NMSU appeals Barry suspension

NMSU freshman Remi Barry will not play on Saturday.

NMSU is appealing a six-game suspension due to Barry’s amateurism status. The suspension stems from Barry receiving benefits unrelated to NMSU staff prior to his arrival in Las Cruces.

The six-game suspension was cut from 12 games to six games. NMSU hopes the suspension is dropped to three or four games and officials hope to receive word prior to the team’s trip to Alaska Nov. 24-26. If the suspension is not reduced, Barry would be eligible to play in the Aggies’ Nov. 29 game against Arizona at the Pan American Center.

Opening thoughts

Here is the story on the Aggies entering the season that is going to be in Thursday's Sun-News. Getting off to a good start is important I think. I also believe it's possible, not only with the schedule but also the fact that NMSU's principle players are finally all on the court entering a season. I don't think that has happened yet under Menzies due to injuries, NCAA, academics or some combination. I'll write more about UNC specifically tomorrow.

Last year for three Aggies

While the return of senior forward Wendell McKines is a major key to the Aggies success and has garnered most of the headlines, Saturday’s game also marks the return of senior center Hamidu Rahman and point guard Hernst Laroche’s 100th consecutive start.

Rahman’s last appearance for the Aggies was for 10 minutes in a 58-54 loss at home to Utah State on March 2. Rahman was limited to 23 games with a torn calf muscle that plagued him all year. Rahman has been a productive player at NMSU. He enters his senior season tied for No. 4 on the career list for blocked shots with 98.

Laroche has been a steady hand at NMSU. He enters his senior season second behind Jonathan Gibson in games played. Gibson leads the list with 131. Laroche is also No. 6 in minutes played with 3,209. Eric Channing is first with 3,783. Laroche could also push for the school record in assists with a productive senior year. Laroche is currently 176 assists behind career leader Sam Crawford, who had 592 assists.

McKines enters the season No. 6 in rebounds with 761. It’s not likely McKines will surpass Sam Lacey’s 1,265 but the senior will likely join Lacey as the only two players at NMSU to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Super sophs

It’s typical to see the most dramatic improvement from a player’s freshman to sophomore season.

Jonathan Gibson, Jahmar Young, Wendell McKines, Troy Gillenwater, Gordo Castillo and Hamidu Rahman are all players who enjoyed individual success in their second year under head coach Marvin Menzies.

The Aggies hope the trend repeats itself with sophomore guard Christian Kabongo and center Tshilidzi Nephawe this year.

Both players showed promise as freshmen, but each encountered their fair share of growing pains. Nephawe showed a deft shooting touch for a big man, shooting 48 percent from the floor and 76 percent from the foul line. But at 6-foot-10, he averaged just 4.4 rebounds per game in 18.2 minutes of action. Kabongo showed a knack for getting into the paint as a freshman, starting 14 games with 82 assists but his 82 turnovers and 19 percent 3-point shooting jump out as weaknesses he has addressed. Kabongo seemed more confident in his first appearance as a sophomore with 18 points, six rebounds, seven assists and zero turnovers in an exhibition game victory over Eastern New Mexico.

The Aggies would be pleased if Nephawe remains productive offensively while upping his rebounds and Kabongo continues to create opportunities for himself and his teammates while taking better care of the ball.

Off to the races

For numerous reasons, the Aggies haven’t been able to get off to a good start the past four years.

NMSU opens this year on the road at Northern Colorado on Saturday, followed by a Nov. 16 game at rival New Mexico.

Some Aggie teams have been able to recover, some haven’t.

NMSU is 26-32 in November and December the past four years. The Aggies are 4-23 in road games during that time.

NMSU is 2-2 in season openers under head coach Marvin Menzies, beating Louisiana on the road to open last year.

This is the first year that Menzies has had his projected team entering the season opener, making it possible to navigate the early portion of the schedule with a quality record.

Run-and-gun

Eleven Aggies played at least 12 minutes in NMSU’s exhibition game.

While that may not repeat itself, NMSU will ideally play at least 10 players to succeed in a high-pressure, up-tempo style that seems to benefit their personnel this year.

A four-guard rotation of Laroche, Kabongo and freshmen Terrel de Rouen and Daniel Mullings will push the pace. McKines, Tyrone Watson, Bandja Sy and Renaldo Dixon are athletic wings and Hamidu Rahman and Nephawe have to be solid at the center position.

Fuel to UTEP rivalry

Here is some pieces from a story I wrote on a little Twitter war sparked by Wendell McKines after Eastern New Mexico beat UTEP on Thursday night.

"“#UTEP fans betta go hide in Juarez wen #NMSU slide through they just list to a team we beat by 50 .. That’s disgusting if you ask me”

Later, McKines posted, “#UTEP is a disgrace to the southwest .. They should all go to Juarez and hold up signs that say we hate mexican food”

New Mexico State athletics director McKinley Boston said the school does not have a specific policy regarding athletes and social networking sites.

“I’ve never really taken a position on what they choose to do unless it involves alcohol or drugs,” Boston said. “(McKines) is a senior. He’s a thoughtful person. We don’t have a policy to address his words unless it’s in a derogatory nature. Unfortunately it gives fodder to UTEP, but it’s not a big deal to me.”

UTEP fans have noticed.

In response, UTEP fans started a trending topic called #under10wen on Twitter.

Aggies coach Marvin Menzies declined comment as the Aggies prepare for their season opener on Nov. 12 at Northern Colorado.

“Coach would rather not have Wendell give bulletin board material but he’s a very confident player and I don’t see it as any more,” Boston said.

Sim Bhullar and another preseason ranking

The NCAA denied an eligibility waiver on 7-5 freshman center Sim Bhullar. The school appealed the decision and it was denied. As a  non-qualifier, this means that Bhullar will not be able to play until next year. From what I've read and talking to his sister when he came here, that was the plan anyway, but if NMSU was able to get him cleared, it would have been a bonus.

Apparently the NCAA is evaluating the amateurism of  Remi Barry. Barry played in the Aggies' exhibition game on Wednesday, but could miss early games this season.

The 2012 Pomeroy preseason rankings are listed here. Pomeroy ranks the Aggies No. 128 overall. The WAC is ranked No. 13. NMSU is the third ranked WAC team behind Utah State (49) and Nevada (78). Pomery projects Utah State finishing 11-3 in the WAC, Nevada going 10-4 and NMSU finishing 8-6 in league play. Pomeroy had the WAC ranked No. 14 in his final rankings from last year.

Notes from exhibition win

I talked to a lot of people in the offseason. an overwhelming impression I got from fans and people who follow the Aggies closely: If they play hard and beat their rival games at home, people will show up.

That's why I wrote about the need to beat UNM and UTEP at the Pan Am this year. I don't think that's going to be easy, but it's necessary.

The other part is effort. People don't like watching the Aggies play a 2-3 zone, loaf back in transition and shoot 3s. To that end, I was encouraged by what I saw in NMSU's 115-64 win over Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

I counted four drawn offensive fouls in the first half before I stopped paying attention to every play so I could work. Other numbers that show you a heavy work ethic: 22 offensive rebounds, nine steals, nine blocks, 23 assists and 25 second chance points, all 11 players played at least 12 minutes and the bench scored 51 points.

Perhaps because they were offensive oriented in the past, Christian Kabongo's ability to guard people and Hernst Laroche's ability to guard people last year got lost. Not the case this year. Add freshman Daniel Mullings (13 points, three assists, four steals, two blocks) and hopefully Terrel de Rouen, and the Aggies have perimeter people who are high energy and fun to watch even if they aren't great offensive scorers or shooters.

Here are some left over postgame quotes.

Christian Kabongo
On guards responsibility playing man to man: "If you are on the wing guarding a guard, you are trying to force him baseline. If you are guarding him in the middle, we don't anyone to go  body to body with us because it really affects us when they go to the middle and basically not let anyone in the paint."

On playing hard: "I think we feed off our energy but it's always a bonus when you feed off the crowd's energy. It's always good to hear people cheering."

CK was able to get to the paint last year, perhaps it was his biggest strength. Against a D2 team, he did it at will.

"It's still a strength. I think I have a shot, but we still have more to prove. This is just an exhibition. As the season goes on, it will show."

On Daniel Mullings
"He's like oxygen. He's everywhere. You beat him, you think he's not there and he's the one getting the block. He is like the energizer bunny."

On if the Aggies can play this way all year:
"We have guards who can guard full court and guards who can push. Wendell can bring it up, Bandja can bring it up. We have been conditioning more. It was the hardest conditioning ever. A lot of people came back early. It was a whole lot of running."

Wendell McKines
On the hustle stats: "Those are things we take pride in. those are things we practice. Those are things we get after each other on. It's onlyright that we show them in the game. I think that is going to be our image."

On Mullings: "He is going to be good. He has a lot of energy, plays hard defense, he's long and athletic. He is going to be good. He is good. And he's only going to get better."

On man-to-man: "We have a lot of pride and we like to man up. We take responsibility for our man and helping our teammate and making our rotations."

Marvin Menzies
Defense: "We have a little bit more in the arsenal but that's the way we would like to play."

On offensive rebounds: "It's an emphasis. We want to try to create those second chance looks. It's one of those things we want to try to create scoring opportunities using our length."

Numbers game

One thing that stands out to me about the men's team is the number of big bodies. While the Aggies were certainly hurt by injuries last year, it's a number's game.

Hamidu Rahman, Chili Nephawe, BJ West, Renaldo Dixon, Wendell McKines, Tyrone Watson, Bandja Sy.

Those are all players who will play either the power forward or center position this year. That's assuming that Sim Bhullar isn't cleared and moved into the rotation.

I asked Marvin Menzies about the likelihood of using a redshirt year on someone. Obviously the exhibition game and practices leading up to the Nov. 12 opener at Northern Colorado can still play a big factor.

"You have to get through the exhibition game and the next few days and then sit down with guys and get a feel for who would want to," Menzies said. "Right now, all of them are looking forward to having a spot. I don't know right now about the 12 who will travel."

I believe that Renaldo Dixon was supposed to redshirt last year. He played a role at times last year and I'm excited about him as a sophomore, but I think a redshirt season could be beneficial to him. You can probably say the exact same thing about BJ West.

"You don't want to redshirt guys who could have helped you," Menzies said. "All of the pieces decide what is best for them but you have to factor in what is going to give you the best chance to win all season long."

What I'm looking for from Wednesday exhibition vs. Eastern

I wrote a story for the paper talking about the Aggies wanting to play together this year. Normally I think that's a cliche or coach speak, but I think this particular NMSU has to truly play together in order to win. By playing together in this case, I think means sharing the ball on offense (because NMSU doesn't have the  type of scorers they've had in the past) and showing that they can play man-to-man defense as  a team for a sustained period of time, something that takes more than just physical ability.

"We want to try to create an aggressive defensive style," Ags head coach Marvin Menzies said.

Menzies said the Aggies hope to play more man-to-man this year, but even if they end up playing zone again, they need to be active on that end of the floors, creating turnovers and easy scoring chances.

So I want to see a decent number of assists and multiple players getting in the scoring column. I know that Wendell McKines, Christian Kabongo and Hernst Laroche will get the bulk of shots but there are three or four additional players that I want to see in the scoring column.

Defensively, I would like to see some turnovers and a low shooting percentage. To me, those numbers would indicate that the Aggies are pressuring teams like they say they want to. The rebounding number will likely be skewed in NMSU's favor against a Division II team. NMSU outrebounded Eastern NM 55-20 last year and rebounding was a team weakness through the year.

Individually, I want to see if Hamidu Rahman has recovered from injury to the  point where he can have a quality senior year. Sophomores CK and Chili need to improve from the first to the second year.

I'm kind of excited about the potential lineup of Hernst Laroche, Christian Kabongo, Daniel Mullings, Wendell McKines and either center. I don't know if I like it as a starting lineup because I think Tyrone Watson is a proven player and Mullings isn't enough of a shooter to surpass him, but that lineup is a high flying lineup with the potential to drive guards crazy.

One thing we will not see, as of Monday at least, is freshman Terrel de Rouen (ankle) or (likely) Sim  Bhullar. Bhullar's waiver to the NCAA was denied last week so he's not able to practice. NMSU submitted an appeal for his initial eligibility. That could be determined later this week.