New Mex by 2 over the Bills

[jimbofive]

The op is clueless. We don't have a guard who is an offensive juggernaut? Regardless of scoring averages KM is our best offensive weapon. With so many other capable scorers he's taken on more of a true pg role and has done a great job.

A big center and a bunch of white guys? Really? 5 out of our 9 players playing double digit minutes per game are black.

what do they know about black people? i watched a video of "the pit" and i saw nary a black dude in the crowd. NEW MEXICO's about to get BUTTFUOKED. COUNT IT.

[slufanskip]

One more thing. I'm surprised people from New Mexico have the balls to make fun of anything or anyone else. Seriously, you're from New Mexico. I don't even have to make fun of New Mexico for people to get how stupid that is. Just saying New Mexico is enough

[billiken_roy]

"big drop off after the starters and cody." ?? You keep saying this and i couldn't disagree with you more. SLU has never had this much depth. There is a difference between cassity/mitchell and jordair/mccall, but its not that big. I'd like you to name one other team in our conference with a second team of guards that is as good as ours.

there was a point the other night vs tex southern in the first half that mccall and jett turned the ball over 3 straight times. mitchell and cassity had just come out in the normal rotation. majerus turned to right and got mitchell and cassity back in the game immediately.

no disagreement that our depth is very good. i said as good as ever above. but there is a big difference between cassity and mitchell and jett and mccall. go check out the combined assist to turnover ratios. mitchell and cassity are probably about as good of a guard combination in the country when it comes to protecting the ball and creating opportunity and defending.

in an atmosphere like the pit against a good new mexico team, we will have to play nearly error free with the ball.

conklin is in my opinion the best weakside help defender as i have seen maybe forever. add to it his new found confidence and leadership, we need him in the game. nothing against the other bigs, but conklin has just distanced himself from the rest. i.e. he needs to be in the game.

[billiken_roy]

One more thing. I'm surprised people from New Mexico have the balls to make fun of anything or anyone else. Seriously, you're from New Mexico. I don't even have to make fun of New Mexico for people to get how stupid that is. Just saying New Mexico is enough

you have to admit that a large percentage of the new mexico population is very adept at making cute jewelry.

[FromDaEastSide]

I think the one thing that people might be missing is the Altitude adjustment going into Albuquerque behind at a mile high. Is the team flying out today or tomorrow? But, the one thing going for this team is that we are running 8 to 9 deep this year, prior to previous seasons.

[jbizzle09]

there was a point the other night vs tex southern in the first half that mccall and jett turned the ball over 3 straight times. mitchell and cassity had just come out in the normal rotation. majerus turned to right and got mitchell and cassity back in the game immediately.

no disagreement that our depth is very good. i said as good as ever above. but there is a big difference between cassity and mitchell and jett and mccall. go check out the combined assist to turnover ratios. mitchell and cassity are probably about as good of a guard combination in the country when it comes to protecting the ball and creating opportunity and defending.

in an atmosphere like the pit against a good new mexico team, we will have to play nearly error free with the ball.

conklin is in my opinion the best weakside help defender as i have seen maybe forever. add to it his new found confidence and leadership, we need him in the game. nothing against the other bigs, but conklin has just distanced himself from the rest. i.e. he needs to be in the game.

Obviously KM and KC are great at protecting and distributing the ball. KM is aroung 2.5:1 and KC is 4:1. However, MM and JJ have also been pretty decent at protecting the ball, especially when compared to last season. Combined, they are averaging less than 2 TOs a game while contributing 3.5 assists. JJ has a ratio just over 2:1. Between these four guards, they are averaging just a shade over 4 TOs over a game. That is great production all around from the guards.

JJ's 3 TOs in the last game are his season high so far. He hasn't had any other game where he has had more than 2, and 3 games where he has had no turnovers. MM's season high is 2 TO's. At this point in their careers, you have to feel confident that they will be terrific by their senior years running Majerus's offense and having great assist to turnover numbers.

[Box and Won]

I think the one thing that people might be missing is the Altitude adjustment going into Albuquerque behind at a mile high. Is the team flying out today or tomorrow? But, the one thing going for this team is that we are running 8 to 9 deep this year, prior to previous seasons.

Jordair just tweeted that the team has left for Albuquerque.

[slu72]

billikens stay out of foul trouble they win. while we all agree the billikens depth is better than it might have ever been, imo, there is a big drop off after the starters and cody. i do not want to depend on bringing the ball down the court without kyle and kwamaine saturday. and i definitely dont want to depend on rebounds and lane defense without our heart of the line conklin. they have to play and play well.

We need KM and KC to be on the floor, but I'm not sweating it when either MM or JJ make an entrance. First, JJ is just a beast when he's on the floor. Rebounds, solid D, and can create. Plus he's probably our quickest and strongest guard. MM's starting to show his 3 shot, and KC better rev his up again for this game. Yes, I like the experience of KC and KM to cut down on the TOs, but the mix and match approach RM's been taking with the guards has been working pretty well. I think the key players for this game are gonna be the inside guys. It's getting time for RL and past time for CR to take major steps forward. Another thing that scares me is our FT shooting. While it's been a whole lot better, there's still room for improvement. Games like this and Dayton. X, Temple et al may well come down to us making all of them at the end.

[HusakAttack]

Bills pitch a shut-out; beat New Mexico 76-0.

Then we go down and play Old Mexico for the hell of it and win 68-4 (Old Mexico gets 4 points off 17 combined turnover when the walk-ons and freshmen are in)

[Billsrmajic]

there was a point the other night vs tex southern in the first half that mccall and jett turned the ball over 3 straight times. mitchell and cassity had just come out in the normal rotation. majerus turned to right and got mitchell and cassity back in the game immediately.

no disagreement that our depth is very good. i said as good as ever above. but there is a big difference between cassity and mitchell and jett and mccall. go check out the combined assist to turnover ratios. mitchell and cassity are probably about as good of a guard combination in the country when it comes to protecting the ball and creating opportunity and defending.

in an atmosphere like the pit against a good new mexico team, we will have to play nearly error free with the ball.

conklin is in my opinion the best weakside help defender as i have seen maybe forever. add to it his new found confidence and leadership, we need him in the game. nothing against the other bigs, but conklin has just distanced himself from the rest. i.e. he needs to be in the game.

In a tight game I would prefer Mitchell & Jett. For me, they provide offense, defense, and both have big enough balls to take a big shot. If we've got the lead & the other team is fouling, I'd take Jett out for Cassity or McCall.

[wgstl]

there was a point the other night vs tex southern in the first half that mccall and jett turned the ball over 3 straight times. mitchell and cassity had just come out in the normal rotation. majerus turned to right and got mitchell and cassity back in the game immediately.

no disagreement that our depth is very good. i said as good as ever above. but there is a big difference between cassity and mitchell and jett and mccall. go check out the combined assist to turnover ratios. mitchell and cassity are probably about as good of a guard combination in the country when it comes to protecting the ball and creating opportunity and defending.

in an atmosphere like the pit against a good new mexico team, we will have to play nearly error free with the ball.

conklin is in my opinion the best weakside help defender as i have seen maybe forever. add to it his new found confidence and leadership, we need him in the game. nothing against the other bigs, but conklin has just distanced himself from the rest. i.e. he needs to be in the game.

Its safe to say the km and kc are better then mm and JJ because of college minutes. They have a good chance of being a better 1-2 then KM and KC, they just need time.

[CHEESE]

Bills pitch a shut-out; beat New Mexico 76-0.

Then we go down and play Old Mexico for the hell of it and win 68-4 (Old Mexico gets 4 points off 17 combined turnover when the walk-ons and freshmen are in)

Then we'll head west to Baja Mexico and wax dat ass as well

[jbizzle09]

We need KM and KC to be on the floor, but I'm not sweating it when either MM or JJ make an entrance. First, JJ is just a beast when he's on the floor. Rebounds, solid D, and can create. Plus he's probably our quickest and strongest guard. MM's starting to show his 3 shot, and KC better rev his up again for this game. Yes, I like the experience of KC and KM to cut down on the TOs, but the mix and match approach RM's been taking with the guards has been working pretty well. I think the key players for this game are gonna be the inside guys. It's getting time for RL and past time for CR to take major steps forward. Another thing that scares me is our FT shooting. While it's been a whole lot better, there's still room for improvement. Games like this and Dayton. X, Temple et al may well come down to us making all of them at the end.

I think we have been seeing Rob get more comfortable and contribute like he should the last 3 games. In those games, he is 11-18 from the field (61.1%), 5-10 from the arc (50%) and a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line. He has also blocked 4 shots, gotten 3 steals and only committed one turnover. He is averaging 10.3 points in that stretch. His rebounding is still pretty down (only 7 total) but, at least offensively, he is definitely looking good lately. He seems to have a lot of confidence in his shot right now.

[Pistol]

I think we have been seeing Rob get more comfortable and contribute like he should the last 3 games. In those games, he is 11-18 from the field (61.1%), 5-10 from the arc (50%) and a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line. He has also blocked 4 shots, gotten 3 steals and only committed one turnover. He is averaging 10.3 points in that stretch. His rebounding is still pretty down (only 7 total) but, at least offensively, he is definitely looking good lately. He seems to have a lot of confidence in his shot right now.

Another thing to keep in mind is that he's doing all of this in limited minutes- 13.8 MPG for the season. In the last 3 games, he's averaging just under 16 MPG. So he's making the most of limited time, as well. The low rebound numbers would bother me if he were playing Conklin's minutes.

Loe: 2.2 RPG and 13.8 MPG, which comes out to about 6.4 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Conklin: 5.0 RPG and 27.6 MPG, which comes out to about 7.2 rebounds per 40 minutes.

[jbizzle09]

Another thing to keep in mind is that he's doing all of this in limited minutes- 13.8 MPG for the season. In the last 3 games, he's averaging just under 16 MPG. So he's making the most of limited time, as well. The low rebound numbers would bother me if he were playing Conklin's minutes.

Loe: 2.2 RPG and 13.8 MPG, which comes out to about 6.4 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Conklin: 5.0 RPG and 27.6 MPG, which comes out to about 7.2 rebounds per 40 minutes.

I would say that is still a pretty low rebounding rate, especially for a PF/C. Out of the 5 forwards who are in the rotation, he has the lowest rate:

Evans - 10.6 per 40 minutes

Remekun - 8.1 per 40

Conklin - 7.2 per 40

Ellis - 6.6 per 40

Loe - 6.2 per 40

Considering that he is the tallest of that group, you would think his rate would be higher. I would bet that if you asked either Loe or Majerus what Rob needs to work most on, it is his rebounding.

Also, just for another comparison, in his limited minutes, Manning's rate is 11.1 per 40 minutes.

[Pistol]

I would say that is still a pretty low rebounding rate, especially for a PF/C. Out of the 5 forwards who are in the rotation, he has the lowest rate:

Evans - 10.6 per 40 minutes

Remekun - 8.1 per 40

Conklin - 7.2 per 40

Ellis - 6.6 per 40

Loe - 6.2 per 40

Considering that he is the tallest of that group, you would think his rate would be higher. I would bet that if you asked either Loe or Majerus what Rob needs to work most on, it is his rebounding.

Also, just for another comparison, in his limited minutes, Manning's rate is 11.1 per 40 minutes.

Oh, I'm not denying he needs to improve in rebounding. It's just not as bad as it appears at first glance since he's playing under 14 MPG. He's young and will hopefully continue to add size and strength to his frame. Rebounds will creep upward over the years. I don't worry about him too much, and I love what he brings to the roster for a young big man.

[jjray]

I think we have been seeing Rob get more comfortable and contribute like he should the last 3 games. In those games, he is 11-18 from the field (61.1%), 5-10 from the arc (50%) and a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line. He has also blocked 4 shots, gotten 3 steals and only committed one turnover. He is averaging 10.3 points in that stretch. His rebounding is still pretty down (only 7 total) but, at least offensively, he is definitely looking good lately. He seems to have a lot of confidence in his shot right now.

Rob has room to grow this season as a player. He's only averaging 14 mpg. All he needs to do to get more minutes is play bigger in the paint. He can do it.

[Wolfen1]

An impressive win by UNM over NMSU especially since NMSU beat them at The Pit earlier this season. Before last night's game the Bills would have had a slight edge over the Lobos. But last night's game swung the momentum back in favor of UNM.

I am writing a little more detail on this game because many (myself included) feel this is a critical game. This game will not only affect numbers and rankings but also the psyche of the team gouing forward, much as the Washington game set the tone earlier in the season.

This will be our toughest game so far and possibly of the season. Besides the fact that UNM is a quality opponent (A-), we are playing at The Pit. So first lets deal with The Pit.

The Pit

In my opinion, The Pit is the the most difficult venue in the country to play in. Yes, I know about Cameron, Allen Fieldhouse, Rupp, etc. I am saying there is nothing like The Pit. Let's take a quick tour to find out why. Standing outside yiu see a large 1 story building with a flat roof. Looking around, you ask," where's the arena?" It looks like one of those giant U-Store-It warehouse buildings. Only the wiry sculpture around the entrance way differentiates it. Walking into the building you find yourself at the top row of the arena with the seats going down at a sharp angle. Those seats continue down to within a few feet of the playing floor....thus the name Pit. From a fan perspective, it's great Every seat is good viewing and even at the top row you are fairly close to the action. And then you have big bunches of fans just a few feet from the playing surface. Now let's put that flat roof on top of those 17000 screaming fans. Let's have that roof high enough so you don't bump your head but not too much higher.

From a visiting player's perspective, it is a nightmare. It is so loud and intense, it can throw any team off their game. This place gives new meaning to the words ...home field advantage. Sound levels have been measured as high as 125 decibels....the equivalent of a pneumatic riveter @ 4 feet. Add the Lobos in , who are going to jump on you from the opening tipoff and it's not a good combination.

Let's see what this looks like in action. Another team from Missouri showed up recently to play them and the results were typical. Missouri St lost to the Lobos by 16 points. MSU is a pretty good team(B+) but they never had a chance. There were down about 16 in the opening minutes and were never able to recover. UNM knocked them on their heels and the were out of sync for the rest of the game....turnovers, missed shots etc. This is not unusual as the Lobos have a winning percentage at home of about 82% dating back 45 years.

So what does all this mean? Does this mean we have an 82 % chance of losing? Heck no. Should you be nervous? Probably. So what do we have going for us. Well for starters, UNM is in the Mountain West conf....a conference RM coached in for many years. He is quite familar with the building. He will know how to prepare our team. In addition, even with our soft schedule , we have played some stiff competition. After all, we won the tourny in Anaheim that UNM also played in. We also will throw more defense at them than they are use to seeing. But I believe our biggest advantage is...............we are the better team. If we play our game and don't get rattled....we win. Easier said than done though. If I were coach, I would tell the team to play from opening tipoff as though there were only 3 minutes left in the game and it was tied. Focus, in the opening minutes, will be so important. If we start missing 3's in the beginning it will be difficult to come back.

UNM can be beaten at The Pit. NMSU, a good team (even though they got bombed last night) did it and they are not as good as the Bills. One thing that will come of this game, win or lose, it will make us a better team.

If we focus....we win.

Go Bills

Here's a link to information on The Pit.

Should be a good game, many Lobo fans were happy for Majerus when he got back into coaching. The "comments" come from years of him being the Lobos #1 rival when he was at Utah. I'm sure he'll get a warm reception initially and then it's war from there on out.

[BilliKat]

FUOK THAT NOISE. No one is allowed to expect anything but a win against UNM. Would you expect your kid to lose a fistfight with the dirty kid down the street? No, you wouldn't. Unless your kid is a *****. Are the Bills a bunch of *******!?!? No, they're not. We're going to win so you all can just settle down. BC, KC and KM will lead this motherfuoker.

Helm Yeah, Jimbo!

I like your thinking.

[West Pine Jim]

Helm Yeah, Jimbo!

I like your thinking.

Jimbo and Kitty are right, and besides, if Alford starts yapping at the refs, one look from Jim Crews should make him sit down.

[lobogabe]

DIEHARD lobo fan here, just want to let you know that i am SO excited to have your team and Coach Majerus in the Pit. I am sorry if you think some our fans are not classy, but every fan base has those fans, and i am sorry for that. Most lobo fans are the nicest you will ever meet and we will welcome you all. I have been following you team all year and am excited you all are having a great year, you have an hall of fame Ncaa coach and i always knew Coach Majerus would get a team going again. So you guys coming into the Pit and i think it's going to be a competitive game but in All honestly it's really hard to win down here, the Pit is one of the top venues for college basketball. So i was wondering is there any of you all coming down to Albuquerque for the game?? Would like to invite some of you to our gathering at a local bar. Also i see there was some negative comments about the state of New Mexico in this thread, if you have never been down here Please don't put it down. New Mexico has MANY famous people that either are from here or live here and alot of transplants that love this Great state. I have been many places in this great country and i can state right now that i would rather live in New Mexico then alot of other places in the country. Give it a chance. So hope to meet up with some of you.

[joe_davola]

DIEHARD lobo fan here, just want to let you know that i am SO excited to have your team and Coach Majerus in the Pit. I am sorry if you think some our fans are not classy, but every fan base has those fans, and i am sorry for that. Most lobo fans are the nicest you will ever meet and we will welcome you all. I have been following you team all year and am excited you all are having a great year, you have an hall of fame Ncaa coach and i always knew Coach Majerus would get a team going again. So you guys coming into the Pit and i think it's going to be a competitive game but in All honestly it's really hard to win down here, the Pit is one of the top venues for college basketball. So i was wondering is there any of you all coming down to Albuquerque for the game?? Would like to invite some of you to our gathering at a local bar. Also i see there was some negative comments about the state of New Mexico in this thread, if you have never been down here Please don't put it down. New Mexico has MANY famous people that either are from here or live here and alot of transplants that love this Great state. I have been many places in this great country and i can state right now that i would rather live in New Mexico then alot of other places in the country. Give it a chance. So hope to meet up with some of you.

I've been there. It's a cesspool. Bills by 12. No one wants to play at the fetz!

[lobogabe]

I've been there. It's a cesspool. Bills by 12. No one wants to play at the fetz!

I've been there. It's a cesspool. Bills by 12. No one wants to play at the fetz!

Real Classy, God bless you and if there is any respectful fans i can by a beer for this Saturday let me know. Stay Classy dude.

[DAGS'12]

I'm so pumped to see this game. I have heard a lot about the pit and you tubed a little about it. It seems they get pretty personal in their jabs against players. A simple google search for the Lobos would give some pretty good ammunition against a certain leader on our team. I am almost excited to see it. KM will probably face a lot of adversity from opposing fans... but of anyone on this team I see him just saying, 'Alright time to put the team on my back and go ham'. This is the first real legitimate road game with a crazy crowd we will play and I think our boys have been coasting and are down to go hard. I'm so pumped.

KM 30+ pts

Win by 12

[billikenfan05]

Real Classy, God bless you and if there is any respectful fans i can by a beer for this Saturday let me know. Stay Classy dude.

"God bless"? Metz is that you?

In all seriousness this board has an entire list of "in jokes" and "in posters". I can see where you thought Davola was being a dick. It was simply tongue in cheek. Welcome to the board. With that said Bills win by 10.