Tag: New Mexico Lobos Basketball

Week 7 DPI Rankings: Lobos Rising After Six-Game Streak

It was back to non-conference play last week for the Mountain West. Not everybody was in action—and some who were now wish they hadn’t been.

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Week 7 DPI Rankings: Lobos Rising After Six-Game Streak

The top two stand pat, but plenty of movement below

Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire

New Mexico, Boise State climbing in the latest DPI rankings for Week 7

It was back to non-conference play last week for the league’s affiliate members on the heels of the opening salvo to the long Mountain West season. Not everybody was in action—and some now wish they hadn’t been.

But it wasn’t all misery.

Some teams are making big strides, including one squad trying to make a move into the uppermost echelon of the MWC.

Below are the DPI rankings heading into the heart of Week 7. If you’re new to the rankings or just want a refresher, head here for a rundown of how the DPI is calculated. The ratings below reflect games played through Tuesday, December 17. As always, non-Division I games are not counted in the DPI.

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#1 — SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS

Last Week: #1

The Aztecs moved to the #1 spot in the Mountain West last week and with no games since their close shave against San Jose State, they haven’t moved much up or down. Brian Dutcher’s team is still undefeated and boasts one of the best defenses in the country. Malachi Flynn’s star turn has propelled SDSU into the national polls, along with the play of Matt Mitchell, Yanni Wetzell, and Jordan Schakel. If KJ Feagin can provide a little more offense, this team could really turn in a special season.

#2 — UTAH STATE AGGIES

Last Week: #2

It’s been a bit of a rough patch for the Aggies over the past few games. They still have one of the two best rosters in the league, but they aren’t quite living up to preseason expectations so far. After losing to Saint Mary’s and looking underwhelming in their first two Mountain West games, Utah State fell to BYU on Saturday in Salt Lake City. It was only their second loss, but it’s a missed opportunity for a good out-of-conference win to put on their NCAA Tournament resume.

#3 — NEW MEXICO LOBOS

Last Week: #4

The Lobos have won six straight after toppling New Mexico State and Grand Canyon since the last DPI rankings were posted here. Though they aren’t playing at the level of SDSU just yet, this patchwork roster of homegrown talent and incoming transfers has performed admirably in the early going. JaQuan Lyle has been everything that Paul Weir could have wanted and more. Oh, and Carlton Bragg is averaging a double-double. So far, so good.

#4 — NEVADA WOLF PACK

Last Week: #3

The Wolf Pack looked like they were starting to turn a corner over the past few weeks, winning five straight games on either side of Thanksgiving. But last week, Nevada was the second casualty of BYU’s surge, along with Utah State and UNLV. The offense had been clicking on all cylinders, but immediately downshifted from a 100-point performance against Air Force to a 42-point outing against the Cougars. That kind of volatility that makes it tough to trust Steve Alford’s club.

#5 — BOISE STATE BRONCOS

Last Week: #6

Leon Rice is getting things back on track in Boise, but outside of their win over BYU—before Yoeli Childs came back, of course—the Broncos haven’t really beaten anybody. It was another rocky showing for Boise State last week, with a midweek loss to Tulsa preceding a blowout win over Alabama State. Derrick Alston is averaging 21 points and Justinian Jessup is finding his form. But the starting five is not the problem here; Rice’s team suffers from a lack of depth.

#6 — COLORADO STATE RAMS

Last Week: #5

The Rams jumped out to a promising start, but they’ve lost three of their past four games, including both of their opening Mountain West bouts. Mixed in there was a 72-68 win over South Dakota State, and while the Jackrabbits are not a bad squad by any means, that they played CSU so closely gives a good indication of where the Rams are right now. Niko Medved’s team gave in-state rivals Colorado a run for their money, but ultimately fell 56-48 over the weekend.

#7 — AIR FORCE FALCONS

Last Week: #8

The defense still leaves a lot to be desired, but recently, the Falcons have been getting better results than they did during a rough November. The new month has been kinder to the cadets, with Air Force winning four of its past five (Note: Tuesday’s 99-42  win over Johnson & Wales is not counted in the DPI). AJ Walker has taken an important step forward as an offensive option. The sophomore was averaging 20 points per game over the past three games coming into Tuesday.

#8 — FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS

Last Week: #10

Justin Huston finally got his team to a second Division I win on Saturday against Cal Poly. But the bigger story here is the seven losses that they have already incurred. Nate Grimes is doing exactly what was expected of him so far, averaging a double-double with 13.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per night. Guards Jarred Hyder and New Williams both have some good performances under their belts, but they haven’t been able to click at the same time. That needs to change.

#9 — UNLV RUNNIN’ REBELS

Last Week: #9

The Rebels didn’t play last week, so the bad taste of the 33-point loss to BYU back has been lingering for a week and a half. There have been a lot of close calls, with UNLV playing in four separate overtime games so far. They are shooting under 42% from the field and turning the ball over 15 times a night. Games against Pacific and Robert Morris this week offer TJ Otzelberger the chance to start making some headway in his first year at the helm.

#10 — WYOMING COWBOYS

Last Week: #7

Allen Edwards got his Cowboys out to a 3-3 start, but they have dropped five straight games, including their most recent defeat at the hands of Northern Colorado. The Bears didn’t just sneak past Wyoming, either—the Big Sky hopefuls handed the home team a 21-point drubbing at Arena-Auditorium. The defense has been fair to middling, but the offense has been dreadful thus far. The Cowboys are shooting under 50% on two-pointers and just over 30% on threes.

#11 — SAN JOSÉ STATE SPARTANS

Last Week: #11

There’s a bit of a running joke around here about which Spartan is most likely to transfer next year, since the sputtering Spartans have seen five double-digit scorers depart in the past three offseasons—including Brandon Clarke, who parlayed his post-SJSU star turn at Gonzaga into a budding NBA career. All jokes aside, Seneca Knight has separated himself as the Spartans’ top option, scoring 12.5 points per game. Hopefully the sophomore can remain an important building block for Jean Prioleau.

That’s it for this week. Check back next week to see who’s rising and falling in the Mountain West and be sure to visit the Dieckhoff Power Index daily for updated rankings on all 353 teams in Division I basketball.

Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.

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The worst stat for Wisconsin vs. New Mexico was not 2-26 on 3s

Reaction to the Wisconsin Badgers’ 59-50 loss to the New Mexico Lobos.

When a team makes only 2 of 26 3-pointers, as the Wisconsin Badgers did against the New Mexico Lobos on Tuesday in a discouraging loss, it is easy to look at that fact and declare it to be the worst statistic in the box score. I will be clear here and tell you that if you think the 3-point shooting line is the worst stat from the New Mexico game, you’re being reasonable. You’re being perfectly logical and sensible.

I won’t try to be the “I AM VERY INTELLIGENT!” meme from the cartoon in “The Nib” by Matt Bors, and tell you that you’re overthinking it.

You’re not overthinking it. You are exercising good judgment. In many ways, the short article I wrote about the Richmond loss applied to the New Mexico loss as well. It is striking to notice the similarities in the box score between the two games.

The Richmond and New Mexico games both featured the following:

  • At least 20 missed 3s by Wisconsin
  • No more than 16 free throw attempts by the Badgers
  • No Wisconsin player had more than four free throw attempts
  • At least 14 turnovers

The 3-point shooting is problematic, to be sure. Again, you are not overthinking it if you cite that as a big concern. Nevertheless, it’s not the shooting in isolation which stands out the most. The biggest problem with this team in Brooklyn and overall (it was true in the loss to Saint Mary’s as well) is that when shots don’t fall, the Badgers don’t compensate in the other aspects of offensive play. The defense is fine. It’s at the offensive end where the lack of high-level recruiting by Greg Gard shows up. It is also the end of the floor where the inability of someone to rise above the chaos and the limitations of this roster is most apparent.

Someone has to be able to get to the foul line 10 times a game when the threes aren’t dropping. I said that after the Richmond game. Beyond that, however, if the Badgers are going to miss at least 20 threes (20 versus Richmond, 24 versus New Mexico), they should at least be able to limit turnovers to only five or six, and compensate by not giving away extra possessions. You don’t need high-end talent to do that. You need unselfish team basketball, which is supposed to be UW’s identity, and which definitely rose to the surface in the brilliant takedown of Marquette.

Let’s say something more about that notion of unselfish team play, while we’re on the subject, because it leads me to what I view as the most alarming statistic from the New Mexico game. Yes, 2 of 26 on 3-pointers is a legitimate No. 1 candidate as “most alarming,” but for me, I choose another stat: Wisconsin had only six assists in that game.

Six. Assists.

Maybe, in the Frank Kaminsky-Sam Dekker era, one could accept that one or both players would get into a zone a few times a season and go wild in one-on-one situations. Maybe, under a special set of circumstances, Wisconsin’s best basketball players this decade (and century) would create shots through individual skill and not require passes to put them in position to score in big numbers. Fine… but with THIS roster, this 2019-2020 group of Badgers, Wisconsin cannot have six assists per game. That is TOTALLY unacceptable and an unsustainable way of playing.

Sure, the missed threes limited the assist count. No one needs to explain that part of the equation. However, if the Badgers are going to commit 14 turnovers, they ought to finish a game with 20 assists. If the Badgers are going to fail to move the ball well enough to create more free throw opportunities, the system is still failing beyond the missed 3-pointers.

Six assists shows that the blended team game so apparent against Marquette in the Kohl Center has not been carried on the road and taken to places such as Sioux Falls or Brooklyn. Wisconsin players need to help each other out. They need to assist each other a little more. It’s the holidays, after all.