(11-14-2019 05:44 PM)PojoaquePosse Wrote:  

(11-14-2019 05:26 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  

(11-14-2019 10:00 AM)PojoaquePosse Wrote:  

(11-13-2019 11:49 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  Unfortunately, NMSU will drop a few OOC games this November and December. This Aggie team should be good enough to win the WAC once healthy but they won't be as strong as last season. I see no one on this roster who can fill Eli Chuha's void. And, the absence of players such as JoJo Zamora, Keyon Jones, and Mohamed Thiam will be felt as this version of the Aggies is not nearly as deep with experienced talent. At this point, NMSU is missing Thiam comparable replacement in Wilfried Likayi; to a season ending knee injury. And, Shawn William has yet to live up to Zamora's and/or K. Jones' shooting ability. Jans' is relying on three young players (Jabari Rice, Robert Brown, and Will McNair) to backfill our loss in depth; and it will be a season long process to get them to a productive level.

Chuha and Zamora are the only players we will miss from last season. Chuha is by far the biggest loss. While Zamora had the potential to go off in any game, he also had a whopping 21 games where he scored 6 points or less. I think Williams has a small bar to overcome in order to at least match what Zamora did last year.

Mentioning the loss of Jones and Thiam is silly. They were bit players that saw very few minutes or came in during mop up duty. They were not a big part of the team and will not be missed this year.

Thiam is a body we don't have this season. He would have most definitely come off the bench before Brown and McNair this season; he's a better athlete and a better scorer than both. K. Jones was a good defender, a good ball handlers and a good spot up shooter. Zamora, Jones, and Thiam gave Jans options we simply don't have this season. This team will get stronger but we will need to weather the storm of Rice's, R. Brown's, McNair, and Williams' growing pains as they find their respective roles. It his not silly to mention them because it shows the wealth of talent and experience we had a season ago. Right now, Jans doesn't have the same amount of options.

Thiam was a stretch 4 that camped out on the three point line. R. Brown and McNair are prototypical, back-to-the-basket post players. Brown and McNair are interchangeable, Thiam was not interchangeable with them.

And scoring has nothing to do with it. Thiam was a scoring savant, but he never played last year. Why? Because he couldn't play defense. There is a reason he is no longer on our team.

Jans said on at least 2 occasions last year that Brown was the best low post scorer on the team (better than Ivan and Chuha). But he never played last year and he did not get even one minute of PT against UTEP. Why? Because he can't play defense.

K. Jones was tough as nails. But he was a walkon with limited talent. He wasn't an "option" for Jans last year. He was a bit player that was rewarded with minuscule PT in games that counted and bigger minutes in mop up duty.

Pundits liked to say the Aggies went 13-14 deep last year. The reality is we had an 11 man rotation and Thiam/Jones were not part of that 11.

Thiam would play power forward and McCants (or Ivan) can play the post. It is McCants who is interchangeable with McNair and Brown. And Thiam would have been interchangeable with McCants (and Bobbitt) at power forward. Jans was going to use Likayi in that capacity before he got injured. Thiam left NMSU because he was stuck behind Bobbitt and McCants in the power forward rotation. His defense was suspect but this was no different than when Jans benched Chuha in lieu Jemerrio Jones Eli's junior season. Also you sell Keyon Jones' impact short. Jones didn't play a big part in the rotation as a senior but he did play a much bigger role in the Aggie's rotation his junior season; averaging over 14 min/game and 5.2 ppg that year. The fact that his role was minimized his senior year speaks to depth NMSU had last season.