The Sweet 16 curse continues, but not for long.
The men’s basketball team’s 2011-12 season ride made its last stop in the third round of the NCAA tournament with a 59-56 loss to Louisville Saturday in Portland, Ore.
The Lobos have made the round of 32 teams six of the last seven times they have taken part in the tourney, and, each time, UNM has fallen short of tasting the Sweet 16 — but that could change in two years.
Why two years? Why not next year?
Don’t get me wrong. Next season, UNM will still compete.
Only three seniors were part of this season’s team — Drew Gordon, A.J. Hardeman and Phillip McDonald.
A fourth player, freshman Dominique Dunning, is leaving the program because of the lack of playing time.
But all the pieces can come together in 2013 for a historic run.
To start, the Lobos need big men — but don’t worry, UNM is reloading.
The biggest hit the Lobos will take is Gordon.
The double-double machine dominated his opponents inside the paint and opened up space for the 3-point shooters on the outside.
This trend may continue if healthy, 6-foot 11-inch sophomore Alex Kirk will help fill the void left by the 6-foot 9-inch Mountain West Conference tournament’s most valuable player.
Kirk redshirted this year, missing the entire season after undergoing back surgery to relieve a herniated disk.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Head coach Steve Alford also recruited a 7-foot, 220-pound center in Obij Aget, who will be a big presence in the post.
Hardeman, the other starting big man who will graduate in May, is a 6-foot, 8-inch defensive specialist and was part of head coach Steve Alford’s team-oriented defense.
Sophomore Cameron Bairstow played some of his best basketball during the MWC tournament. He only averaged five points and just over four rebounds per game in the Lobos’ championship run, but Alford said he played quality minutes defensively — Hardeman’s staple.
Bairstow’s improvement from his freshman year to this year gives fans hope that the 6-foot 9-inch forward will only get better in his last two seasons.
Nick Banyard, a 6-foot 8-inch power forward, is another recruit who has potential to be a solid piece to the puzzle Alford is creating for the future.
It may take a season for the big men to get acclimated into their new roles, but in 2013, all four big men should be ready to roll.
In the backcourt, McDonald and Dunning are departing this season.
The Lobos will miss McDonald’s bench production with his quick release and sharp-shooting from 3-point, along with his length on defense. Dunning played hardly any minutes, so the Lobos lose nothing there.
There is no question the backcourt of the Lobos is set.
Sophomores Kendall Williams, Tony Snell, Demetrius Walker and freshman Hugh Greenwood displayed their talent throughout the season and all will play plenty of minutes for the rest of their careers.
Just imagine, because of this, how good the Lobos could be in 2013.
Williams, Snell, Walker, Bairstow and Kirk will be seniors. Greenwood will most likely have had two full years of point guard under his belt. Aget and Banyard will have had a full season to adjust to college play.
And the kicker: If Gordon’s little brother Aaron, ESPN’s No. 3 high school prospect in the country for 2013, chooses to follow Drew’s footsteps, his immediate impact on an already stacked UNM team help the Lobos over the hump into the Sweet 16 and beyond.
In a sense, next year will be part rebuilding, part championship run.
I can already picture next season.
The Lobos will win 20-plus games for the sixth-straight time under Alford, and will compete for a MWC regular-season title. A berth into the NCAA tournament will be determined by how successful the team is in the conference tournament.
And then the fun starts. 2013 will be sweet.
