New Mexico Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Lobos

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 22: Head coach Paul Weir of the New Mexico Lobos reacts during his team's game against the UNLV Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center on January 22, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Rebels defeated the Lobos 74-58. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 06: Semifinal games kick off during the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images) /

Schedule

Scheduling is a mess in the college basketball world, due to the ongoing pandemic. Most of the Mountain West schools have yet to release any kind of non-conference schedule, and as such, I won’t mention any rumored non-conference opponents here. Fortunately, a conference slate was decided upon and recently released. Here’s what it looks like for the Lobos:

12/29: at San Diego State

1/2: vs Wyoming

1/5: vs Air Force

1/9: at Nevada

1/12: at Fresno State

1/16: vs Colorado State

1/19: at San José State

BYE

1/26: vs Nevada

1/30: at Air Force

2/2: vs San Diego State

2/6: at Wyoming

2/9: vs Boise State

2/13: vs UNLV

BYE

2/20: at Utah State

2/23: vs San José State

2/27: at Colorado State

3/2: at UNLV

3/6: vs Utah State

Since there are 11 teams in the Mountain West Conference, and the league plays an 18-game conference slate, teams play two Mountain West opponents only once. This season, the Lobos miss out on hosting Fresno and traveling to Boise.

The latter is a big break for the Lobos, as Boise State is being hyped by many as a potential favorite to win the Mountain West Conference in 2021. The fact that New Mexico only plays the Broncos once, and at home, is a big break in their favor.

That being said, the pandemic has made fan attendance and overall scheduling an interesting and unique situation for the coming season. We don’t know how many fans will be allowed to attend, if any, come time for Mountain West play. This certainly takes away from the Lobos’ home advantage, as the fans are the most important factor in ‘The Pit’ being one of the hardest places to play in the country.

The Lobos have a key match-up to kick off conference play, traveling to San Diego to face conference rival San Diego State (the defending Mountain West champions, coming off an insane 30-2 dream season). After the Aztecs, New Mexico should take care not to look ahead to a match-up with the Nevada Wolf Pack in Reno, as Wyoming and Air Force come to Albuquerque.

The Cowboys and Falcons aren’t expected to make much noise, but the Mountain West is always an intensely competitive conference. Either of those match-ups could be a trap game. The schedule gets noticeably more difficult after the Lobos’ first bye, but overall, the match-ups with SDSU, Nevada, Boise State, UNLV, Colorado State, and Utah State will tell much about where this New Mexico squad stands in the Mountain West title race.