Lobos predicted to finish in 3rd place
Point guard Jackson named league’s preseason newcomer of the year
Just three inches shy of the magical 7-footer’s rarefied stratosphere, Vance Jackson actually fails the eyeball test for players capable of dribbling a basketball up court against a full-court press.
He’s lean, with a solid 230-pound build, and certainly strong enough to clear space underneath like the stereotypical big man, yet his 6-9 frame doesn’t fit nicely with the typical college point guard. But just ask him about his handles. In short, the whole point guard thing? He’s got this.
“In high school before I went to prep school I was playing point-forward at St. John Bosco,” Jackson said. “It’s not that big of a deal to me.”
A prep star back in Los Angeles, he took his talents to the east coast to play
at UConn. He made it through one season before transferring a little closer to home at the University of New Mexico last spring.
He’ll take the court for the first time as a Lobo on Friday when UNM hosts its Cherry & Silver Game in The Pit. The fan-friendly event starts at 6 p.m. and is expected to draw something close to a sellout crowd. As of last weekend the school reported that it had already sold more than 10,000 tickets.
On Tuesday, fans were given even more than Jackson’s ball handling skills to consider. At the dawn of the Mountain West Conference’s annual media summit in Las Vegas, Nev., he was named the league’s preseason newcomer of the year by a panel of media members who cover the MWC.
The media picked New Mexico to finish third this season behind Nevada and San Diego State. The Lobos were picked ninth in last year’s poll but became the league darling by winning 19 games and reaching the MWC Tournament championship game after a third-place regular season run.
Nevada garnered 18 of the 19 first-place votes while San Diego State got the other. The Wolf Pack also dominated the all-MWC team as three players were voted in, as was a fourth for preseason freshman of the year.
Nevada senior forward Caleb Martin and his twin, Cody, are on there, as is senior guard Jordan Caroline. Jordan Brown was picked as the freshman of the year.
Other first-teamers are Deshon Taylor of Fresno State and Justin James from Wyoming.
In a sense, Jackson isn’t a newcomer to UNM. He was on the team last year but wasn’t eligible while sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules.
Penciled in as a starter at the hybrid guard-forward spot in head coach Paul Weir’s system, he admitted he’s fine with taking the low key approach to selling his skills as a point guard.
“If I do that then he’s [Weir] going to be, like, ‘You have to do more ball handling drills,’ ” Jackson said. “I just try to stay within myself and let it come.”
LOBO NOTES
Ducats available: Single-game tickets for the Lobo men go on sale at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 27. The Lobos have 17 home games on the 2018-19 schedule starting with a Nov. 10 exhibition against Northern New Mexico.
Other notable games include Colorado, UTEP, Iona, Penn and the annual contest against New Mexico State. The MWC slate’s biggest draws are Nevada on Jan. 5, UNLV three days later and San Diego State on Feb. 5.
Single-game tickets for the UNM women went on sale last weekend. The Lobos will play no fewer than 19 games in The Pit, which includes a visit from Oklahoma and the Lobo Invitational the week before Christmas.
Waiting game: The Lobos are still waiting to hear from the NCAA regarding the availability of power forward Carlton Bragg. The 6-10 former Kansas player transferred to Arizona State but never actually played a game before coming to UNM in the spring semester earlier this year.
Weir has said for months that Bragg will play this coming season, but it will either be at the season’s start next month or at the semester break in mid-December when grades from final exams are posted.