Today’s game will settle New Mexico and Montana’s war of words
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The battle of the court jesters has already begun.
Entertaining as New Mexico’s Darington Hobson and Montana’s Anthony Johnson have been on the hardwood, they made for better-than-advertised entertainment away from it at Wednesday’s media session at the HP Pavilion.
NCAA March Madness maniacs can only hope the two will make for great television tonight, when the third-seeded Lobos battle No. 14 Montana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Earlier, Hobson predicted the Lobos would make a run to the Elite Eight, something no Lobo squad has ever done.
“When I said that, it was how I was feeling at the time, and I still feel that way,” Hobson said. “As long as we’ve been playing the way we’re capable of playing, it’s going to be tough for teams to beat us.”
Then it was Johnson’s turn.
Perhaps it was a backhanded compliment to New Mexico — though Dairese Gary took it otherwise. Johnson said Montana expected to play a brand-name opponent from the Big East, rather than the Lobos.
Apparently, Gary took offense to the Johnson’s response.
“You have to pay attention to stuff like that,” Gary said, when asked if it made for bulletin-board material. “That’s — I mean, to me — is a slap in the face. I mean, a Big East school? They’re good — a lot of good teams in there — but we have a good record. We’ve been proving all year that we can beat good teams.”
Prove it now, though, Gary.
Montana enters the NCAA Tournament after mustering the resolve to overcome a 20-point, first-half deficit in the Big Sky Conference tournament championship, largely on the back of Anthony.
Johnson went on a scoring rampage, amassing 42 points — 34 of which came in the second half, including Montana’s last 21 points of the game.
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“We just had our meeting, so we thought we would put up detours signs around San Jose, and maybe he won’t get to the gym tomorrow,” Lobo head coach Steve Alford quipped, facetiously. “That might be the only way you can contain somebody like him.”
Most of all, though, the notations history are rife with improbable upsets.
To date, a No. 14 seed has defeated a No. 3 seed 15 times in the NCAA Tournament since 1986. Matter of fact, Weber State, which hails from the same Big Sky Conference Montana’s a part of, knocked off North Carolina 76-74 in 1999.
If the danger wasn’t imminent enough, Anthony said matter-of-factly it’d be foolish for the Lobos to look past the Grizz.
“I don’t think we can look past them,” he said. “And I don’t think they should look past us.”
Wait, a No. 14 seed looking past the third-seeded team in its region, Hobson responded?
“They have to play us,” Hobson said. “You don’t get a No. 3 seed for no reason.”
As always, the voice of reason — the coaches — came to the rescue of each emotional leader.
Montana’s head coach Wayne Tinkle downplayed the pregame fodder.
“You’re talking about kids that are 18-22 years old,” Tinkle said. “They get a little bit giddy. And maybe sometimes we put a little bit more into what they say then what they actually meant.”
In fact, Alford dignified Johnson’s comments.
“We’re not the Big East,” he said. “We’re New Mexico.”
NCAA NCAAWith Lobo fans superimposing lofty expectations on this team, there’s no telling how it’ll respond. Alford, however, doesn’t waver in his philosophy, again restating how young his team is.
“I don’t think they know any different, and I’m not going to pinch them because they’re not wearing green and make them wake up and realize they shouldn’t be doing the things they’re doing,” Alford said.
Same goes for Montana.
Tinkle said the Grizz aren’t just glad-to-be-here spectators — neither satisfied to simply be in the NCAA Tournament, nor enthralled by the bright-lights buzz it generates.
“We’ve got a pretty spirited leader in Anthony, and he said this a year of destiny for us — magical things in the air,” Tinkle said. “If that’s what’s gotten them to this point, I’m not about to burst their bubble. We’ll let them believe that.”
*Men’s basketball vs. Montana
Today @ 7:50 p.m. on CBS
*
