by Reid Wessels
Daily Lobo
Say sayonara, streak.
The Lobos have finally won a game away from The Pit.
The UNM men's basketball team is now 1-29 on the road after its first road victory since Jan. 28, 2002. The losing streak, which marked the longest on the road in 40 years for Lobo basketball, was finally ended when the Lobos defeated the New Mexico State Aggies 84-66 on Saturday night.
There are several ways to interpret the end of this streak, depending on which Lobo fans you talk to.
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The optimistic Lobo fan, the one that calls the local radio shows predicting an NCAA Tournament berth for this team every year - regardless of talent level or record - is probably already making March plans for the big dance. In this fan's mind, Danny Granger will lead the Lobos to a Mountain West Conference Championship, the road losing streak is all but a distant memory. Pack your dancing shoes, because this team is a tournament contender.
But the pessimistic Lobo fan points to the fact that the Lobos have lost 19 straight MWC road games. The pessimist is quick to point out the NMSU team the Lobos beat is probably one of the weaker Aggie teams in recent memory. In other words, this fan may not be completely sold on this team yet.
So what are we to make of this year's Lobo men's basketball team? One of the goals of this team was to end the streak that had been hanging over this program for almost three years. Despite coach Ritchie McKay's insistence that he didn't think of his team's road woes as a streak, one would be hard pressed to define it as anything else.
In reality, this team is probably somewhere smack dab in the middle of what the optimists and pessimists have it pegged as. There is little question this is the deepest and most talented team in McKay's tenure as coach. McKay finally has his players in place, and for the most part, the team has played well.
But who have they played? Well that's another story. Wins against NMSU, North Carolina A&T, Santa Clara, Duquesne, Northern Arizona and Western New Mexico hardly compare to the UNLVs and Utahs of the world the Lobos will face in conference play.
When will we find out if this team is a contender or a pretender? Will this be the team to bring prominence back to Lobo men's basketball? Is this the team to bring excitement back to The Pit - which, in all honesty, is not nearly as electric a place as it was 10 or even five years ago?
One thing is certain; the road for this team is going to get decidedly rougher soon. The Lobos will most likely be 8-1 going into back-to-back home games with Tennessee and top-ranked Wake Forest. These two games against SEC and ACC powers will go along way in determining how good these Lobos really are.
In the interview after his first road victory as Lobo coach, McKay said the biggest positive is not having to answer "the question" anymore. Perhaps "the question" can be replaced with another question: Are these Lobos for real?
The answer will get clearer in a couple of weeks. Until then, enjoy the road victory, guys, because it isn't going to get any easier.
