 than lose to them

JR

Anonymous said...

If the Aggies beat the UTags going into the Vegas match-up then I don't think Stew can repair the psychological damage, despite adjustment he'll make. If the Aggies lose in Pan Am then UTags will not beat them a third time.

Anonymous said...

No, we can't help who we play in the conference, but we could at least do better than 6-4 (in a terrible conference), and losing to a team with a losing record that was 3-6 in conference.

No Jason, fans aren't going to get back on the bandwagon just because the Aggies won 2 games at home last week because we are a bad team. 12-12, and only because the WAC is so bad. And please don't tell me we are in 2nd place like that is something to be proud of. The WAC is bad and we are bad.

Anyone that says otherwise has blinders on. Is it time to admit the coach is part of the problem or are we still going to use excuses like, well we don't have McKines, it was on the road, we can still win the WAC tourney, Rahman still doesn't seem to be 100%, we are a mid-major so only the WAC tourney counts?

Anonymous said...

I will always be an Aggie fan because I was raised in Las Cruces, so it's not a case of jumping off or on any bandwagon...but I think it's fair for fans to express their displeasure with this mediocrity. Menzies needs to go. When I travel home to visit Las Cruces I always go to the games and spend money because it helps NM State and the Las Cruces economy, regardless of NM State's record..so before GS says anything, just shut it...but still, I'm not happy with Menzies and I have the right to say it.

Sincerely,

RT (any other personal info is none of your damn business GS-college punk)