Is New Mexico States college basketball team any good?

Question

I'm going to watch 2 of their games coming up, against ohio university and duke wondering if they are any good. will they beat ou? I know they won't beat Duke.

Answer 1

The OU game will be close....Duke will win.

Answer 2

NMSU is a pretty solid team that most pick to win or at least contend for the WAC championship (Utah State will also be up there). I believe they return every starter from last year's team, which gave Kevin Durant's Texas team all they could handle in the first round of the NCAA tourney before loosing to the more talented team. The only significant loss that they have had is their coach, Reggie Theus, who bolted to the NBA after only one season. The new coach, Marvin Menzies, also seems to be on the fast track out of Las Cruces, but he is supposed to be good in the mean time.

They are pretty big (two 7'0" guys, one of which is weak and the other can't put the ball in the hoop), but their star player is a 6-7 G/F named Justin Hawkins (Sr). The offense usually goes through Hawkins or through one of the guards, both of whom are good and one of them, Gibson, is particularly quick. The Aggies also have a blue-chip recruit for the first time in my lifetime (I'm 29) who might be a big part of the team. His name is Herb Pope, a 6-8 power forward. I haven't seen him live, but his HS tapes look like he's a slasher. The defense under Theus wasn't the best, but they played an uptempo style with half-court traps that sometimes gave oponents trouble (although who knows with the new coach).

The team has a huge homecourt advantage as the PanAm Center can get rowdy and even hostile at times. Unfortunately for the Aggies, the games against Ohio and Duke are on the road, and last year they were horrible on the road. I saw them loose to Loyala Marymount on the road, but they beat everybody at home including Nevada.

I guess I think they'll beat Ohio pretty handily (although I admit I know little about the Bobcats). Duke is young this year but they are better than the Aggies so the talent difference plus the fact that NMSU is horrible on the road should equal a pretty easy victory for the Blue Devils, but who knows, a D-II team did beat Michigan State earlier this week! In any event both games should be entertaining at least.

Answer 3

Well, it's a little early in the season to tell for sure, but they look pretty good so far. However, I very much doubt they'll beat either OU or Duke. They're both powerhouses.

"LAS CRUCES, N.M.-The New Mexico State men’s basketball team opened the 2007-08 season against Cal State Los Angeles with a 80-66 win, Saturday, Nov. 3, at the Pan American Center. Senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins paced the Aggies with a double-double consisting of 21 points and 10 rebounds.

The Aggies had three other players in double digits with sophomore guard Jonathan Gibson and junior guard Paris Carter supplying 12 points each. Carter was 4-for-6 from behind the arc. Senior center Hatila Passos was also in double-figures with 10 points.

Head coach Marvin Menzies said he was pleased to see the Aggies on the Pan Am floor for the first time.

“An exhibition game is an opportunity to get out and blow out the cobwebs and get up and down the floor and work on a little conditioning and do some things against other people with some referees and fans,” he said. “It was good. Overall, I was happy we had a chance to get all of those things behind us so we can maybe learn a little bit more on Monday and get after it again on Tuesday.”

Freshman forward Wendell McKines made an impact in his first game in an Aggie uniform as he had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

In the first half, Passos led the Aggies with eight points and five rebounds and Hawkins added seven points along with four rebounds.

The Aggies host New Mexico Highlands in their final exhibition game Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Pan American Center.

Answer 4

They won the WAC last year and were even up by a point against Texas in the NCAA tournament with only about 8 minutes remaining. They did lose Elijah Ingram, David Fisher, and Tyron Nelson. They gained 4 star Wendell McKines who graduated early and 5 star Herb Pope who hasnt been cleared by the NCAA to play yet. McKines got cleared about 2 days before their first exhibition game.