n GEOFF GRAMMER’S article dated Saturday, March 23 was fair; a massively disappointing ending to what was otherwise an incredible season; per Coach Alford’s breakdown, 3 great seasons (non-conference season, conference season and conference tournament) and 1 monumental downer; you can’t be a fan(atic) and not hurt; coaches and team need to own the tourney loss and learn from it; Lobo fans need to own up to the overall success of the program and cherish what was still a special year and what is still a special team; not saying settle, just appreciate. Thank you, Coach Alford and 2012/13 Lobo basketball. Can’t wait to toss it up again! - C.J., Lobo Forever n PAUL KREBS’ contract skills should be under serious scrutiny by UNM. And (the Journal) should write about Alford’s average NCAA tournament record instead of hiding behind old Lobo losses. If UNM is destined to be (only) a great conference team, without the “risk-taking, chance taking,” Big Dance attitude of other teams, then UNM fans deserve to know about that. A simple question with a $2 million dollar answer. Season Ticket Holder waiting on that story. - tbird n THE BUYOUT CLAUSE in Alford’s contract means he won’t leave for a competitor, but he’ll leave way before the 10 years is up. At this writing UCLA and Minnesota have vacancies. All it will take is one rich alumnus to write the buyout check. If Kentucky fires Calipari, can you say Ashley Judd? Playing UTEP and NMSU in basketball assures Lobo regional dominance but it does nothing for a coach’s résumé RPI. Coach Alford doesn’t know what UTEP would do to the Lobos’ RPI in future years but he behaves like he won’t be here in those future years. - Larry the VOL n LET’S BE REAL. Before this season started we projected third in the MWC and had no real expectations. My hope was that we would have a competitive year and enjoy a semi-successful season. Boy were we wrong; this team gave us surprise after surprise and win after win. Eventually we were all drinking the Kool-Aid and getting ready for the sweet-sixteen and more. I congratulate these young men and coaches for giving us way more than we expected. I encouraged by our returning players and new recruits. Mix up the Kool-Aid and pour more for next year! Always a Lobo, Win,Lose or Draw! - Mark Cherry flavored, no doubt. – Randy, Journal n I HOPE THAT while Coach Alford works on the Lobos’ shooting this off season, he also works on why Kendall Williams all but disappeared in the last six games. Williams is a very good player who can obviously take over a game. But his inconsistent performance is befuddling. - Dave – Albuquerque n I HAD A high school baseball coach that had a simple coaching philosophy (for his players): 1.) “Never, Never, underestimate the underdog” and 2.) “‘It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”. That fine baseball coach is still alive and if coach Alford would like, I can arrange a meeting between the two so that wise old coach can teach Alford a thing or two on how to prepare young men for the big games. Incidentally, we won 2 State Championships and was runner up once while I played under him for 4 years. - DRG n THE RPI IS a farce, and should be dumped from consideration in national ratings. The MWC is a weak conference from start to finish. It gives the fans and media an excessively outsized and erroneous impression of what its participants are capable of. The Lobos’ offense has been poor since the season began. But it managed to win enough games against even poorer opponents to psych everyone into unrealistic thinking. It’s certainly a downer, but maybe fans and media next year will more accurately align allover performance with reality. - Joan n IF YOU HAVE BEEN around for the last 20 years or so, aren’t you sick of hearing about the Master’s tournament as “unlike any other”? I admit a long, long time ago “unlike any other” did sound a bit sophisticated, catchy, even verbally elegant, but now, from way over use it is trite and tedious and annoying, don’t you think? Don’t you wish all those rich people at Augusta National could come up with something fresh and new? - JT What? An opinion on something other than UNM hoops? – Randy, Journal

— This article appeared on page D3 of the Albuquerque Journal