New Mexico State Basketball: Are the Aggies the most dangerous mid-major?
By Connor Hope
The New Mexico State Aggies have become one of the best mid-major teams in college basketball, without much hype surrounding them. What makes the Aggies such a strong team moving forward?
Prior to the 2017-2018 season, people would have forgiven New Mexico State for having a down season. The Aggies had a brand new coach, lost their two best players, and had a brand new threat to their WAC automatic bid in the form of GCU.
With just over a month to go until the WAC Tournament, the Aggies have far exceeded anyone’s expectations of them. Currently sitting at 17-3 (5-0), NMSU has become a team nobody will want to see in March.
Head Coach Chris Jans took a strong core and two key transfers and put together one of the best mid-major teams in the country. The Aggies have the talent and teamwork to compete with anyone at a neutral site.
Perhaps this could be the first team since the 1991-1992 season to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. It is incredibly difficult to string together wins in March, but this team has the pieces to do it.
While their early season schedule was impressive, the Aggies really showed their worth during their 8 game road trip, which included a trip to the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. Road trips are always a tough challenge, but New Mexico State was able to secure a 7-1 record during this stretch, with wins over Illinois, Davidson and Miami.
Earlier this week I asked Aggies fans why they felt this was a team that should be taken seriously, and the responses were overwhelming. So let’s take a look at what makes New Mexico State such a complete team.