(09-23-2020 04:19 PM)PojoaquePosse Wrote:  

(09-23-2020 04:00 PM)edinburger Wrote:  

(09-23-2020 02:19 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  Gilyard is the engine that makes NMSU GO!

There was that Mississippi State game. It's undeniable that it was a major win and that Gilyard was a major factor.

However, what mainly happened after Gilyard became eligible was you went to conference play. IIRC, about half the NMSU fans here were predicting a 16-0 conference record even before Gilyard was a possibility.

He's good but I fear McCants and Rice much more.

Excellent points. But we were predicting 16-0 with a healthy Harris, Henry, Ivan and Brown (4 starters). Harris played 2 1/2 games, Henry played 1 game and Ivan and Brown were hobbled for the first few weeks of the season encompassing all of our rivalry games and a good chunk of the OOC schedule.

Ivan and Brown eventually came around during the 19-0 run, Rice elevated his game to compensate for the loss of Henry and Gilyard took the place of Harris. In my humble opinion, Gilyard was the most important piece. Jans has touted the importance of the PG position in his system and Buchanan just was not getting it done.

In the midst of all that Trev Queen also played major factor... and he had a minor knee surgery that caused him to miss five games during the conference season to boot. It's amazing that NMSU finished 16-0 in the WAC... Or, it spells how bad the WAC was last season.

Despite the loss of Queen, expect NMSU to be very strong at the wing... with the return of Clayton Henry. He is not quite as dynamic as Queen defensively but he was a better on-the-ball defender two season's ago. And, also the additions of Jason King and Marcus Watson. Both are athletes. Before Henry's preseason injury last season, Jans felt Henry was NMSU's most consistent three point shooter; which says a lot when you consider NMSU's perimeter games with Gilyard, Brown, Rice, Queen, McCants, Bobbitt and Harris (if he had played).