Peerman's Power Rankings: 10 best things in New Mexico sports this week (Dec. 17)

Welcome to Peerman's Power Rankings (PPR), the 10 athletes, teams and story lines that have Journal sports editor Lucas Peerman's attention. Look for a new power rankings list every Sunday. (We're glad to be back after a break last week).

Have a suggestion, complaint or compliment? Email lpeerman@abqjournal.com or contact me on X @LucasPeerman.

10. All-Metro teams

If you haven't yet, take a gander at prep sports editor James Yodice's All-Metro teams for fall sports:

• Football
• Volleyball
• Soccer

These are the best high school athletes in their respective sports in the Greater Albuquerque Area. It's an exhaustive list and well worth your time to study and learn who's at the top of their game (and PPR would be remiss if it didn't list Yodice, sportswriter extraordinaire, as being on top of his game, as well).

9. Bella Hines

The best girls basketball player in New Mexico (Hines is averaging a state-leading 32 ppg) continues to impress. She casually dropped a couple 40-point games earlier in the week and was powering the Eagles over Sandia, possibly the best team in New Mexico, in the finals of the Mel Otero Invitational, until she went out with a minor injury and the Matadors (more on this team below) took the lead and never looked back. Hopefully, "Saucy" Bella gets back on the floor soon. Also, she was mic'd up during the semifinals of the Mel Otero. Listen:

8. David Lunn III

Yodice wrote this about the Volcano Vista freshman in his weekend tournament takeaways story: "The 6-4 Lunn has exploded onto the scene this season for the Hawks. He had 24 points on Saturday against Cleveland. He had a 23-point, nine-rebound game on the road last week in a win over Organ Mountain. He can shoot it, he can get to the rack, and he looks quite at ease playing above the rim. Those who saw his vicious, flying one-handed dunk Saturday against the Storm must surely be nodding their heads in agreement." Here's the dunk:

7. Sandia girls basketball

The Matodors were dominating all-comers until the finals of the Mel Otero Invitational. There, Sandia finally got tested against Bella Hines and Eldorado (see above). Hines suffered a minor injury late, however, and the Matadors rolled to their eighth straight win to start the season. Led by star guard Sydney Benally (third in the state at 20.6 PPG), these Matadors aren't letting anyone walk through them.

6. Volcano Vista Boys Basketball

It was state's No. 1 (Volcano Vista) vs. No. 2 (Cleveland) on Saturday in the championship of the Phil Griego Invitational. The game was tied at the half, but the Hawks rolled to a 19-point victory (81-62) on the broad shoulders of Kenyon Aguino and David Lunn III. The team is 8-0 and is quickly establishing itself not only as a team to beat come March but as a team we'll be talking about for quite some time after March.

5. Bronco Mendenhall

UNM's hiring of Mendenhall to lead its football program received a solid "A" from most national prognosticators who grade such things. The former Lobo defensive coordinator and head coach at BYU and Virginia is a proven winner — 17 years of experience and 135 victories as a head coach. No previous UNM head coach approaches those numbers — and has ties to the area. He's unconventional and brilliant, most who know him will tell you. Listen to Journal columnist Rick Wright and Lobo football beat writer Sean Reider discuss the hire.

4. Jesus Licon

This 6-foot junior guard is having a season to remember for Highland. Licon is averaging 30.1 points a game (second in the state) in leading the 4A Hornets to a 6-1 start. His 39 3-pointers on the season are the most in the state — by almost double! The player with the second most threes in the state, according to MaxPreps, is Belen's Gabriel Valerio with 21. ... And it's not like Licon is chucking up shots willy-nilly; he's hitting 46 percent of the threes he attempts. The best part of all this? He's hit not one, but two game-winning threes to give his team wins over 5A squads Sandia and Centennial. The one against the Hawks was special. Take a look.

3. New Mexico Bowl

Positives: The best trophy in all of college sports; 30,000-plus in attendance (third most ever); a riveting performance from Fresno State and Mikey Keene; and a just a gorgeous day for a football game. Story | Photos

Negatives: A blah performance from Diego Pavia and New Mexico State; and a postgame rant from Aggies coach Jerry Kill (see below) that overshadowed everything in that previous paragraph.

2. New Mexico State football

This isn't a ranking based on NMSU's performance in the New Mexico Bowl, a 37-10 loss to Fresno State. The Aggies played as badly as they have all year in that game. This is a ranking based on NMSU's performance in every other game. The Aggies played as well this season (10-5 record) as they ever have; it's their best season since 1960, when the team went 11-0 and won the Sun Bowl. Coach Jerry Kill and the Fightin' Ponchos won 10 or more games for the first time in 63 years; they beat an SEC team (a 31-10 demolishing of Auburn in Alabama) for the first time; beat rivals UNM and UTEP on the road; advanced to a conference championship game; and appeared in back-to-back bowls for the first time in six decades. Bravo, Aggies. Excellent season.

1. Donovan Dent

This sensational sophomore for the UNM men's basketball team had the play of the year for the Lobos so far, taking the ball coast-to-coast for the game-winning layup over rival New Mexico State at the Pan American Center. The Lobos won 73-72 and Dent maybe, just maybe, established himself as the leader of this 10-1 team that at least one national hoops prognosticator thinks will be a Final Four contender.

Honorable mention

Sick's Pack: Longtime Journal reporter Ken Sickenger will be writing an occasional column ranking historical bests in New Mexico sports. His first was best bowl moments from New Mexico teams and the NM Bowl. I'm excited for this addition to ABQ Journal offerings.

Christian Nava: The 20-year-old Albuquerque native and midfielder for New Mexico United shared his family's story for Trevor Noah's recently dropped streaming series "The World According to Football" on Showtime/Paramount+. Kudos to Nava for being a part of this ambitious project.

JT Toppin: This fantastic freshman continues to impress. He has 18 points and 11 rebounds (8 offensive!) in the win over New Mexico State.

End of the bench

Jerry Kill's rant: Hoo, boy. NMSU's head coach took an opportunity following his team's 37-10 loss to Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl to allege UNM Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez tried to prevent the NMSU football team from holding practice in UNM's Indoor Practice Facility ahead of the game. This is the same building Aggie quarterback Diego Pavia used as a urinal before the season. In his scorched earth rant, Kill calls for Nuñez to be disciplined by the state. His statements made national headlines and led to each university's fan bases hurling insults at one another on social media.

Nuñez responded a day later saying he never tried to prevent anything — and couldn't even if he wanted to. Contractually, the New Mexico Bowl doles out access to the UNM facilities in the weeks leading up to the bowl game. Sure, Nuñez didn't want any part of rolling out the red carpet for the in-state rivals and even admitted he expressed concern about NMSU using the facility, but he also handed the keys to the facility to New Mexico Bowl officials and then got out of the way. NMSU athletics may have lots of worthwhile nits to pick with UNM athletics, but Kill's tirade on this specific issue and specifically directed at Nuñez isn't one of them.

My friend Shawn Griswold, editor of Source NM, said on X: "interesting to see how quickly the low stakes misinfo led to all the cousins fighting" and I couldn't agree more.

Kill's rant— which I believe came from a place of genuine belief that his team was being disrespected — was unfortunate and misinformed. In saying what he did when he did, he took the headlines away from his team's extraordinary season and of the success of this year's New Mexico Bowl.

Kill talked to the media the day before the New Mexico Bowl and had this to say: "This is a great game for our state to emphasize football. We have football here, y’know? And we have good football here in New Mexico. The only way to improve it is to win games and be on TV and be part of the conversation.

“(It’s) not only good for us — it’s been good for Albuquerque and Las Cruces, it’s been good for the economy … and that’s why this whole game has been successful. But again, it’s all about the state.”

Had that been Kill's message again Saturday, the wounds in this UNM-NMSU rivalry may have started to heal. Instead, Kill picked at that scab, and now the sports world is focusing on the bad blood between the schools and little else.