Peerman's Power Rankings: 10 best things in New Mexico sports this week (Jan. 28)

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.

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

10. Magdalena basketball

Kudos to coach Jori Mirabal for instituting a program that trains high school hoops players to become officials. Mirabal gets players with an increased basketball IQ and the New Mexico Activities Association gets a feeder system for a position that is often hard to fill with qualified applicants. Hopefully this can become a model for other basketball programs around the state.

9. Strat Shufelt

The state's No. 1 prep football recruit in the 2024 class is taking his talents south, to El Paso. Shufelt, an All-State linebacker for Cleveland the past four years, announced he's committed to UTEP, where he father played college ball. But, as Strat explained to the Journal, that wasn't necessarily a factor in his decision. "One thing (UTEP) coach (Scotty) Walden said to me specifically was, ‘It’s great that your dad played here, but we’re here for you,’ and that really stuck out to me." The Miners struck gold with Shufelt, who PPR expects to impress starting next season.

8. BKFC

The reinvented bare knuckle fight game is in its infancy (six years as a professional organization) and seems to have found its first home base in Albuquerque. Saturday's fight night — featuring 10 of 20 fighters who either live or train in the Duke City — sold out Revel Entertainment Center and BKFC announced its next fight night would also be held in Albuquerque, in March at Tingley Coliseum, where BKFC has set attendance records in the past. All this puts new meaning to the phrase, "Put up your Dukes."

7. Sandia girls basketball

The 16-2 Matadors are back in PPR after an impressive week. Sandia, ranked No. 4 in Class 5A coming into the week, is now 2-0 in district after beating No. 1 Farmington 64-42 and No. 7 Eldorado 80-50. Leading scorers Sydney Benally (23 points per game in district), Audri Wright (17 ppg) and Hope Giddings (15 ppg) are not only capable of taking over games, but all are still just juniors.

6. Valley boys basketball

The 15-4 Vikings should move up a spot to No. 1 in the Class 4A rankings this week after upending top-ranked Albuquerque Academy 65-60. PPR expects these two teams will leapfrog one another all season, and the final leap may come in March, with the prize being a Blue Trophy. But, for now, the Vikings are tops. If you haven't yet, listen to Valley coach EZ Panas and Journal staffer James Yodice discuss all things basketball on the Journal's "Fast Break" podcast.

5. Donovan Dent

Anything notable from Sunday evening's Nevada-UNM matchup at the Pit will be included in next week's PPR. Thus, there was one game by which to judge the No. 25 Lobos this week, a 95-75 wire-to-wire win over San Jose State on Wednesday. Freshman sensation JT Toppin could have easily gotten the nod here. His 14 points and 10 rebounds (and five blocks) gave him his seventh double-double of the season, tying Kenny Thomas for most double-doubles in a season from a freshman. Toppin should top Thomas soon. But Dent, Mr. California as a high school star out of Riverside, gets the spot in PPR this week. The sophomore point guard continues to be golden in the Golden State for the Lobos, scoring 17 points, dishing out six assists, stealing the ball three times and, most impressively, not turning the ball over, not even once, against the Spartans. A dominant (DoniDent?) performance once again.

4. Justin Slaten

This right-handed flame-thrower, a force for the UNM Lobos in college, will likely get to show his stuff (including a cutter described as one of baseball's best) in the majors this season. The 26-year-old has spent the last five years amassing outs in the Texas Rangers' minor league system until recently when the New York Mets selected him the MLB's Rule 5 draft and then immediately traded him to the Boston Red Sox. What's that mean? According to the Boston Herald, "Under Rule 5 regulations, Slaten must now spend the entire season on the Red Sox 26-man roster or be offered back to the Rangers." Not a bad slate of options.

3. Nyah Wilson

Coming into this season, the junior guard had never scored more than nine points in a game in college. In Game 1 this year, she went for 20 in a win over Texas Southern. Three games later, she put in 22 points as the Lobos beat Texas A&M-Commerce. Last week, Wilson upped her career high to 23 points in a huge win over Mountain West-leading Wyoming. And this week? She scored 24 in wins over Fresno State and Air Force, hitting 7 field goals and 10 free throws in both games. And against the Falcons, Wilson also pulled down 10 rebounds (one off a career high) for the first double-double of her career. She's leading the 15-6 Lobos in scoring this season (14.3 points per game) and the team is 6-0 when she scores at least 20. Wilson, and the Lobos, are playing extremely well right now.

2. Mason Posa

PPR knew La Cueva's junior linebacker, a four-star recruit, was in demand by some of the nation's top football schools. But this?!? Oregon coach Dan Lanning last week traveled to Albuquerque to visit Posa. When the head coach of a national title contender books a flight to Albuquerque, you know the player he has his eyes on is something special. Don't be surprised if Deion, Kirby and Sark are Googling "where to stay in ABQ" right now.

1. Mountain West men's basketball

This may be the best men's basketball season in the history of the league, which has a reasonable chance to send six teams to the NCAA Tournament (Utah State, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Nevada and Boise State). But even the league's middling teams are scary. Just look at what happened to No. 24 Colorado State at Wyoming on Saturday. The Rams were up 11 with 71 seconds to go when the 10-9 Cowboys rallied to force overtime and then took home the W in extra time. And at the same time Colorado State-Wyoming was coming down to the wire, so too were No. 18 Utah State and Boise State. The Aggies won that game in overtime (the final buzzers sounded just seconds from one another). The Mountain West easily ascends to the top of PPR this week.

Honorable mention

Cam Dyer: La Cueva's junior quarterback got an offer from New Mexico this week. PPR is glad to see the coaches in this state recognize home-grown talent. Dyer also holds offers from NMSU, UTEP and Texas Tech. And if Dyer continues to improve his senior year, teams beyond the Southwest might start taking notice.

NMSU Hall of Fame: Congrats to New Mexico State 2024 Hall of Fame Class: Larry Rose III (football, 2014-2017); Fiana Finau (softball, 2014-2016); Hernst Laroche (basketball, 2008-2012) and Joe Schmiesing (football, 2017).

Emmanuel Kuac: The oft-injured forward who started his college career for the Lobos (and got his degree at UNM) is a grad transfer playing for Detroit Mercy this year. In five years, Kuac had scored in double figures only once in his career and was averaging fewer than 4 points a game for the Titans heading into last week. But on Thursday against Milwaukee, Kuac went off for a career high 27 points, hitting seven three-pointers along the way.

End of the Bench

Rachel Phillips, a sports journalist for KVIA-TV out of El Paso has done a wonderful job covering borderland athletes and teams, including NMSU, in recent years. Phillips recently announced she'll be leaving the station and that Beatriz Martinez will be replacing her at KVIA. In sharing this news on X, Phillips included a screenshot from a person who had emailed the station asking "Why are you not hiring more male sports reporters? Is it because the station director is female? In this woke cancel culture trying to dismiss men from all men sports! What are you going to do with the thousands of years of male contributions and history? Not watching this station anymore!" You, sir (and I really, really hesitate to use that word), are at the end of the bench. PPR wishes Phillips nothing but the best in her future endeavours and is also thrilled to welcome another female to the New Mexico sports journalism cadre. Welcome, Beatriz!

Meet the sports editor

Albuquerque Journal Sports Editor Lucas Peerman will be visiting a different coffee house the last Wednesday of every month to meet with community members. This is an opportunity to discuss in person what you'd like to see in a sports section, or to just talk sports. This month, meet Lucas at Piñon Coffee House, 4545 Alameda Blvd., from 10 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31. Look for the little guy.