Teddy Feinberg on the state of the WAC

Teddy Feinberg writes about where WAC football and basketball are now -- definitely weaker but offering opportunity.

More for Friday

Teddy Feinberg comments about this year's edition of WAC basketball.

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Tony Jones lauds Brockeith Pane who is adding a dimension -- one on one- ability -- to the USU backcourt.

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A 'closer' is usually a baseball term but Chris Murray takes it to the Nevada basketball realm.

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Per Daniel Lyght, Fresno State must not go 'Smith-less' if expecting to remain in games.

Our take on New Mexico State

You may wish to read Teddy Feinberg's/Las Cruces Sun-News commentary on New Mexico State basketball first before proceeding. You can find that here.

It's true that Marvin Menzies walked into a very good talent situation when he took the head coaching position at New Mexico State. His initial team played in the WAC title game as did his second outfit. But it was squads built on top of a quake zone and with a mirage-like quality -- meaning, any sort of a foundation was absent.

That's because the D-1 transfers that provided the bulk of talent and experience leading to the Aggies successes were to soon graduate. En masse. But it's also important to note that even this bunch included some talents who were not the most diligent of students. Some had to miss games and the New Mexico State APR number was also unsatisfactory per the NCAA.

The Reggie Theus years were a sort of harmonic convergence -- a rare event that is difficult to duplicate because of the many reasons it came together in the first place, not all necessarily because of who was in charge. Call it magical if you will.

As for "tantilizing prospects," inherited by Menzies, well, Herb Pope, Jonathan Gibson and Jahmar Young all came packaged with issues. Who really knows all that went on in Pope's situation but it didn't seem that much of a surprise to many when he departed for a school closer to home. Was this loss something to ding Menzies for? We can't see it.

Gibson has displayed a penchant for absenteeism regarding some of his commitments and that certainly reduced or eliminated his ability to perform in any sort of a leadership position, if he even desired to fill such a role. Again, we cannot disparage Menzies for this

Young has encountered a couple of past and present blips but seemingly was moving/had moved into the lead as the most influential Aggie. If we are incorrect then please let us know. Hopefully Young is but, if not, it's still not a knock on him or Menzies.

What can be laid at Menzies' feet is the student-athletes he has brought to Las Cruces. They can fairly be described as too often long-term projects and questionable 'classroomers' -- at least the individuals who were considered the future foundation that needed to be built.

We don't like naming names but this requires it be done. Troy Gillenwater has the potential to play at a Top 25 college but he didn't land anywhere near that and there are reasons why -- personal maturity and attitude towards the former in the student-athlete description. He was a gamble, one of a type many coaches will take but usually limiting it to one of such and usually if the team has some veterans whose influence rules the demeanor of the squad.

Wendell McKines is a loveable 'livewire' young man who doesn't offer any problems on the court but is deficient in self-disciplining the student portion of his life. He doesn't leave the west coast of California for college if not for his high school academics.

That made two academic risks.

There were/are young men with exceptional basketball potential but ones who needed extra time and attention with their off-court development. Now we don't know if this was provided -- maybe offered is a more accurate term -- but it seems safe to say if must have been because why would any coach bring in players, knowing they will struggle, and not offer concentrated assistance?

At the risk of repeating, these were gambles. So we see the success or failure of these two ventures ultimately depending upon how much these two young man could and would be willing to change, to transform parts of themselves.

Currently, the answer is not enough.

Again, did Coach Menzies think he had enough of the right players to positively influence Gillenwater and McKines? That seems like a stretch. Maybe he thought the coaching influence of he and his staff would suffice. If so on one or either, call it a miscalculation, or two.

Plus, Menzies' forays into recruiting players from Africa -- which may pay off down the line if there is one -- have yet to produce anything positive on the court. It is fine to do what he did but best if there is a productive team core already in place.

Maybe one of the 800 pound elephants in the room is recruiting to Las Cruces. Theus did it -- short term -- but almost exclusively with players looking for a second and last chance. Plus, Pope wasn't going to be at NMSU for four years even if Theus stayed. Coach T didn't build something for the next coach to add to -- it was more that a major rebuilding project would actually need to be undertaken. He wasn't going to be around long enough to bother with such. So can enough solid high school kids be lured to Las Cruces? We don't know the answer but it has yet to be done.

However, the bottomline is that coaches will remain or depart based upon who they recruit. That will play out positively or negatively for Coach Menzies.

Your Wednesday WAC links

Another early road test
Shawn Harrison
Herald Journal
November 18, 2009

Playing in-state rivals is never easy.

Try playing back-to-back road games against in-state rivals to open the season. That’s exactly what Utah State is doing for the first time under head coach Stew Morrill. The Aggies (1-0) take on Utah (0-1) tonight at the Huntsman Center. Tip-off is set for 6.

“It’s kind of weird to have two in-state games this early and both on the road,” Morrill said. “It’s a little odd, but we will get ready and go play.”

Back in 2007, the Aggies opened the season with two straight in-state foes in Southern Utah and Weber State, but one of those tilts was in Logan. USU opened the 2009-10 season last Friday with a 66-60 win at Weber State. Meanwhile, the Utes were dropping their opener at home, 94-87, to Idaho...

Go here for the remainder.

Hey, is the a Super Bowl contest for the Aggies too? Normally, we don't get this worked up but hey, we're counting on Stew Morrill's team to add insult to injury to the Utes and the Mountain West Conference. For the background on this paragraph, go here.

Harrison also has an article on Stew Morrill's 2010-2011 class.

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Jared Eborn also has a piece onUtah State's trio of basketball signees:

At long last, USU's fall basketball recruits
Jared Eborn
Deseret News |
November 17, 2009

It took a while, but Stew Morrill's fall recruiting class has finally been released by Utah State.

As expected, Bingham High's Ben Clifford, Midland College (Texas) point guard Brockeith Pane and Los Alamitos (Calif.) combo guard James Walker put their signatures on paper after giving verbal committments a while back...

Go here for the remainder.

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Teddy Feinberg/Las Cruces Sun-News offers his take on last night's New Mexico State - New Mexico game.

Jason Groves/Las Cruces Sun-News provides his reaction in his blog entry here.

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Sam Wasson/BleedCrimson.net has his Aggie-Lobo game summary. We like the contest being called the Rio Grande Rivalry.

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Tony Jones/Salt Lake City Tribune says here are the keys to the Ute kingdom for the Aggies.

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Dayton Morinaga/Honolulu Advertiser writes quite the catchy opening in his article on UH's loss to Northern Colorado.

Brian McInnis does the same with his game story.

Teddy Feinberg/Las Cruces Sun-News receving incoming ordnance

Teddy Feinberg of the Las Cruces Sun-News has been receiving some hot and heavy heat from some Aggie fans primarily because of his article where he revealed the legal imbroglios of New Mexico State basketball players Chris Cole and Jahmar Young.

Aggie Coach Marvin Menzies was also upset that Feinberg didn't contact him to get the NMSU viewpoint prior to the article being printed and posted. Read all about it in the various comments posted in response to Feinberg's two latest blog posts.

Go here

Then go here

We think Coach Menzies is off base on this one. He could have contacted the media about the legal concerns involving Cole and Young prior to Feinberg's learning about them and publishing an article that went online a bit past midnight.

But Menzies chose not to do so, thus failing to get out in front on the situations.

The argument could be made that Menzies would be violating student-athlete confidentiality by doing so but such is a weak one at best. The news was going to get out, period. Menzies decided to remain reactive rather than proactive. Such is a silly and outdated mode in today's 24/7 news world.