NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of New Mexico of last decade

1. Bryce Alford – UCLA

A 6’3 guard from Albuquerque, Alford had himself a really impressive high school career in New Mexico. He originally committed to play for the Lobos, but instead followed his father to UCLA, as Steve accepted that head coaching job in 2013. For the next four seasons, Alford was an important piece to the Bruins under his father’s tutelage, including three years as a starting guard.

A bench player as a freshman, a 31-point game against Oregon showed that Alford belonged. He helped lead the Bruins to the Sweet Sixteen three times, including a pair of 20-point outings as a sophomore in wins over SMU and UAB. Alford averaged at least 15 points a game in each of his final three seasons and put up impressive assist numbers as well, creating a ton of offense at UCLA. He scored a career-high 37 points against Colorado as a senior and played in nine total NCAA Tournament games with the Bruins.

Alford led the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting in multiple seasons and was named All-Pac-12 First Team for his senior season. He was instrumental in multiple postseason runs for the Bruins and starred under his father. He fell just short of 2000 career points after and had a fantastic impact on the offensive side of things for the Bruins. Since leaving school, he’s spent time both overseas and in the G-League.

At long last our journey is complete, and we’ve identified the best college basketball players of the last decade from the state of New Mexico; how did we handle the list? Would you change anything?