New Mexico basketball coach Richard Pitino address reporters Thursday afternoon in Cleveland as the Lobos are in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year. The regular season champions out of the Mountain West will play Marquette Friday night.
New Mexico point guard Donovan Dent, shown during Thursday's practice in Cleveland, said now is the time for Mountain West teams to prove they belong in the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos face Marquette in the first round of Friday's South Region.
From left, Lobos CJ Noland, Nelly Junior Joseph and Donovan Dent field questions from reporters prior to Thursday's workout in Cleveland. New Mexico, seeking its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2012, faces Marquette on Friday night.
New Mexico basketball coach Richard Pitino address reporters Thursday afternoon in Cleveland as the Lobos are in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year. The regular season champions out of the Mountain West will play Marquette Friday night.
CLEVELAND — It was all smiles and friendly waves when the giant overhead replay board of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers flashed the University of New Mexico’s logo, the Lobo spirit band belted the school’s fight song and a line of cheerleaders greeted the team Thursday afternoon in Rocket Arena.
No pressure, no bloated expectations — just a team trying to enjoy the pomp and circumstance of the NCAA Tournament while soaking in the energy that surrounded it.
“This is our moment,” said Lobos guard Tru Washington as he trotted onto the court, a handful of fans calling his name as he jogged by.
March Madness, in all its glory, had once again saved a spot for a team whose tradition of fan loyalty far outweighs its postseason success. UNM has won just eight games in 17 previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament despite decades of near-capacity crowds for home games in The Pit.
Few, if any, college programs can boast of the fan support minus the accompanying NCAA success as New Mexico. Each of those eight wins are revered, each remembered in some special way by a fan base starving for just one more.
The Lobos will get a shot at an elusive ninth “W” when they face Big East bully Marquette at 5:25 p.m. Friday on TBS. New Mexico has gone 13 years without a win in the Big Dance and hasn’t beaten a team from a major conference in 26 years — not that it mattered to the couple of dozen diehard Lobo fans who watched the team’s shoot-around on a cold, wet and overcast day in downtown Cleveland.
One of them carried a small New Mexico flag while most of the others wore cherry red shirts or hoodies, each offering a subtle contrast to the arena’s burgundy seats.
“The success of this basketball team is so important to the school but, obviously, to all the people who support us year after year,” said UNM athletic director Fern Lovo. “It just means so much to the fans. To win a game in this tournament would be so exciting for them.”
Lobos coach Richard Pitino has spoken extensively about the role the fans play in his team’s success, often saying his personal desire to win has as much to do with not letting fans down as it does winning a game.
From left, Lobos CJ Noland, Nelly Junior Joseph and Donovan Dent field questions from reporters prior to Thursday's workout in Cleveland. New Mexico, seeking its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2012, faces Marquette on Friday night.
Courtesy UNM Athletics
For the players, they claim this week is just business as usual.
Aside from the fact there are additional media obligations and less quiet time to focus and prepare behind the scenes, it’s still just 40 minutes of basketball.
“Everything is the same; the approach is the same,” said Lobos senior CJ Noland. “Of course we have things like this [an afternoon news conference the day before a game] that’s combined and squeezed into the time, but the focus is still the same. I’m sure everybody here on the team has wanted to be in March Madness since they were little kids, so I feel like everybody’s pretty much locked in.”
New Mexico point guard Donovan Dent, shown during Thursday's practice in Cleveland, said now is the time for Mountain West teams to prove they belong in the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos face Marquette in the first round of Friday's South Region.
Courtesy UNM Athletics
Only once in school history have the Lobos won two games in the same NCAA Tournament, and that was in 1974 when teams were required to play consolation rounds after being eliminated in regional play. Never have the Lobos survived the first weekend since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams, then 68.
As much as he’d prefer to discuss the details of Friday’s game and the dynamics of his team’s play, Pitino’s famous surname invariably makes him the focus of media seeking input about his hall of fame father. Time and again he is asked about dad, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino.
Time and again he politely answers most questions with the kind of thoughtfulness he devotes to inquiries about which of his players will guard Marquette’s All-America guard, Kam Jones.
“Very lucky to have worked for him,” Pitino said of his father, fielding a question from a local reporter from Ohio unaware of the treadmarks those questions have on the less-famous son. “I mean, certainly grown up around him my whole life. I think the biggest thing that I try to take from him is just his relentless drive to win and make people better. We do do it differently, but that’s more because he’s 72 and I’m 42. But stylistically, defensively, we really think the same things. I think his commitment to excellence is something that I marvel at and something that I certainly try to mimic as best I can.”
Friday’s winner will advance to Sunday to play the winner of the Michigan State versus Bryant game. The Spartans and legendary coach Tom Izzo were the regular season Big Ten champions and are the No. 2 seed in the South Region.
It all adds up to one giant opportunity for a Lobos program desperate to have a breakthrough moment. Like celebrated deep NCAA runs by teams like George Mason, VCU, Florida Atlantic, Butler, Loyola of Chicago and even Mountain West Conference rival San Diego State — midmajors who all had runs to the Final Four and beyond — the question soon becomes, “Why not us?”
“We just want to show them the Mountain West can compete at this level,” said Lobos point guard Donovan Dent. “A lot of teams think we struggle in the tournament. A lot of people think we struggle in the tournament. We just want to show that we can compete and we can play at this level any time.”
