The current climate with NIL and the transfer portal can really decimate the good feelings in a program. Last season, New Mexico was phenomenal, winning the MWC regular season title during a 27-8 season that included an upset win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Richard Pitino’s work really came to fruition, but he and the rest of the program are now gone. Pitino took the Xavier head coaching job in the offseason, led a mass exodus from the roster, and left the program in the hands of Eric Olen.
New Mexico’s new head coach won 30 games at UC San Diego in his own historic season last year but faces a brand new challenge with these Lobos in the MWC. He won’t have Donovan Dent, Nelly Junior Joseph and the other stars that made last season truly special in Albuquerque, leaving Olen and his new staff into a complete rebuild quickly this offseason.
New Mexico has grabbed talent from all sorts of places, getting a slew of freshmen alongside numerous transfers. Antonio Chol joins the frontcourt after limited run at Rutgers while Kevin Patton Jr. could become the team’s best player after his recent work with San Diego and USC. Former Utah State guard Deyton Albury might be the one running the point while Olen took Chris Howell with him from UC San Diego.
Identifying the most important transfer is difficult for a program undergoing such a reload, but we’re honing in on JT Rock for a number of reasons here. A 7-1 center originally out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Rock was a 4-star prospect who landed at Iowa State back in 2023. Frankly, we don’t know what to expect from him since he simply hasn’t been on the court. He redshirted his first season with the Cyclones and played just 21 minutes last year, with 6 points and 6 rebounds.
Rock was far down the depth chart for a very talented Iowa State program but slides into an important role for the Lobos. His size and ability was on display before his collegiate career and New Mexico finally gets him an opportunity to showcase that potential. He’ll likely take up a major role in this frontcourt and projects as a great rebounder and shotblocker, something Olen’s team will certainly need.
The initial expectation is not that Rock will become New Mexico’s best player this season, but there’s plenty of new talent in the backcourt. There aren’t other 7-footers they can just plug in under the basket and will need productivity from him in these coming months. Again, it’s been two full years since Rock was a full-time player after riding the bench in Ames; can he develop into a major asset in the Mountain West?