It's good. I'm glad you guys love/hate us so much. When I was at GCU arena the ticket people told me this was the biggest game of the year! Was shocked we matched the attendance for Louisville! We can call it a rivalry now. Two years in a row we have lost to GCU. Had a blast and love it that it is a relatively short drive for both schools fan base. Hopefully our bitter negative fan base will catch on that this could be a fun rivalry and have the same enthusiasm as the GCU fan base has about it. BTW, love the halftime show too!
Aren't Aggies on rival overload at this point? UNM, UTEP, maybe GCU (though I probably put CSUB above GCU on the conference rival list until we play against each other in a tournament or two). It's almost like asking who Notre Dame's rival is.
Lol so you're calling us the Norte Dame of mid majors, jk man. But we do have a lot of rivals when you put it in local and conference perspective. Just with UNM and UTEP we have more rivals than most schools, heck most schools don't even have a true rival. I think it's good to see Bakersfield and GCU getting there
Football is driving this. Groves has figured out the Carruthers and Moccia want to make one conference move when Football lands a conference. The entrance and exit fees are are something they only want to pay once (financial reality). The WAC is not a great fit, but it meets their needs for the moment.
The scenarios Groves laid out for other schools are largely far fetched. (UTRGV Football is plausible, but the lead time is not months, rather 3-4 years). The UMKC opening would almost certainly coincide with a football opening for NMSU. And we have all factored in Chicago State dropping out of D-I, maybe even after this year.
So get used to this line up. I think it'll be the same in 2020 - unless a D-II move up like UCSD falls in their lap.
(02-14-2017 09:26 PM)Trod0 Wrote: [ -> ]Lol so you're calling us the Norte Dame of mid majors, jk man. But we do have a lot of rivals when you put it in local and conference perspective. Just with UNM and UTEP we have more rivals than most schools, heck most schools don't even have a true rival. I think it's good to see Bakersfield and GCU getting there
I would still say GCU is without a true rival. It was Dixie St in D2. Maybe the Cal Baptist move-up could spark something. In a perfect world, I think NAU & GCU would somehow end up in the same conference and that rivalry could take on life. GCU focuses on NMSU now, but everyone is aiming at that same target.
f the talent/coaching/winning shifted to a different school in the WAC, I don't think the. GCU/NMSU thing would live on as a "rivalry". But, if you can't be with the one you love, you gotta love the one your with. Right? Haha.
CSUB is not viewed as a possible addition to a new conference. Interesting.
(02-14-2017 11:45 PM)gleadley Wrote: [ -> ] (02-14-2017 09:26 PM)Trod0 Wrote: [ -> ]Lol so you're calling us the Norte Dame of mid majors, jk man. But we do have a lot of rivals when you put it in local and conference perspective. Just with UNM and UTEP we have more rivals than most schools, heck most schools don't even have a true rival. I think it's good to see Bakersfield and GCU getting there
I would still say GCU is without a true rival. It was Dixie St in D2. Maybe the Cal Baptist move-up could spark something. In a perfect world, I think NAU & GCU would somehow end up in the same conference and that rivalry could take on life. GCU focuses on NMSU now, but everyone is aiming at that same target.
f the talent/coaching/winning shifted to a different school in the WAC, I don't think the. GCU/NMSU thing would live on as a "rivalry". But, if you can't be with the one you love, you gotta love the one your with. Right? Haha.
Cue Hyde Park Corner: Really, what is a rival? A geographically close school? A team who is always fighting it out with another for a similar standing (hopefully top standing)? A long-standing/decades-long, side by side struggle in the same league? A randomly named school/team? Or, is it something that is evolved through several other intangibles which are more difficult to pt a finger on? I've seen that term thrown around a lot in various places. Sometimes, what constitutes a rival is interesting, IMO.
Personally, I (personally) consider Fresno State a rival, particularly in baseball, as, they were the only other DI school in the Valley until CSUB moved up. Add to that, in the short history between the two schools, the all -time baseball series is all evened up....(and we began baseball the year immediately after the Bulldogs won the College WS)
The WAC is at #19 in conference RPI? That is quite awesome and higher than the Southland and Big Sky...even CUSA and just a few hundreds of getting above the Horizon and the Summit! Why would NMSU leave to any conference now except for a FBS football conference. The WAC is building some great basketball programs and will have at least 2 new programs (GCU and Cal Baptist) that are spending major $$$ towards facilities and being competitive in the D1 level.
I agree. The WAC's Olympic sports are not shabby and are getting better. NMSU is trying to hold onto football and that is why NMSU I guess has it's issues with the WAC. I may be in a minority but I like the WAC in it's present form and because of GCU's close proximity and their obsession (along with all the other WAC teams apparently), I think in the conference rivalries are important as well. Would NMSU love being in the same conference as Utep and UNM and other MWC schools which we probably have more in common with on many levels (academically, geographically, historically)? Of course. But we (NMSU fans) need to move on and accept where we are and make the WAC work. I can't wait to attend games at Cal Baptist as well!
(02-14-2017 11:45 PM)gleadley Wrote: [ -> ] (02-14-2017 09:26 PM)Trod0 Wrote: [ -> ]Lol so you're calling us the Norte Dame of mid majors, jk man. But we do have a lot of rivals when you put it in local and conference perspective. Just with UNM and UTEP we have more rivals than most schools, heck most schools don't even have a true rival. I think it's good to see Bakersfield and GCU getting there
I would still say GCU is without a true rival. It was Dixie St in D2. Maybe the Cal Baptist move-up could spark something. In a perfect world, I think NAU & GCU would somehow end up in the same conference and that rivalry could take on life. GCU focuses on NMSU now, but everyone is aiming at that same target.
f the talent/coaching/winning shifted to a different school in the WAC, I don't think the. GCU/NMSU thing would live on as a "rivalry". But, if you can't be with the one you love, you gotta love the one your with. Right? Haha.
(02-16-2017 10:02 AM)MWC Tex Wrote: [ -> ]The WAC is at #19 in conference RPI? That is quite awesome and higher than the Southland and Big Sky...even CUSA and just a few hundreds of getting above the Horizon and the Summit! Why would NMSU leave to any conference now except for a FBS football conference. The WAC is building some great basketball programs and will have at least 2 new programs (GCU and Cal Baptist) that are spending major $$$ towards facilities and being competitive in the D1 level.
GCU is without a true rival? You guys live eat and breath to play NMSU. Your ticket people told me this was the biggest game of the year, bigger than playing Louisville! Dan Majerle in his commercial calls NMSU "a rival". The Havocs sent two busloads to Cruces to watch NMSU play GCU. If that's not a rival I don't know what is then. Trust me, GCU beating us twice in the last two years has made this a rivalry game.
GCU wants to be the best, which means the entire university is invested in beating the best. Right now, that is NMSU. If the WAC power pendulum ever swung fully to CSUB, I think you would see bus trips to Bakersfield instead of LC. What you describe as "obsession" is simply the target NMSU carries around on its back as the current class of the conference.
I would also have to respectfully disagree with anyone who says the NMSU game is bigger for GCU than Louisville. Playing a competitive game against Louisville was way bigger for the program than beating NMSU again. The polite comments of a student worker just trying to get through their shift do not a rivalry make.
The GCU/NMSU thing is fun right now, but I still feel like it is too far of a reach for me to call it a rivalry. Maybe it will feel more like it when we are playing for something that actually matters, like a spot in the tournament. Until then, I will be holding off on using the "R" word.
(02-16-2017 01:32 PM)gleadley Wrote: [ -> ]GCU wants to be the best, which means the entire university is invested in beating the best. Right now, that is NMSU. If the WAC power pendulum ever swung fully to CSUB, I think you would see bus trips to Bakersfield instead of LC. What you describe as "obsession" is simply the target NMSU carries around on its back as the current class of the conference.
I would also have to respectfully disagree with anyone who says the NMSU game is bigger for GCU than Louisville. Playing a competitive game against Louisville was way bigger for the program than beating NMSU again. The polite comments of a student worker just trying to get through their shift do not a rivalry make.
The GCU/NMSU thing is fun right now, but I still feel like it is too far of a reach for me to call it a rivalry. Maybe it will feel more like it when we are playing for something that actually matters, like a spot in the tournament. Until then, I will be holding off on using the "R" word.
I am going respectfully disagree with the fact that GCU/NMSU can't be a rivalry due to the fact that we don't have anything to play for. Back when USC had their postseason ban due to the Reggie Bush scandal, it made their games with top teams (ND, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon) that much more of an atmosphere and it intensified the rivalry between some of the schools because USC couldn't play in any type of postseason play. I do agree that Louisville was the biggest game of the year, but the NMSU/GCU game is always the biggest conference home game that we have each year.
(02-16-2017 03:38 PM)ThunderDan49 Wrote: [ -> ] (02-16-2017 01:32 PM)gleadley Wrote: [ -> ]GCU wants to be the best, which means the entire university is invested in beating the best. Right now, that is NMSU. If the WAC power pendulum ever swung fully to CSUB, I think you would see bus trips to Bakersfield instead of LC. What you describe as "obsession" is simply the target NMSU carries around on its back as the current class of the conference.
I would also have to respectfully disagree with anyone who says the NMSU game is bigger for GCU than Louisville. Playing a competitive game against Louisville was way bigger for the program than beating NMSU again. The polite comments of a student worker just trying to get through their shift do not a rivalry make.
The GCU/NMSU thing is fun right now, but I still feel like it is too far of a reach for me to call it a rivalry. Maybe it will feel more like it when we are playing for something that actually matters, like a spot in the tournament. Until then, I will be holding off on using the "R" word.
I am going respectfully disagree with the fact that GCU/NMSU can't be a rivalry due to the fact that we don't have anything to play for. Back when USC had their postseason ban due to the Reggie Bush scandal, it made their games with top teams (ND, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon) that much more of an atmosphere and it intensified the rivalry between some of the schools because USC couldn't play in any type of postseason play. I do agree that Louisville was the biggest game of the year, but the NMSU/GCU game is always the biggest conference home game that we have each year.
I don't think that's what he said at all. Hard to compare USC UCLA to GCU NMSU. The two universities are 12 miles apart and dates back to 1929. GCU NMSU is a "made for tv" rivalry. NMSU is the only other WAC school whose fan following and passion for hoops matches and most honestly surpasses GCU. As G stated, NMSU is the best and as the great Rick Flair exclaimed "To be the best, you gotta beat the best"! So, yeah it's as much a rivalry as the WAC can have with so many new teams with no history together. I think we mistake fandom with rivalry. GCU will push NMSU as rival because it translates to the public. The average fan has no idea who CSU, UVU, UMKC and other schools even are. But most know about NMSU. A more natural rival for GCU will be Cal Baptist. They both played in the PacWest together, both faith based, 5 hours apart, and both will have transitioned close together. They compete for students right now and I expect that to be the case in Basketball and other sports.
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Not solely "rivals" related, but I'm just happy the overall quality of conference play has risen. Example, we play UVU next. Even though we are favored, we can't just sleepwalk through the game. Seems that really no teams can do that, even the revered Aggies (who, frankly, yes, have been the cream of the crop, and who schools are proud to be victorious over/competitive with when it happens. That's not sarcasm, just recognition of a good NMSU team throughout the WAC 2.0)
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When I say obsession its not meant to be derogatory way. GCU fans, media, Dan Majerle constantly refer to NMSU and the "rivalry". I think GCU fan base enthusiasm has sparked interest again with our fan base about the teams in the WAC. When Utah State and Nevada were in the WAC NMSU had conference rivalries with them and the crowds were always big for each others games. GCU getting better along with all the national attention and recognition for the game atmosphere they are getting is waking up NMSU's fan base. We are really not the big dog. I wish we were more Gonzaga like with our dominance of our conference but even before the WAC fell apart we were not dominant but always in the upper echelon of the conference in our Olympic sports and that has always been the case when we were in the Sun Belt, Big West, PCAA and Missouri Valley Conference. Probably more the old dog that's just been around longer is NMSU and we have a semi rich tradition in basketball making lots of post season tourney's (NCAA & NIT), albeit with limited success. However a Final Four no matter when it occurred is something to be proud of (NMSU & Seattle), and our Sweet 16 run in 1992 as well even though the hypocritical NCAA took the results "officially" away much to Gleady delight who can't stop mentioning it. However, just like Utah Valley peaked its first year in the WAC and won the regular season title, I think Bakersfield will do the same with the loss of Derick Basil and Arriington who are cogs for Bakersfield and GCU also with the loss of Russell (NBA) and Braun once he is gone. NMSU on the other hand IMO will still have the advantage next year and the next couple of years with practically the entire team coming back and the word on the street in Cruces and NMSU is the transfer from Ohio State (not just Frank, other sources), say that he is better than Baker. Anyway, thanks LopesUp for coming over to say hi. Again, we had fun but some Lopes fans were pissed we were there and had to be cool with them so they would calm down. Overall, Lopes fans are classy and I felt safe with the walls of GCU arena (not the surrounding neighborhood!). Anyway, Go Utah Valley and Seattle tonight!
(02-16-2017 04:42 PM)RunnerBall Wrote: [ -> ]Not solely "rivals" related, but I'm just happy the overall quality of conference play has risen. Example, we play UVU next. Even though we are favored, we can't just sleepwalk through the game. Seems that really no teams can do that, even the revered Aggies (who, frankly, yes, have been the cream of the crop, and who schools are proud to be victorious over/competitive with when it happens. That's not sarcasm, just recognition of a good NMSU team throughout the WAC 2.0)
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Its true, every game isnt a gimmie anymore. Even Chicago State can give you a scare. Dollar said after the game that Chicago State is the master of "creating havoc"
