So looks like its the Lobos next, thoughts?

I didnt have time to watch the games earlier.


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Mathis didn’t shoot well, but Jackson did. I don’t see Mathis having two bad shooting games in a row. New Mexico did a lot of press on Wyoming throughout the game so this may be a factor in their freshness tomorrow. I worry about us coming out rusty and New Mexico being more in the flow after having played a game already.

hipsterdoofus21 wrote:Mathis didn’t shoot well, but Jackson did. I don’t see Mathis having two bad shooting games in a row. New Mexico did a lot of press on Wyoming throughout the game so this may be a factor in their freshness tomorrow. I worry about us coming out rusty and New Mexico being more in the flow after having played a game already.

I am worried about that as well. Any time you have more than even 5 days off, let alone 8, that will be a concern. At the end of the season I thought it was a good thing but from a fans perspective it feels like forever ago that we played. Hopefully they come out guns a blazin.


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They have a very pesky defense, and were in a full court press all day today, as has been mentioned. The key is just being smart with the ball. Don’t force your passes or make lazy passes. UNM feasts in those. They’re very aggressive in going for the steal. If we’re patient with the ball and smart with our passes, making sure we’re running our offense, we’ll be fine. We just can’t let their press get in our heads. Hopefully Abel has been practicing bringing the ball up the court under pressure.

Wyoming is 8-24 on the season, with 2 of those wins being of SJSU and one where they Dixie State by 2. New Mexico was down to them by 11 at half, needing a huge 2nd half to beat them. I'm not too worried about the Lobos, but nothing is certain until the game is played.

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

March 13th, 2019, 7:47 pm

Mathis didn’t shoot well, but Jackson did. I don’t see Mathis having two bad shooting games in a row. New Mexico did a lot of press on Wyoming throughout the game so this may be a factor in their freshness tomorrow. I worry about us coming out rusty and New Mexico being more in the flow after having played a game already.

I felt like New Mexico only played really hard for about ten minutes in the second half, and that is all they needed to win. They certainly turned up their press in the first part of the second half when they made their run. New Mexico actually looked a little disinterested in the first half.

I would say we need to come out with a lot of energy and try to strike and take advantage of any complacency or lag they may have out of the gate. I’m guessing they will be more motivated to play us then they were Wyoming though.

New Mexico subbed a lot of guys in and out so I don’t think fatigue will play a huge factor in the game except may help us late in a tight game. The kids are young and I don’t think fatigue sets in until the third game in three nights for college kids.

Tomorrow’s game will be tougher than the semifinal game (if we can advance). I really don’t feel good about the rust factor.

New Mexico won fourteen games this year. Nine of those were at home (an admittedly BRUTAL place to play a basketball game), one was on a neutral court against an NAIA team, and the other four were against:

Air Force
CS Northridge
Bradley
Wyoming (in MWC tourney)

One of those wins is decent, the other three are unimpressive. UNM is more than beatable away from The Pit. If we can't win this game, we probably don't deserve to go to the tourney anyway.

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

March 13th, 2019, 10:13 pm

Tomorrow’s game will be tougher than the semifinal game (if we can advance). I really don’t feel good about the rust factor.

UNM is sub-.500 with some terrible losses. Fresno State is a likely NIT team. How do you figure that tomorrow would be tougher than Friday?

Fresno State is a MUCH better team than NM. That said, we better be ready to play tomorrow. It won’t be easy and they will have their fans and everybody else’s on their side.

The good news is a loss to New Mexico isn't nearly as catastrophic as one to Wyoming would have been. Obviously don't want to give the committee any reason to keep us our, but a loss tomorrow likely only moves us down to a 10-11. Losing to Wyoming could have put us in a play-in game position.

USU is a 12 point favorite

It will also depend on how tight they call the game. If they allow the pressers to ride our guys down the court then we could be in trouble. Typically, they don't call it as tight in tournament play. We need to take care of the ball and get easy buckets off the press.

NVAggie wrote: ↑

March 14th, 2019, 7:49 am

It will also depend on how tight they call the game. If they allow the pressers to ride our guys down the court then we could be in trouble. Typically, they don't call it as tight in tournament play. We need to take care of the ball and get easy buckets off the press.

And playing D like we did in Logan then they can’t press when they aren’t making shots

I feel like Porter handled Nevada’s full court pressure well most of the game. And we’ve been pretty good against full court presses this year, I think. Am I remembering wrong?

Murkymerk wrote: ↑

March 14th, 2019, 8:14 am

I feel like Porter handled Nevada’s full court pressure well most of the game. And we’ve been pretty good against full court presses this year, I think. Am I remembering wrong?

I think you're right for the most part. We did struggle at San Diego State.

On the bright side, if we do lose to New Mexico we might have Craig Smith next year. And the NIT could be a lot of fun.

(Of course I still want a win)

New Mexico has proven it can ruin a conference playoff and spoil things. It's how they have been talking in the media even. Worries me but man I think we can do it if we play like we did up here.

Press,too many days off, officials calling it too close, or not close enough, etc., etc.

For me it comes down to one thing, and one thing only....and that is two words........
Craig Smith. I’m good.

mcaggie1 wrote: ↑

March 14th, 2019, 9:48 am

Press,too many days off, officials calling it too close, or not close enough, etc., etc.

For me it comes down to one thing, and one thing only....and that is two words........
Craig Smith. I’m good.

Agreed. I stopped doubting this team when they passed my expected win total in early January. It's been a fun ride.

dirtnsnow wrote:

mcaggie1 wrote: ↑

March 14th, 2019, 9:48 am

Press,too many days off, officials calling it too close, or not close enough, etc., etc.

For me it comes down to one thing, and one thing only....and that is two words........
Craig Smith. I’m good.

Agreed. I stopped doubting this team when they passed my expected win total in early January. It's been a fun ride.

This! Go Aggies!!!


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Coach Smith seems to understand how to beat a press. If I remember correctly, there have been several times this year that the Aggies have convinced a team to stop pressing so much because we've been able to break it for easy layups. We have also gotten some easy buckets against teams that have aggressively overplayed passing lanes and that sort of thing.

The strategy seems to have shifted from the "weather the storm and still try to do what we always do" strategy of recent years to the "THAT'S what you want to do?! Well, ok, but we know how to hit that defense right in the weak spot" strategy.

If we play D we'll be good. Scary game...all of our games in this tourney will be tough, at least they feel that way. Go Aggies!

UNM = Northridge State

University of Northridge Mexico?

YoungBloodAggie wrote: ↑

March 13th, 2019, 10:16 pm

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

March 13th, 2019, 10:13 pm

Tomorrow’s game will be tougher than the semifinal game (if we can advance). I really don’t feel good about the rust factor.

UNM is sub-.500 with some terrible losses. Fresno State is a likely NIT team. How do you figure that tomorrow would be tougher than Friday?

Because we've been sitting around reading bracketology reports and ncaa tourney predictions for the past 9 days.

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

March 14th, 2019, 10:59 am

YoungBloodAggie wrote: ↑

March 13th, 2019, 10:16 pm

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

March 13th, 2019, 10:13 pm

Tomorrow’s game will be tougher than the semifinal game (if we can advance). I really don’t feel good about the rust factor.

UNM is sub-.500 with some terrible losses. Fresno State is a likely NIT team. How do you figure that tomorrow would be tougher than Friday?

Because we've been sitting around reading bracketology reports and ncaa tourney predictions for the past 9 days.

I will be nice to finally breakup all this speculation with some actual basketball later tonight.

dirtnsnow wrote: ↑

March 14th, 2019, 10:07 am

mcaggie1 wrote: ↑

March 14th, 2019, 9:48 am

Press,too many days off, officials calling it too close, or not close enough, etc., etc.

For me it comes down to one thing, and one thing only....and that is two words........
Craig Smith. I’m good.

Agreed. I stopped doubting this team when they passed my expected win total in early January. It's been a fun ride.

Ahem

This would have been your typical upset pick. Glad we didn’t fall into that trap.