NCAA Basketball: Caitlin Clark, LMU and New Mexico State among key storylines

What could have possibly happened within the New Mexico State program to cause them to go on an indefinite hiatus?

You all read that correctly, the New Mexico State Aggies released a memo late last night that said the program is suspending operations until further notice. All of the coaches have been placed on paid leave and the season is effectively canceled. It has been a mess of a season for the Aggies and first-year head coach Greg Heiar. Given what has happened in Las Cruces there is no way that Heiar keeps his job, and likely never works in basketball again. It really is a shame of what the premier program the WAC has become.

New Mexico State has had an eventful year first the Aggies saw the rivalry games against New Mexico get canceled when Mike Peake, a player for the Aggies, was called out of his hotel room, set up, in what was supposed to be a hit on the player. Peake survived the incident but one of the others involved in the incident was killed when Peake was shooting to defend himself. According to police reports other Aggies players were helping Peake hide the gun and hide evidence. No other players were arrested in the incident and Peake was hospitalized with a gunshot wound and has not played since then.

That incident set New Mexico State back and at the time of the season cancellation was dead last in the WAC. It is hard to see a team, who experienced so much success struggle that badly in a conference they have dominated for so many years. Remember that the Aggies won a tournament game last season and busted a ton of brackets along the way. That was with previous head coach Chris Jans, and he left for Mississippi State his replacement Heiar won at his last stop as a JUCO head coach, but there were questions about the new head man considering he was the associate head coach for Will Wade at LSU for a while.

The latest allegations are completely separate from the incident with Peake. The program was shut down due to alleged hazing by some basketball players which was the final straw for the administration. No players have been removed from the team but the year has been suspended and the inevitability of the coaching staff being fired is real. Will New Mexico State fold the program?  I doubt it, the program is too strong to do that, they are investigating the program and everything internally related to the program. This is the first time I can ever remember this happening in a season and hopefully, it is the last.

The Aggie program needs a change and hopefully, the internal audit by the athletic department will allow them to make the right decision for the university. Expect almost the entire roster to transfer as most of those kids are going to want to play. Hopefully, they can still play a few games this year to close out the season but it doesn’t look good.