Weir says team isn’t giving up on season
But he says not enough Lobos are now healthy
The Lobo men’s basketball season will go on.
We’re not sure when, just yet, but after meeting with media on Wednesday, University of New Mexico head coach Paul Weir said that his team isn’t done for the season. His confirmation came more than 24 hours after the Journal and the San Diego Union-Tribune confirmed this week’s two-game series against San Diego State had been called off, though it wasn’t confirmed publicly by the league or either school until Wednesday afternoon.
The team is, however, taking this week off from games after telling the Mountain West Conference it doesn’t have enough healthy players to play San Diego State on Wednesday and Friday as scheduled in Lubbock, Texas.
So when will the Lobos (5-11, 1-11) have enough players again to continue a season that, after this week, consists of six more games and the league tournament?
“I can’t sit here and say 100% we are going to be in this next game or in the game after that. I can tell you my intent. Our intent is to play at Colorado State,” said Weir, whose Lobos are scheduled to play the Rams in Fort Collins on Tuesday and Thursday next week.
“And I’m hopeful that these next few days (while not playing San Diego State) will allow us time to recalibrate ourselves, get back above the threshold (of having enough healthy players), get maybe some walk-ons that haven’t been a part of our team for a while back in shape physically and mentally to where they could compete on a basketball court and then finish the season as
best we possibly can.”
New Mexico’s public health order has prohibited college games from being played in the state, and until a couple weeks ago also prohibited the Lobos and New Mexico State from even practicing in the state. As a result, Weir and the Lobos men’s basketball team have lived most of the time since mid-November in hotels without a gym of their own to practice in.
Monday, two days after the team walked off the court at Fresno State with eight healthy and available scholarship players, Weir said three players came to the coaching staff and expressed concerns about playing this week. He said such conversations have happened all season but just this week were relayed to media, and some more players were considering opting out of the season, as the Journal reported online Tuesday.
One player, Weir said, had concerns about academics, will meet with the team’s academic adviser, and will not play for the time being. A second player’s nagging knee injury has worsened over time and needs rest, Weir said. A third player simply told coaches he needs a mental break.
Return dates for those three, injured forward Rod Brown (left foot) and guard Isaiah Marin (non-COVID illness over past week) all remain uncertain. UNM’s other three scholarship players (the NCAA allows 13) are unavailable. Two (Keith McGee and Nolan Dorsey) have opted out this season and the third (Assane Ndiaye) was never medically cleared to play this season.
The Mountain West does not allow a team to simply choose not to play a league game, but this season does allow for a team not to play if its available scholarship player count drops below seven due to COVID-19 related matters.
UNM does not have any active COVID-19 positive cases in its program, the school said Wednesday. But its opinion is its circumstances are all about COVID-19.
While not saying he regrets it, Weir said he knows others around the state were watching what would happen with how his high-profile program handled the relocation and strict guidelines in place.
“As a result, our student athletes and our team has lived in the most rigorous bubble anybody could ever imagine,” Weir said. “Now that’s come at a price. Living in a bubble has not been signed off on by a lot of conference commissioners and schools because of their concerns about what it could lead to. And as a witness, I’ll tell you that those concerns are valid.”
UNM will try to get walk-on players who haven’t been traveling to road games recently back in shape to play next week at CSU and also hope scholarship players not currently available will be soon.
The Journal was told a decision playing at CSU will need to be made “by the weekend.”
PLAYERS OPTING OUT? The Journal reported Tuesday some players were considering opting out of the remainder of the season “and maybe not entirely by their own choice but at the urging of staff.”
Since he didn’t comment for the original article, the Journal gave Weir an opportunity to do so Wednesday, asking, “Are you disputing the reporting?”
“I am not disputing the basics of the reporting,” Weir said. “I think it’s probably the nuance of it. … I believe that maybe some thoughts of players considering opting out, or probably shared in ways that maybe was not totally accurate of how they genuinely felt.”
FORFEIT? The Mountain West and SDSU on Wednesday made clear the two-game series is “canceled” and won’t be made up. Weir feels “postponed” would be a better term because UNM would play the games later if an opening in the schedule allows.
A determination on whether the games will count as forfeits or no-contests has yet to be made.