Lobo lowdown

Sporting News, The, Dec 15, 1997

It seems like every season, an off-beat team reaches the Final Four. In 1994 it was Florida, '95 Oklahoma State, '96 Mississippi State and '97 Arizona. If you're looking for a team to slip through the March Madness and land in San Antonio this season, you might not need to look any farther than New Mexico.

It wasn't long ago that New Mexico was a virtual unknown in the world of big-time college basketball. But things have changed. The Lobos are getting recognition as one of the nation's top teams and becoming a fixture in almost every Top 10 this season.

"It's become not as outlandish as people think for New Mexico to have a good program," says New Mexico coach Dave Bliss, who has guided the Lobos to five NCAA tourneys in seven years but never has advanced to the Sweet 16.

Adds senior forward Clayton Shields: "This program has improved so much since I've been here. My first year here, really, New Mexico was nobody. When I told people back home (in Texas) that I was going to New Mexico, they'd never heard of such a thing.

Now, when I go home, people I don't even know will come up to me at the mall and say, Hey, you play for New Mexico, don't you?'"

How far has New Mexico come? Perhaps the best indicator is in its national TV exposure, virtually unheard of in the past. This season, the Lobos are scheduled to play in seven nationally televised games, their most ever. Having joined what Bliss calls "acceptable company" among college basketball's elite following consecutive seasons of 25 victories, the Lobos are poised to take the next step.

"We've had two pretty good seasons back to back, but we have nothing to show for it," senior guard Royce Olney says. "We didn't get as far as we wanted in the (NCAA) tournament (second-round losses the past two years), and we've got bigger things on our mind."

Bliss says it's no coincidence that New Mexico's schedule, which already has featured a game against UCLA and shows future match-ups against Arizona, Utah, Texas Tech and TCU, has been beefed up. "We didn't play well against Louisville (a 64-63 loss last season in the NCAA Tournament) because we hadn't played that kind of game enough during the season," Bliss says. "We tried to help our schedule by making it more difficult."

New Mexico is long on talent and even longer on experience. The Lobos return seven lettermen, including four starters, from a team that finished 25-8 last season. There are two players -- point guard David Gibson and Shields -- who are three-year starters and another -- junior center Kenny Thomas -- who is a two-year starter. The only starter missing from last season is guard Charles Smith, the Lobos' career scoring leader who was a first-round draft pick of the Miami Heat.

Leading the list of the Lobos' standout players is Thomas, a popular preseason All-America selection who has been projected as a top pick in the NBA draft if he leaves New Mexico after this season.

The 6-8, 255-pound Thomas paces the team in scoring and rebounding. Olney is the team's second-leading scorer, and sophomore guard Lamont Long and Shields also average in double-figures. It could add up to the Lobos making the 800-mile trip from Albuquerque to San Antonio in late March to join Utah's 1966 team as the WAC's second-ever Final Four participant.

inside dish

Cincinnati forward Ruben Patterson was suspended 14 games for, among other things, living in his summer employer's condominium and having a car loan co-signed by the same man. But part of the penalty was for borrowing a jeep belonging to Tim McGee, a former Bengals wideout now working as a football player agent. The NCAA acknowledges McGee and Patterson have a longstanding relationship, having grown up in the same neighborhood, and no rules were broken. Patterson got four games for that, anyway. "It always goes back to, 'It's an uncomfortable situation," McGee says. "That's the bottom line."

Shooting guard JaRon Rush of Kansas City, a top 10 recruit, has committed verbally to Kansas. But he is said to be reserving the right to reconsider if Jayhawks star forward Paul Pierce returns for his senior season.

Once again, point guard is a problematic position for Oklahoma. After losses to Butler and Wisconsin in the Big Island Invitational, senior Corey Brewer is switching temporarily to the point giving junior-college transfer Michael Johnson time to adjust. But OU needs Brewer playing off the ball to be a Top 25 club.

Coppin State figures to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's automatic NCAA bid. But should it stumble, an at-large bid may await, especially if the Eagles can add one more win over a high-major team, say against Oklahoma, Alabama or Wisconsin. Coppin State already has slayed Missouri.

When Arkansas defeated Fresno State in Phoenix, it was the Razorbacks' first win away from Bud Walton Arena since January 15. ... After the Jayhawks won the Preseason NIT for the third time, Kansas' November record under Roy Williams was 24-2.