*Men’s basketball vs. Washington
3:50 p.m MT. on CBS*
SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s like one of those unfortunate war stories — two men obliged with the task of taking out their best friend, in the name of confounding patriotism.
War has no sentimental boundaries. Neither does college basketball.
In a way, the UNM men’s basketball team is diametrically opposed to No. 11 Washington advancing to the Sweet 16 on Saturday.
And rightfully so, because it would mean the Lobos have to lose.
But, in a way, UNM head coach Steve Alford can’t help but feel tugged into competing directions. The person opposite him on the sidelines on Saturday, Lorenzo Romar, is more than a coaching acquaintance.
As fate would have it, Alford and Romar are tight-knit friends.
“We’re on the NABC ministry team together,” Alford said. “We’ve been able to spend a lot of time together on Nike trips. He’s one of those guys and one of those programs that I follow and check scores on.”
The two first crossed paths years ago, when Alford and Romar were coaches — Romar at Saint Louis, Alford at Iowa. The two teams played against each other.
“He’s one of those guys in the profession that you root for, because of the way he and his staff works,” Alford said. “They do it the right way.”
Except rooting for Romar would require Alford postpone his aspirations for a deep tourney run, into the Sweet 16, on the way to the Elite Eight.
Perhaps that air of familiarity will help Alford and the Lobos. It could just as easily benefit Romar and the Huskies.
With the exception of brothers, who knows an individual’s tendencies better than a friend?
“Been knowing Steve a long time,” Romar said.
Long enough to know which kids Alford tries to recruit. And vice versa.
Before Darington Hobson came to New Mexico, he was enticed by Washington. Romar said he spent many a days watching Hobson play in high school, in hopes of landing the highly touted swingman. As it turned out, Alford snatched Hobson out of Romar’s grasp.
But Romar quickly returned the favor.
Alford said Isaiah Thomas, now a standout point guard with the Huskies, piqued his interest on the recruiting trail.
“We watched him a lot,” Alford said. “We were really on him from a recruiting standpoint, ’til Lorenzo — he had to get involved. If we could have kept him out of the picture, we might have had a better opportunity with Isaiah.”
As they recounted their tales, the way their respective seasons played out, it became apparent the two aren’t just friends; they’re apt comparisons.
In 2002, Romar took the reins of a stormy program, clouded by misfortune and plagued by an absence of enthusiasm. Two years later, the Huskies qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.
At New Mexico, Alford took over a reclamation project in 2007, adamant about re-stitching the fabric of the program. In three years, Alford’s teams drastically overperformed, landing in the National Invitational Tournament twice, and, this year, the Big Dance.
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Naturally, in 2009, after guiding the Huskies to 26-9 record and their first outright Pac-10 regular-season championship since 1953, Romar was name Pac-10 Coach of the Year, the same year Alford was honored by the Mountain West Conference for helping the Lobos earn a share of the MWC regular-season title, a task UNM had never accomplished in league history.
And now here they are on the biggest platform in college sports.
Arguably, Romar and Alford have no business being here. Why it was but just a few weeks ago the Huskies weren’t even a bubble team. Heck, they were even being considered as NIT material. Meanwhile, the Lobos, short on experience, were, as Alford has conceded time and again, a year or two away from being a legitimate tourney team.
Instead, Romar — his job security being rumored to be in jeopardy earlier in the season — is a step away from the Sweet 16, a place the Huskies have yet to return to since 2006. Similarly, Alford is on the cusp of returning the Lobos to their rightful place among college basketball’s best, competing with the glory days seen under ex-coach Dave Bliss.
Inasmuch, Alford and Romar possess the politesse, charisma and sensibility needed to deal with the media.
“Steve didn’t say anything nice about me,” Romar remarked jokingly, when asked about his relationship with the Lobos’ head coach. “He’s really a comedian. I don’t know if you’ve seen that side of him. He routinely makes me laugh. He can still shoot, too.”
No matter what happens on Saturday, both Romar and Alford can attest to a budding friendly rivalry. And, if nothing else, one will be able to say he lost to a friend.
