Fans of the UNM men’s basketball team will be able to pack The Pit many times this season because of a schedule filled with home games.
The Lobos’ 2001-2002 schedule has them playing 19 of their 28 games at home, including 15 of their first 17 games.
The schedule contains many formidable opponents for the Lobos — 10 of the teams participated in postseason play last season. Also sprinkled into the schedule are a few cupcakes for UNM to feast on.
“It’s exciting; I can’t wait for the season to start,” freshman forward Alvin Broussard said. “You play basketball to play the best teams.”
This year’s schedule is comparable to last year’s. Many critics saw last year’s schedule as weak before the season started, but it turned out to be one of the toughest the Lobos have ever played. UNM played seven conference champions and finished the season with the 44th toughest schedule, according to the Rating Percentage Index. The RPI is a measure of the strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule.
UNM will be looking to get off to a fast start and feast on its non-conference opponents at home as 12 of its 14 games will be played at The Pit. UNM leaves the state only once until late January, when it plays at Berkeley, Calif., against the University of California on Nov 28. The other road opponent is intrastate rival New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Dec. 16.
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The two opponents that highlight the Lobos’ non-conference schedule are home games against Stanford University and Gonzaga University. Both games are the back end of a home-and-home series that started last year.
Last year, the Lobos lost on the road to top-ranked Stanford 75-44, but beat Gonzaga 81-80 in overtime.
UNM will be seeking some revenge in its first game of the season against Stanford Nov. 17. It also might be the perfect time for the Lobos because Stanford, which went 31-3 last year and made the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, lost four starters from last year’s squad.
The Lobos play Dec. 7 versus Gonzaga, which went 26-7 and made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season last year.
“This year’s non-conference schedule is going to be a lot of fun and also a very big challenge,” said UNM head coach Fran Fraschilla, according to a press release. “You look at Stanford and Gonzaga returning to The Pit, a game at Cal, two very intense games against New Mexico State, and a very good exempt tournament with teams like Southern Mississippi, West Virginia and Pacific, who should all be in postseason play this coming year.”
The Lobos will battle weaker opponents such as St. Mary’s College of California, Texas Southern University and either Dartmouth College or Southeast Louisiana University. The teams’ combined record for last season was 25-89 (.281).
UNM will host two tournaments. The first one is the Hispanic College Fund Classic, which will be held on Thanksgiving weekend Nov. 23-24. The other tournament is the Lobo Invitational Dec 28-29.
The Lobos non-conference opponents combined for a 258-184 (.584) record last season.
According to Andy Katz on ESPN.com, the University of Kentucky called UNM to see if the Lobos were interested in playing the Wildcats in Lexington without a return game in The Pit, but the Lobos had already signed a contract to play Cal in a home-and-home series the next two seasons.
Probably more interesting than the Lobos’ non-conference opponents is the battle UNM will face in the Mountain West Conference. Many of the teams in the conference have outstanding recruiting classes coming in this season, according to many publications. On FANSonly.com, the Web site rated the top 25 recruiting classes in the nation and has UNM as the 25th best incoming class in the country. The University of Nevada at Las Vegas is rated just ahead of UNM at 22nd and San Diego State University is also mentioned as having a good recruiting class.
“Bringing in better players is going to make the conference more exciting and more competitive,” Broussard said.
