We examine New Mexico State men's basketball

Friends, foes, fellow WAC fans, New Mexico State die-harders, we come in peace and with good will, certainly not to bury the Aggies but to praise them (just how many cultural references can we pack into a sentence?)

The question today draws from the obvious assumption that the NMSU basketball program wants to be successful on and off the court. The $64, 000,000 question is how to go about doing so and therein is what we will explore here.

Let's use a portion of Teddy Feinberg's February 5 blog entry to kick this off: "...At the end of the day, there is no shame in losing to Utah State. But I have seen a program that had a good deal of excitement around it when I first got here two years ago, go flat. This was a good team not too long ago. An NCAA team, a team that looked to be on the cusp of, dare I say it, the Top-25. They're nowhere near it now! Who's to blame? I hate to say it because I think he's a nice guy, but the head coach has to shoulder the load on this one. Marvin Menzies stepped into a very good situation here last year and the program hasn't improved, it has taken steps backward. You might not like to hear it, but look at the facts. They didn't go to the NCAA Tournament last year with a loaded team and they ain't goin this year either...I hope it improves, I really do. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm way off. Time will be the judge. But, as of now, I am not impressed".

1) Reggie Theus was always going to be a short-termer in Las Cruces, whether his departure was for another college position or to the pros. That is neither good nor bad -- it just is. He built his teams with that in mind -- primarily although not exclusively Transfer U with some junior college transfers mixed in -- and enjoyed a very successful final season, first going 16-14 and then 25-9 with the latter also including a Big Dance appearance.

We label the pairing of Theus and NMSU as something akin to a harmonic convergence, a rarity resulting in a successful on-the-floor outcome nobody really predicted or expected -- at least not that quickly.

But Reggie was a supernova destined for higher level exposure sooner rather than later. With that in mind and mixed with proverbial 20/20 hindsight, NMSU may have been better off -- nobody knows for sure -- if Theus had a successor-in-waiting already on his staff for continuity sake because his departure came as no surprise.

2) Upon Theus' departure, Marvin Menzies was hired. Bear with us, but Menzies' 21-14 initial season was achieved in the crucible of a lab experiment gone somewhat awry -- recruiting classes not spread evenly throughout the senior/junior/sophomore/freshman continuum.

Yes, Justin Hawkins was still there (thankfully) as were other seniors in Fred Peete, Hatila Passos, Martin Iti plus a stew of underclassmen/newcomers/secondary holdovers in Jonathan Gibson, Jahmar Young, Wendell McKines, Chris Cole, Paris Carter, JayDee Luster, DeAngelo Jones and eventually Herb Pope.

Dr. Phil would more than likely lose his remaining hair in trying to keep this squad on the straight and narrow and moving forward. The fact that there was only one basketball, 13 or more egos (not counting those of the coaching staff), multiple personal agendas and just 200 minutes all the playing time available, well, each was an ingredient that proved to be a combustible mix.

For the most part, the newcomers arrived with the unrealistic expectation of receiving solid playing time despite the plethora of seniors ahead of them. Thus, McKines departed after the season only to return, Cole left the team, Carter apparently flunked out and Pope had his personal soap opera of remaining or leaving, before finally doing the latter. Luster and Jones also bid adieu to Las Cruces.

Could anyone have managed better than Marvin Menzies? It's a fair question but again an unanswerable one. Could Reggie? Who knows? Would he have wholeheartedly remained into the task? Just how would Reggie have dealt with a faulty APR? Plus, four less wins than the season before is not exactly a catastrophe.

3) This season has seen the batch of seniors (Hawkins, Peete, Passos, Iti) -- and their irreplaceable experience -- become golden memories. Playing time has become much more available. But it is also playing time that is to be earned and leadership to be displayed.

So what has happened so far?

A 12-12 overall record, 6-5 in the WAC. Jonathan Gibson, a junior and the only real Aggie upperclassman of consequence, has been disciplined twice for not returning to school and the team as expected. Redshirt freshman Troy Gillenwater shot baskets during halftime of the San Jose State road game rather than be with the team -- by his choice or per the direction of Coach Menzies is undetermined and Gillenwater was also recently suspended and missed a road game -- a win -- against Nevada for arguing about his (lack of) playing time. Freshman Terrance Joyner decided to test the capabilities of the federal airport inspectors in El Paso and learned the those incapable of performing the job had already been weeded out. ;-)

There are seven freshman and four sophomores of consequence (by our count) on the roster which any coach or seasoned observer will say usually translates into bumpy ups-and-downs on the court throughout the season. That, and usually less wins than that of an upperclass-heavy squad.

4) Stability is the general backbone of any successful basketball program whether in be on the coaching staff or on the roster as continuity builds programs. As for the latter, that usually means having enough medium-to-high level players of talent form the primary backbone of a team.

Now this may be the most contentious of our opinions offered here but recruiting players coming from a background of greater stability is a step we see NMSU men's basketball needing to take. There will always be the argument of pursuing recruits assessed with good potential but lacking a solid grounding versus nabbing a lower level but still solid batch of players but ones who can be counted on to do the right thing on and off the court.

As best as we can tell, four New Mexico State players come from prep schools:

Jahmar Young came from Laurinberg Prep
Jonathan Gibson came from Calvary Christian Prep
Terrance Joyner came from Genesis One Christian
Troy Gillenwater came from Stoneridge Prep

There is also Johnny Higgins who came from Notre Dame Prep but departed before basketball season began due to behavioral problems.

Now it's can be inappropriate to generalize or to do so too broadly but prep schools as a group do not carry the finest of reputations. However, some are very good academically and some also provide a solid basketball experience. But a student-athlete usually arrives at a prep school because the academics/the general experience itself/the basketball team situation was not working at the previous high school. There are also some kids who end up attending more than one prep school.

It is unfair and impossible to determine any direct cause and effect but the five Aggie players above have either experienced legal issues or demonstrated attitudinal concerns. We also feel it is important to note that -- from our distant perspective -- Young is not only succeeding quite well on the court this season but also in his assuming a leadership role.

There will always be the tug of war between getting the better players and landing untroubled (if you will) kids, especially for many of the mid majors who have a talent pool far less generous than the big-time programs. Someone succeeding a Reggie Theus and the success Theus enjoyed in his final season will face the chore of needing to win fairly soon (if not right away) in spite of any ramifications inherited.

To be truthful, the state of New Mexico is not a recruiting hotbed so it is a requirement that NMSU coaches recruit out-of-state. We're trying to be delicate here but the location of Las Cruces is also not an attraction for many potential recruits -- the point being that New Mexico State isn't necessarily a magnet for top talent nor is it surrounded with territories/other states from which Aggie coaches can easily pluck players.

Marvin Menzies certainly took some chances -- as did Theus with Herb Pope -- and some of his decisions have come back to burn him.

Our unsolicited advice for the powers-that-be at NMSU: give Marvin Menzies three or four seasons -- with his own set of recruits -- to fairly judge him. The Reggie Theus situations are few and far between and personalities of that magnitude certainly won't be around long if successful. Ask that Menzies build a program but also give him the time in order to do so -- that means some suffering will be involved. New Mexico State men's basketball needs a foundation -- and some of it already is in place -- from which to move forward. There is no intent to ding Theus but he didn't lay any foundation -- he certainly won a bunch of games but didn't leave behind a self-perpetuating program. Menzies surely enjoyed having all those seniors but knew the next season would be the proverbial new beginning.

Our unsolicited advice for Coach Menzies: yes, you need to win but targeting and landing kids who better understand what college basketball is all about, who comprehend and accept what their roles will be and what opportunities are truly available, will eliminate some of the comings-and-goings, the distractions and therefore help with program stability and with the team APR. It is a fine line to walk without stumbling but one that will result in better stability and far less headaches.

We also fully acknowledge that there are always the stories behind the stories -- the what really happened and the why that is not available to us. What we have typed here is based on what is known so certainly feel free to elaborate with what you know about any subjects contained within.

Keep in mind that it is the message and not the messenger that is most important here. We may agree or disagree on the problem(s) and the solutions(s) but we do so with the best interests of the New Mexico State men's basketball program first and foremost.

Okay, get your flame on.