Breaking Bad in New Mexico
Finishing 9-9 was not too bad for a team in the Mountain West. This was a conference that still had Utah and a Jimmer Fredette led BYU team. Those two teams are now off playing elsewhere, although New Mexico may miss BYU, who they beat twice last season. The surprising part of the Lobos 2010-2011 campaign was their long losing streaks. First, they lost three straight in the middle of January to San Diego State at home and on the road to Utah and UNLV. A week before that little losing streak began, Coach Steve Alford lost a heartbreaker in Wyoming.
However, all of those losses are understandable. Three of them were on the road and the other was against a great San Diego State team. But a month later, a four game losing streak knocked New Mexico out of NCAA Tournament consideration. It started harmlessly enough with losses at Colorado State and San Diego State. But then the team lost two straight games in The Pit to Utah and UNLV. And this was the new and improved renovated Pit. New Mexico does not lose two games in a row very often at home. Since the 2004-2005 season, UNM has only lost 16 games at the Pit. Coach Alford had only lost there five times in three years prior to the three losses last season that sealed New Mexico’s fate to the NIT.
So what’s that mean for New Mexico? It means that this young team, while picking up some very nice road wins, albeit in an inconsistent manner, needs to grab onto the amazing home court advantage they have in Albuquerque before it slips away. This team should be able to break that bad little habit of losing at home to relatively equal competition. It cost them a spot in the NCAA Tournament last year. With a team that is a year older and a year wiser, do not be surprised if Coach Alford’s losses at home stays at eight for quite a while longer.
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
