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A Blast From The Past--The 1977-78 Lobos--Part 6

The sixth installment of "A Blast from the Past: Storming in the Pit with the 1977-1978 Show-time Lobos" continues with the Western Athletic Conference season wrapping up. During this part of the season, New Mexico was ranked No. 5 in the nation and had a 14-game winning streak in the works heading into a big WAC matchup with Utah in Salt Lake City on February 23, 1978. The Utah outcome didn't go in the Lobos favor, but the loss didn't stop New Mexico from winning the conference title with a record of 13-1. Overall, New Mexico finished the regular season with a mark of 24-3.
Conference road game: UNM 92 – Utah Utes 95
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The prelude:
About 20 minutes before fifth-ranked New Mexico and No. 17 Utah tipped off for this night’s game, Lobo Coach Norm Ellenberger had this speech prepared for his precocious players. “There are 16,000 people out there and 15,800 want your scalps,” Norm said. “That’ll make it more fun to play. This game will be won with defense and rebounding. More so than any other game this season, we’ve got to play 40 minutes of all-out defense. In other words, this is just another ballgame in a long line of big ballgames. I’m just glad I’ve got a seat on the bench to watch it. I wouldn’t miss this one for the world.”
Utah Coach Jerry Pimm said “This is going to be one of the best college basketball games of the entire season anywhere,” and a sellout throng at the 15,000 Sports and Special Events Center, plus a live television and radio in Utah and New Mexico wouldn’t argue.
Utah’s team included all-America candidate Jeff Judkins, a 6-6 senior who won the WAC scoring title the past two years, and returning starters Buster Matheney (6-8), Greg Deane (6-6) and top defensive man Earl Williams (6-5), a guard who won two games the prior season on last second shots, Donnie Rice a slick 6-2 sophomore, senior Mike Dunn (6-6) tall sophs Coby Leavitt (6-9) and Pat McKanna (6-10) and senior playmaker Michael Gray (6-0) rounded out the returning players from the 1976-77 WAC champion Utes. Besides returning four starters and a bench full of veterans off a championship team, Pimm also recruited five of the top prepsters in the country the prior year.
Heading the list was Scott Martin, who prepped in Joliet, Illinois and averaged 22 points a game. Another impressive freshman was Tom Chambers, who scored 27.6 points a game the prior year at Boulder Fairview. Karl Bankowski (6-7, 21.4) hailed from the same district in New York that produced former Ute great Luther “Ticky” Burden. Freshman Jay Judkins (6-5, 16.7) came to Utah with the same impressive credential as Jeff, and 6-7 Danny Vranes, a second cousin of Jeff, Jay added power with his 22-point, 15-rebound average from SLC – Skyline, Utah’s No. 1 prep team the past two seasons. For good measure, junior college transfer Bobby Roots (6-7, 215) from Stockton, California rounded out the Ute cagers.
Many Lobo fans remembered Matheney from the previous season. In the Utes 94-84 victory at Salt Lake City, Matheney scored a career-high 32 points against New Mexico. Then in New Mexico’s 81-79 triumph at the Pit, Matheney was ejected from the game for slugging a spectator – Lobo reserve Jimmy Williams, who wasn’t in uniform for that game.
Since being staggered, 113-89 at New Mexico on January 28, the defending Western Athletic Conference Champion Utes had won five straight games and improved their league record to 9-2. But the sensational Lobos had won all 10 of their WAC games and sported a 14-game winning streak – longest in America. Had New Mexico won the game, it would have clinched a tie for its first conference championship since 1974. And if the Lobos swept Utah and then at Brigham Young two days later, they would have completed a road scourge of this tough league.
But the Lobos task against Utah would be difficult. No matter that there would 22,000 screaming Mormons awaiting them in Provo. New Mexico had won in Salt Lake City just twice in the last 23 years – 80-69 in Coach Bob King’s last year of 1972 and 73-70 in Ellenberger’s maiden voyage of 1973.
Perhaps no New Mexico victory this season was as convincing as the flogging of Utah the prior month. “New Mexico is obviously a super team,” Pimm said. “They completely dominated us in all phases of the game at their place. We committed 29 turnovers and that’s about twice as we usually have. They Lobos have great depth, which is the mark of a championship team. We certainly don’t have the depth to match up with them.”
“If you sit down and watch the film of our game against Utah, the intensity of our players is amazing, said John Whisenant, the New Mexico Assistant coach. “Willie Howard and some of the others are just quivering, like in the starting gate for the 100-yard dash. Veins popping from their necks and that extra effort that makes a team great.”
The game:
Between Red Canyon and City Creek, there is a large “U” lit on the side of a hill over-looking Utah’s Special Events Center. The big “U” is visible to the Oquirh Mountains west of Salt Lake City and following the New Mexico and Utah battle, it was flashing in the dark after one of the brightest basketball games in Utes history.
While the “U” was aglow, the Western Athletic Conference race was still alive. A crowd of 14,451 amazed fans saw Utah topple fifth-ranked New Mexico, extinguishing several Lobo streaks. Utah’s stirring triumph snapped the Lobo’s 14-game winning streak – longest in the nation – and stopped New Mexico’s bid for an unprecedented sweep of the WAC. The Utes now just a half-game behind New Mexico in the revitalized WAC race, improved their record to 10-2 in the league and 20-5 overall.
The Lobos losing their first game since December 30, 1977, slipped to 10-1 in the WAC and 21-3 in this exciting season. Happy Utes fans savoring the victory stalked Lobo Coach Norm Ellenberger as he made his way to the press box and told him, “Nice game.” Norm answered, We got our fannies kicked” and later elaborated on the game’s turning point.
Utah led 82-81 with 4:54 to play in the second half in which the lead changed nine times. New Mexico scurrying to scramble the scoreboard again, then threw the basketball away twice. The Utes scored two quick baskets and never trailed again.
“We lost that thing in a 40-second span,” Ellenberger said. “They were perimeter turnovers. Stupid passes, passes that shouldn’t have been thrown at all. It was too bad. We have a tremendous group of young men with a lot of pride. Too bad we had to lose like that.”
The gutty Lobos sliced the 17th-ranked Utes lead to 94-92 with 23 seconds left. Mark Felix fouled Utah’s Michael Grey, a 75 per cent free throw shooter who missed his first toss. New Mexico co-captain Michael Cooper, who scored 20 points in a strong effort, couldn’t can another from the corner and Grey was fouled with seven seconds left. Grey made his first free throw, missed the second, but the Lobos couldn’t extract a miracle.
“We beat ourselves, they didn’t beat us,” Cooper said in the Lobo dressing room which wasn’t as gloomy as one might expect. “I’m not upset about losing our streak, but losing is still bad. But we’ll pick ourselves up. We’re out to win these next three games. That’s no lie.”
Utah’s fine senior forward Jeff Judkins, who led his team with 28 points, was honest with reporters after the game. “I doubt if we can catch them,” said Judkins, who made 12 of 15 shots. “They’re too dang good. We knew if we beat them, we’d have a shot at the (NCAA) tourney, but I doubt if anyone will beat them. They are one hell of a team. This is about the biggest win of my life. I think they (the Lobos) can go to the final four. I’m just glad to say I helped to beat a team as good as New Mexico. God they’re tough.”
Utah Coach Jerry Pimm was equally as elated. “New Mexico is a phenomenal team,” Pimm said. “It feels great to beat a team of that caliber. This was one of the biggest wins in my coaching career.”
Pimm’s team trailed at halftime, 52-48 despite shooting 57.6 percent and despite out-rebounding the Lobos 20-18 in the first 20 minutes. Pimm said he told the Utes at halftime to make New Mexico work harder for its shots. The Lobos, who shot 56.4 percent in the first half, still made 55.9 percent in the second half. But the Utes didn’t labor offensively, making some easy shots against a fatigued New Mexico defense. Utah shot 66.7 percent (20 of 30) in the second half.
The Lobos did out rebound the Utes 39-30 as reserve center Jimmy Allen grabbed a game-high nine boards. Marvin “Automatic” Johnson led the Lobos, and added seven rebounds in an inspired performance. Phil Abney, who played well, scored 16 points and Willie Howard had 10. Buster Matheney hurt New Mexico with 26 points, while the gritty Grey had 13 – including 11 in the second half.
While Utah fans hugged each other and the “U” continued to blink out on the hill, Ellenberger discussed the next mountain his players would have to climb – a date at Brigham Young, which just defeated Texas-El Paso 73-64.
“We never gave up tonight and played with all the determination in the world. I felt we showed a lot of heart,” said Ellenberger a wistful look in his eyes. “But we have to suck it up and go play another ball game. This trip is only half over.”
Johnson added, “Utah has to count on somebody beating us. We can just go win it ourselves. Hey man, everything is still in front of us. We lost some short-range dreams, but our big goals are still in sight.”
The loss dropped the Lobos to sixth and eighth in the two wire service polls the Monday after the game. The Lobos dropped to sixth behind Kentucky, UCLA, Marquette, Arkansas and Kansas in the United Press International poll of coaches but fell two more (behind DePaul and Notre Dame) in the Associated Press writers’ poll.
Conference road game: UNM 71 – BYU Cougars 66
New Mexico forward Marvin Johnson spent Saturday afternoon standing on his head, then come nighttime, the right time, he stood Brigham Young University on its ear. Johnson did 30 minutes of yoga shoulder stands, plows fish poses, spiral twists and sun salutes. He later admitted, “I had to stand on my head for 4 ½ minutes. Man, that’s a long time, but the concentration helps my shooting.” Johnson then did 35 minutes of plain old running and jumping and most important for New Mexico, shooting, as the dependable senior scored 25 points, spear-heading the Lobo’s tense 71-66 victory over the Cougars in Western Athletic Conference basketball.
The largest crowd ever to see the Lobos play - 22,998 – packed BYU’s Marriott Center for the game. The old Marriott record was 22,987, set against Utah four years ago. It was the sixth record crowd to watch the fifth-ranked Lobos on the road that season, to go with another record crowd at UNM Arena.
The actor Robert Redford and singers Donny and Marie Osmond were among the mob and they saw a valiant performance by New Mexico forward Phil Abney. In what Ellenberger called “a gut-rendering effort,” Abney worked like a coolie, despite a statistically stagnant game. He made just 2-of-12 shots and committed six turnovers, but in an aggressive performance, scored nine points and snared six rebounds.
Abney said Ellenberger and his troop of assistants left the locker room prior to the BYU game so that the team could meet alone. Instead of yelling, “Let’s go” after every huddle, Coop (Michael Cooper) decided we should yell “Defense” Abney reported. “We just had a little get together and decided what we had to do to pull this thing out. What threw us off a little was the court. That a great facility, but the floor had too much spring and it had me hanging too long in the air. It was wild.”
New Mexico rebounding admirably from a 95-92 defeat at Utah Thursday, remained a half-game ahead of the Utes in the two-team WAC race. With two games to play, the Lobos were now 11-1 in league play, 22-3 overall. Brigham Young slipped to 6-7 in WAC action, 12-17 overall. The Cougars alternating between a man-to-man defense and 1-1-2 zone with a chaser on Johnson, and then a 2-3 gave the Lobos a fierce battle. New Mexico led, 38-32 at halftime, scoring seven more baskets than the cougars.
The Lobos held a 56-43 lead with 11:59 left to play, but not for long. Sparked by center Alan Taylor, the Cougars held the nation’s leading scoring team without a point for 4:55 and sliced the lead to four points – 56–52. Johnson broke through the drought with (what else) a long jumper at 7:06 from the deep corner and a Johnson free throw and then three by Phil Abney increased the New Mexico lead to 63-54 with five minutes to play.
Brigham Young with sensational freshman guard Danny Ainge finally taking command, again cut the Lobo lead to four points – 68-64 with 1:09 to play. But the Lobos managed to sink three of seven free throws in the final minute for the hard-earned victory.
“They’re just too, too much,” said Brigham Young Coach Frank Arnold said of the Lobos. “I thought we played good defense, but they’re just about impossible to stop.” Arnold added that he thought both the Lobos and Utah would make it to the NCAA final four. Arnold thought that North Carolina, which defeated BYU 94-81 earlier that season, was the best team in America.
Arnold’s Cougars won’t face a better shooter than the 6-5, Johnson, the only Lobo in double figures. The yoga poser made 10-of-14 shots and 5-6 free throws. “I like playing in places like this. The crowd really got me pumped up to play,” Johnson said. “I knew we had to be patient and the win would come.”
Lobo assistant Coach John Whisenant thought that the victory was achieved because of where he stowed his leather coat before the game. Starting with the game at Nevada-Las, Whisenant had been storing his coat in Abney’s locker - until the Utah game – a loss. Whiz made sure he placed his coat in Abney’s locker for the game with the Cougars. “The difference between this game and the Utah game was tonight we gave it our fullest shot,” Whisenant said. “This wasn’t very artistic, but our intensity was good. It’s difficult to control the tempo with 23,000 fans, but we showed good poise.”
Whiz’ boss Norm Ellenberger agreed, “We played differently tonight than in any other game this season. And that’s the mark of a good team when you can make that adjustment when you have to,” Ellenberger noted. Norm also made a key adjustment in the Lobo starting lineup, inserting Jimmy Allen at center in place of Will Smiley. Allen responded with a game high 11 rebounds and nine points. “That zone didn’t stop us from running and it helped us get good positioning for rebounds,” Allen said.
That man of many positions, Johnson added, “This is the home turn for us. We’ve got another step (next) Thursday night (against Colorado State at the Pit), but we can’t go home and lose. That’d be a disaster. But now we’re coming home and we’ve turned the corner for sure.”
Johnson had only played his second game at the Mariott, but was glad it was the last time before the predominantly Mormon crowd. Johnson said that he and the Lobos’ other black players received more racial remarks at BYU than at any other arena in the WAC. “They yell ‘Nigger!’ and all kinds of racial things,” Johnson said. “And the reporters there ask crazy questions, like, ‘How can black players be disciplined?’ Those fans are wild, man. Like I thought you only heard that kind of stuff down South. But hey, man, I love it. I love to play in a hostile place and win.”
UTEP Coach Don “The Bear” Haskins might have felt a bit like some of the Lobos. “I achieved another coaching first here,” Haskins said while discussing the Miners’ 73-64 loss at BYU two days earlier. “It was the first time in 16 years I’ve been hit with an apple core.”
Conference home game: UNM 111 – CSU Rams 88
The New Mexico Lobos beat the daylights out of Colorado State. They clinched at least a tie for the Western Athletic Conference title, and regained the momentum that carried them to so many dazzling, high scoring victories. But even more than that, the main thing 18,101 witnesses of the Lobos’ romp at University Arena would remember was: Marvin Johnson just couldn’t miss. The estimable 6-5 Johnson, playing perhaps the best game of his career, responded to the wildly screaming cheering crowd with a record-setting 50 point performance. He made 21 of 27 floor shots in a dazzling exhibition never before seen in the Pit.
His 50 points captured Johnson, the top rung on the WAC single-game chart, surpassing the 48 points scored by Wyoming’s Flynn Robinson in 1964 and Utah’s Jerry Chambers in 1966. He surpassed his own school single game record of 46 points, set against Kentucky State earlier in the season, and toppled the all-time Pit scoring standard – again, his 46-point effort. And in his first 26 games this season, Johnson scored 626 points, five more than the record of 621 scored twice by Willie Long, for yet another school mark. On the all-time UNM list, Johnson, who’s played in but 55 games at UNM ranked fourth.
Michael Cooper, named All-America by the basketball writers earlier that week, played more like All-World against CSU joining fellow co-captain Johnson as a band-leader in one of the Lobos finest games of 1977-78. Cooper, who scored 10 points in the game, dealt out 10 assists and had six steals while generally playing the role of masked marauder in his 29 minutes of action.
“Now its important for us to train right, to keep this going,” said Johnson still ecstatic about his performance. “We had two good hard practices this week and that helped. But we have to train right mentally too. The 22 hours off the court are so important.”
Then-Albuquerque Mayor David Rusk named this date (March 3, 1978) “Michael Cooper Day” after his being named first-team All-America. But Cooper, like Johnson, was less interested in individual honors and more intent on improving. “We’ve got to try and keep our momentum going. We’ve got ourselves back up. That Hawaii-UTEP series kind of flattened us out and then we lost at Utah. We didn’t have any momentum at BYU, but we out-played them. Now we’ve got that momentum back.”
For Cooper, the conclusion of the next and final regular season game against Wyoming would be difficult to handle personally. “I’m really going to miss this crowd,” he said. “When they introduce me, I don’t know how I’m going to handle it. I know I’m going to cry. If we win Saturday, I don’t know how I’m going to handle it.”
Colorado State, led by forward Barry Young, matched UNM evenly in the early moments of the first half, and fought valiantly into the lead on three occasions before giving way at 12:25 on a Johnson jumper. The Lobos never trailed again. With a 38-30 lead at 2:08 of the first half, Cooper and Johnson scored the last seven points of the half to give New Mexico a 17-point intermission edge.
Then in the early moments of the second half, Cooper’s floor play produced key CSU turnovers – which were turned into Johnson scores three straight times – and the romp was on. By 17:37, the Lobos had their first 20-point lead. And leading 73-54 at 12:00, the Lobos went on a 16-4 spree that all but put the Rams away. The Lobos got creditable performances from everyone who played got, in addition to Johnson’s 50 and Cooper’s 10 points, another 18 from Wild Willie Howard and 16 from speedy Phil Abney. Coming off the bench, Howard also thrilled the crowd with three savage dunks.
As Johnson lit up the nets, the lathered Pit crowd shrieked, “MARVIN! MARVIN! MARVIN!!!” as he approached his own Arena record of 46 and the league mark of 48. Marvin gave the gathering something to cheer about by shooting his trademark – that great corner jumper – with 1:43 to play for the 47th and 48th points. Then the mob went totally crazy when their hero, working hard and exploring for a brief hole in the Rams defense, finally dropped back at the top of the key and swished a 20-foot fadeaway for the record.
“I heard ‘em (the crowd) but it didn’t bother me or make me feel the pressure,” said the incredible Johnson (24.1 ppg average). “We’ve been struggling and I wanted to pull out of this slump. They’re not easy to come out of,” said Johnson, who even swished a towel in the dressing room bucket. “They told me on the bench I had 40 and I said, ‘Damn!’ Then Cooper told me to get open and look for the ball. Now I just want to go home and look at it again (on the television replay). This is kind of hard to believe.”
New Mexico guard Russell Saunders, who dealt out eight assists, chimed in: “Shot the lights out. Ain’t nothing else you can say about it. Just shot the lights out.” Lobo forward Phil Abney, who scored also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, described how Johnson’ teammates admire him. “It might be hard to describe an ace-in-the-hole, that’ Marv.” Abney said. “He’s Mr. Clutch and we go to him whenever we need that big basket. He’s just amazing. When they recruited me to play here, I thought they were joking with “Automatic” stuff, but he is. He’s a good player and a good person.”
Conference home game: UNM 93 – Wyoming Cowboys 74
Amid sighs of relief, shrieks, shouts of congratulations, airborne cake and soda pop, handshakes and reflective comments about the “turning point” of the season, New Mexico’s Mark Felix quietly went about trying to dress out after the Lobos’ league title-clinching win over Wyoming at packed University Arena.
“This hasn’t really been my best year of basketball,” said Felix, a sparkplug reserve who started during the early part of the year. “But its been my happiest. Everything, I’ve been through, all the sacrifice, to get to where I am right now has been worth it.”
In his ecstasy, Felix embodied the sentiments of 14 of the happiest college basketball players in the country. The Lobos, winners of 24 games in 27 starts, had won the Western Athletic Conference championship for UNM for the first time since 1974.
With the victory, seen by 18,832 of basketball’s most faithful and vocal fans, the Lobos locked up an automatic spot in the 32-team NCAA tournament, which would begin the following week at Tempe, Arizona against an at-large opponent, Cal-State Fullerton.
“This has been quite a week,” understated a drenched UNM Coach Norm Ellenberger, who guided the team to the most single-season wins of his career. It would have been impossible to give the fans any greater show than that. Thursday night (speaking of Marvin Johnson’s record-breaking 50 point performance in a 111-88 win over Colorado State) was great and then today we go out and win the conference.”
To win the conference, the Lobos had to unseat a capable defending champion in Utah’s Utes; they had to win all but one of their league road games – no mean task – and won all seven of their league home games to post the most wins ever for a WAC team (at that time) in league play. They finished the year with 13-1 league mark.
And along the way, Marvin Johnson’s marvelous jump shot and the Lobo’s never-say-stop style of play set several records. Johnson held the WAC, Arena and UNM single-game scoring record and the UNM single-season scoring record (658 points). Teammate Jimmy Allen just missed the WAC field goal percentage record by hitting 50 of his 78 shots from the floor in WAC play for a .641 percentage. The record was .648 set the previous year by Utah’s Buster Metheny. Sports Illustrated selected Johnson as the player of the week after his record-setting season finale. Johnson was chosen for his 82-point performance in the two season ending triumphs over Colorado State and Wyoming. Johnson finished the season as the WAC scoring champion.
As a team, the Lobo just missed the 92.4 points a game scoring average record in the WAC held jointly by Brigham Young (1965) and Wyoming (1966). This year in WAC games, the Lobos averaged 92.3. The Lobos broke the scoring margin record of 10.7, held by UNM’s 1968 team, by beating their foes by an average of 12.6 points.
Against the Cowboys, the Lobos once again did everything they could to control the game’s tempo. At first it didn’t work that well as the ‘Pokes fought into a 23-22 lead at 7:20 of the first half on a Garry Phillips jumper. Then the fun began. The Lobos, behind Johnson and guards Russell Saunders and Mike Stewart, went on a 10-0 surge that got them a 32-23 lead. Johnson’s free throws after time had run out gave UNM a 43-32 halftime edge. Saunders, Michael Cooper, Johnson and center Jimmy Allen kept up the pressure as the second half began and Cooper’s jumper at 11:37 made it 62-43. A double foul on Cooper and Wyoming’s fiery Ethan Winterling then fired up reserve Willie Howard, who powered for a basket at 11:02 that gave UNM its first 20-point lead, and the Lobos were never again threatened.
For Johnson, it was another superlative effort as the 6-5 senior wowed the crowd with a 32-point show, going 11-for-21 from the field and 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Cooper chipped in 18 and Saunders penetrating quickly to the inside of Wyoming’s tall zone, added 12. Saunders had six assists while Cooper had four and four steals. Cooper’s defensive pressure was in part responsible for 25 Wyoming turnovers, which ‘Poke Coach Don DeVoe said was pivotal. “The difference in the game was their ability to force us into 25 turnovers,” said DeVoe. “Turnovers were the whole thing.”
DeVoe predicted that should the Lobos win at Tempe next week, they are definite final four material. “They’re going to play a tough team in Tempe, no doubt about that,” he said. “But if they win that first game, they have very good chances with the Regionals here (Albuquerque). They proved their worth – they went out at the start of the conference season and beat people with confidence. That Arizona trip was what turned them on. After that, it was history.
Once the Lobos got some distance on the Cowboys, Phillips, a fine senior guard began hitting from the baseline, finishing with 23 points. Reserve Lonnie Buckner did more damage, however, as he hit 10-of-20 floor shots and totaled 27 points. Kenneth Ollie chipped in 11, and like Buckner, pulled down seven rebounds as the ‘Pokes trailed in that department by only one, 42-41, after beating UNM soundly on the boards in the first half, 16-9.
At the game’s conclusion, the celebration started with Saunders, who gave a strong 18-minute performance, being lifted atop the shoulders of his taller teammates and cutting down the nets on the Arena baskets.
The red-clad Pit crowd was joined in one bouncing mass, with colored balloons swirling overhead, and they lifted the roof off the great place when Saunders crowned co-captains Johnson and Cooper with their well-deserved wreaths. And when Coop placed his crown of cords on Ellenberger’s head, the crowd roared its approval for the oft-embattled, oft-criticized, but always proud coach. Norm stepped out from his hugging mob of players and hands raised in triumph, basked in the cheers.
Forward Phil Abney, who finished with eight points, said afterward, “Wyoming came at us – they had nothing to lose. They went down fighting – but they went down – like everybody else. We’re more together as a team. We’re playing harder,” observed Abney. “We’ll be ready for the tournament. We know what we have to do.”
Ellenberger concurred. “Just because you now got to the NCAA, you don’t stray from what got you there. You just make adjustments. We’re getting better,” continued Ellenberger, who had coached three of UNM’s (then) five 20 game winners all-time. “They (Wyoming) played us similar to UTEP – they spread it all over on us. But we used some things we haven’t used all season. Like we trapped the whole court – (we) haven’t done that all year. Haven’t even practiced it.”
Ellenberger talked about his decision he and Whisenant made to transfer the Lobos’ offense from ball-control to basket-craze. “One of the most comforting things for me at this moment is to look back at the decisions we made last spring about our total program,” Ellenberger said. “Not only speeding up our offensive attitude, but the total look of our players. And we’re still hanging by it. It’s a beautiful feeling. And making Coop and Marvin co-captains was a big step. And now here we are.”
This was the first championship in Johnson’s career and this champion of life was happy. “I hoped whenever I went to college, that someday, somehow, it would be like this,” said Johnson, the WAC scoring champion with a 24.3 average. “I’m just glad its over with.”
Another first-time champion was Smiley, who two years ago was contemplating his future from an Arizona prison cell. “Yes indeed, I’m glad I came here,” Smiley said. “I knew there was something better than Arizona, but I didn’t know it was this sweet. I’ve got myself settled now as a person and I’m glad I could help the team. These are great guys.”
Smiley’s center mate Jimmy Allen played on a championship club in junior college, but he say’s, “Never anything like this. We’re all brothers and we love each other. I knew we had the talent. Not a doubt at all. I knew it wouldn’t be a piece of cake and I’m glad after working so hard for something we got it.”
The Lobos said they didn’t care who the NCAA pairings brought to Tempe, although Howard already had one team spotted. Howard’s teammates and the people of New Mexico would take a victory over anyone, but nothing, the Lobos agreed, would be sweeter than to play UCLA in the West Regional. “I want UCLA,” said Howard. “They’re the all-everything school. They can’t do anything wrong, you know? We want the Bruins. But hey man, bring ‘em on. Bring ‘em all on! Now we’re ready to take on the world.”
"We Will Never Forget."
September 11, 2001
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