Alford gears up to start season in new Pit

It’s gone from months down to weeks, and now it’s only days away.
The UNM men’s basketball team is ready to defend its back-to-back Mountain West Conference regular-season championships. The Lobos kick off their season with a pair of exhibition games, starting with Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

“We’re obviously getting really excited, but we have still got a lot of work to do,” head coach Steve Alford said. “But we’re hopeful that we get to move into our brand-new building this weekend.”

Senior point guard Dairese Gary said the new Pit is like an arena he has never seen.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “Probably one of the best facilities in the country, I think. But just looking at it, there has been a lot of work put into it, and I just can’t wait to get in it. Even though I am only going to get one year, they could have started (the renovation) earlier.”

Despite the anticipation, the Lobos are trying to avoid distractions. Championship Videos and Books is filiming the team’s practices this week.

From a national standpoint, Alford said, the coverage is always positive so long as it doesn’t take away his players’ focus.
“It’s been very busy for me,” Alford said. “That’s because you put your architect hat on and try to get the final details. There are just a lot of question marks, and we’re going to use this exhibition season to kind of get through all of that.”

Having to invest his attention in so many directions, Alford said he’s had little time to reflect on the fact that the Lobos play Manchester College on Nov. 6.

Alford started his coaching career at Manchester College, a small liberal arts and sciences school in North Manchester, Ind.
“I think the president of the college is coming and the regents are coming,” Alford said. “There is going to be big contingent of Manchester College people. The baseball coach when I was there is now the athletic director, so it’s going to be neat to see.”

But what media and fans really want to see is who will start against Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

In that regard, Alford is staying tight-lipped, and he said he isn’t even sure who the starting five will be.
“I don’t even know if I have a starting one yet,” he said. “We had a scrimmage on Sunday, and it didn’t go real well. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.”