New Mexico State will face Baylor as the NCAA bracket is released
Men draw Baylor, will play in Tulsa
This time two days ago, the New Mexico State basketball men were a win away from the men’s NCAA Tournament.
Today, the Aggies are one win away from making this arguably the most satisfying season since the most glorious of their glory days.
One more victory will be the toughest climb of the season, of course. The Aggies (28-5) are seeded 14th in the East Regional and naturally will be a big underdog against third-seeded Baylor (25-7) in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday in a Round-of-64 game.
True that the Aggies are champions again of one of the have-not, one-bid leagues, and as such are NCAA-bound for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
But in any case, a season of transition already has been a season of great accomplishments. In a list of such, the last shall be first.
On Saturday night, the Aggies rallied from a 13-point secondhalf deficit to defeat Cal State Bakersfield 70-60 in the finals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. The accompanying automatic berth was the lone path for NMSU, despite its gaudy record, to get a bid.
The Aggies won despite a dysfunctional performance offensively in the first half, making only four baskets while committing 13 turnovers and as leader Ian Baker was without even a
basket. NMSU trailed 29-20 to the team that ended its 20-game win streak with an exclamation mark, 72-53, last month.
But playing their third game in as many days, the Aggies had more in the second half in the battle of wills than did Bakersfield, which survived a four-overtime semifinal on Friday. NMSU went 6-of-12 on 3s after the half and forged a 21-4 run to take control.
“We were telling each other just stay calm, don’t let them speed us up, which is what they were doing in the first half,” said Baker, who finished with 15 points and six assists. “Don’t get down on each other, let the game come to us. We knew they played a four-overtime game (Friday night), so we knew eventually they would break.”
The comeback gave NMSU a program record 28 wins. The 20-game win streak through the middle of conference season at least got the Aggies some mention in the same breath as Gonzaga, whose streak then was No. 1 nationally to NMSU’s No. 2 in length.
It came during a season the Aggies also went 3-1 against rivals UTEP and New Mexico, beat a Power 5 opponent (Arizona State) for the first time in 12 seasons, and pulled out a tourney title as the second seed.
All of this behind a first-year coach in Paul Weir, who was promoted after Marvin Menzies’ relatively late departure last April to UNLV. And don’t forget the first-world (from a college basketball standpoint) problem of losing two-year player Pascal Siakam to the NBA.
“These kids are the most amazing group of kids I have been around,” Weir told the Las Cruces Sun-News following Saturday’s victory. “It’s the most special team I have ever been part of.”
It will be the Aggies’ 23rd NCAA appearance. Their all-time record, including losses in obsolete consolation games, is 10-24.
NCAA TICKETS: NMSU’s sales begin today at 11 a.m. at the Pan Am Center or at 575-646-1420. Aggie Athletic Club members and season ticket holders will get priority seating. The price is $100 for the Friday session.