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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Prestige Goes To NMSU

By Rick Wright
Of the Journal
          The Lobos won the Rio Grande Rivalry, but the Aggies have the Prestige.
        Hey, bragging rights are bragging rights — even if you're No. 61.
        Last week, ESPN.com unveiled what it calls its Prestige Rankings for men's college basketball. They're described as "a numerical method of ranking the best Division I programs since the 1984-85 season." The results are unofficial and debatable, but fertile fodder for conversation and comparison — just like the Rio Grande Rivalry, a point system devised and contested by UNM and NMSU.
        Points are assigned for an assortment of positives, from a national title (25) to a postseason NIT appearance (one), and for negatives like a losing season or NCAA sanctions resulting in a ban from postseason play.
        Why start with '84-85? That's the year the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64.
        To the surprise of no one except the most optimistic Fairleigh Dickinson fan, Duke was No. 1, followed by Kansas and North Carolina. The Blue Devils totaled a fairly ridiculous 538 points.
        The Aggies and the Lobos? NMSU tied for 61st, with UNM close behind at a tie for 70th. Point totals weren't provided for teams ranked 51st and below.
        At first, I was surprised on two levels. I thought the Lobos would be ranked higher than 70th, and also higher than the Aggies. Didn't the Lobos go to seven NCAA Tournaments in nine years under Dave Bliss in the 1990s? Yes, they did. Didn't the Aggies lose six points in the rankings for a postseason ban from 1996-98? Presumably so.
        And why is UNM — and NMSU, for that matter — ranked below Chattanooga (48th)?
        Regarding the Lobos and the Aggies, most of the credit (and some of the blame) goes to former NMSU coach Neil McCarthy. I'd forgotten how good the Aggies were during his tenure until the ESPN.com rankings took me back.
        Under Bliss, from 1988-99, the Lobos (by my calculation) racked up a total of 38 points. UNM never made it to the Sweet Sixteen (worth five points), though, and won only one regular-season conference title (another five).
        Under McCarthy, from 1985-1997, the Aggies went to a Sweet Sixteen and won or shared three regular-season Big West Conference titles. NMSU (by my calculation) scored 32 points in three seasons alone, from 1991-94.
        Bliss' Lobo teams were consistent scorers. But even with the points McCarthy gave back for a losing season and a two-year postseason ban, NMSU had the edge.
        Lou Henson figures in this, too. Henson, who came out of retirement to clean up McCarthy's NCAA mess, took NMSU to a Big West regular-season co-championship, a conference tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth in 1999.
        There are some inequities in ESPN.com's point system, but they appear to favor UNM. An NIT berth counts for one point, the same as a one-and-out NCAA Tournament appearance. The Lobos went to the NIT 11 times to the Aggies' three, partly because the UNM program was more consistent — but mostly because the NIT, before it was purchased and taken over by the NCAA in 2005, cared more about attendance than wins and losses.
        Regarding Chattanooga: a conference title is a conference title, regardless of what league it is. Since '84-85, the Mocs have won eight regular-season Southern Conference championships and six league tournaments. So there.
        It should be noted that Oregon, Texas Tech, DePaul, Tennessee, Georgia and Providence all rank below the Aggies and Lobos.
        Fairleigh Dickinson, by the way, is No. 115.