Be sure to check out this month's interview with NMSU Associate AD Steve Macy. Steve filled in for Dr. Boston who is traveling extensively this month.
Today's look back at the Best Wins of '07/'08 brings us to the Aggie men's golf team's second WAC Championship in the past three seasons. The Aggies entered the WAC tournament on a hot streak and jumped out to an 11-stroke lead after the first day. Boise State staged a rally on day two cutting the Aggie lead to just three strokes. On the third and final day the Aggies were dealt a tough blow as Josh Stewart had to withdraw due to a wrist injury forcing the Aggies to play with just four players. The Aggies were able to hold onto the lead and won the championship by five shots.
Coach Lieberwirth shared his thoughts on the championship with us:
The first day we played, that was the best round we played all year, the first day of conference. It was only a couple under but Kevin [Lozares] shoots 69 and Josh [Stewart] shot 67 and on that golf course on that day was extremely good. The other guys held in there. After getting out to that big lead obviously you'd love to get a pad like that. You know it's not going to win us the tournament but getting off to a big lead like that was nice. Then we go into the second day we didn't play near as well as we did the first day. The scores obviously show it but in the attitudes we had, there might have been a sense that we were going to walk away with it and they were going to just hand us the trophy. We tightened up a little bit later on as we weren't playing as well. To Boise's credit they charged back. They had a couple of great rounds. That made it a tournament again. I just think on that day, the second day, Boise was more motivated and they were hungry to get back in the tournament and they did.
So we go into the final round and Josh Stewart's on the driving range trying to warm up and can't hardly grip the club. We didn't know what was wrong. He tried warming up and was in quite a bit of pain but he wanted to play, which it was the final round of the WAC Championship and he wanted to be there for his team. He just wasn't able to go, he played four holes and was just ineffective and was only going to do himself more harm than good by continuing.
I went around to the course, the other four were well out onto the course when I had taken Josh in. They had all gotten off to reasonable start but I told each and every one of them that Josh was out and we were just playing four guys in that last round. That got rid of any final round jitters for us being in a tight tournament. They knew they had no safety net. They had nobody to rely on, their score was going to count. What I was most pleased with, you could almost see it in everyone's eyes, they kind of got a little squinty and white-eyed and understood that we had a challenge in front of us. Almost instantaneously everybody made one or two birdies right after that and pushed us in front of Boise by the middle of that back side for good.
After the jump we have more from our interview with Coach Lieberwirth.
On to today's links and the rest of the interview...
bc.net: Talk about the team being able to kick their game into a higher gear after finding out about the loss of Josh Stewart for the tournament.
SL:I don't know what it is but good competitors seem to have that extra gear. I felt if anything we had a fairly talented group this year but they were all fierce competitors. They weren't easily distracted by something they did poorly earlier in the round. They do seem to hang in there well. When I told them that Josh was out they took it upon themselves and accepted the challenge. I think for Matt being a senior, I think everybody wants to play well for their seniors. They wanted Matt to go out with a WAC Championship just as everybody, underclassmen in the future will want their seniors to go out with a WAC Championship. It was a tremendous scene. The opportunity for our team, we had won, but to prove that we had to win at that tournament. Second place did nothing for us, we couldn't go to postseason with second place. We had to win and the guys found it inside themselves and did it.
bc.net: Talk about the differences between this year's title and the first title your team won.
SL: The first one, there was definite motivation on our part to bring home the WAC Championship and being a late spring sport we had some teams that were really competitive but hadn't got that yet and we wanted to be the ones to bring that trophy home. Matt Edwards being a sophomore at the time just played an absolutely great tournament and ended up winning the tournament, individual honors, in a playoff. But again we had three seniors on that team, it was a very experienced team. We had won the tournament prior going into that '06 championship. That team was very poised to play well.
It was very satisfying to know that we were competitive in the WAC conference and able to win that WAC Championship. I'd say with the new conference that was a special deal.
Now we go into '08 and I think everybody else knew we were playing better at that time than the rest of the teams but anything can happen in one tournament. Getting out to that big lead after the first day, I know we put the fear in quite a few teams but Boise came back to make it a tournament that last day but to pull it off in the fashion that we did. Each championship has had it's very special moments and things I'll never forget but winning conference championship especially the last day with four guys, that's a moment that'll stay with us forever.
bc.net: Anybody that play golf competitively knows that you can go on hot and cold streaks, how were you able to keep the whole team hot for the extended period of time?
SL:There are things that I can try to do in scheduling and how I hold practices leading up to a tournament but I'm not the one hitting the shots. They're the ones playing, they're the ones practicing. Ideally we get them coming down the stretch of the season to where they're playing their best. I think some of it is through giving time off. Altering workout schedules but really giving time off in between because we'd played so many tournaments in a short amount of time. You can definitely overdo it and cause burnout. It's just making sure they're getting their work in but that they also have other things going on in their lives too, they can have a release from golf.
AND NOW THE LINKS!
Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette Journal has five questions for the upcoming WAC football season including which WAC player will receive more Heisman buzz (he has Chase Holbrook as the front-runner in that category).
Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun-News reports on this week's Aggie volleyball camp that's bringing in some recruits.
Jack Nixon weighs in on the buzz for the football season and senses some worry in Husker-land. (Thanks Vic)
Pete talks about NMSU's olympic coach in the latest edition of Pete's Ponderings. (Thanks VIc)
Darrell Moody of the Nevada Appeal shares his WAC notebook.
Shawn Harrison of the Logan Herald Journal asks the question everyone else is asking. Can the WAC crash the BCS part for a third consecutive season?
Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review Journal once again brings up the idea that Boise State could be seeking a spot in the Mountain West.
Jared Eborn of the Deseret News writes that Utah State's football team is looking for some respect.
Thayer Evans of the New York Times' college football blog The Quad has a story on Bo Pelini and the Nebraska Cornhusker defense
Patrick Ridgell of the Longmont Times-Call also has a reports that the the Nebraska defense is hoping to restore its "Blackshirt" status.
Ryan Pravato of College Fast Break reports that Ole Miss head basketball coach Andy Kennedy thinks teams should paint a three point line one foot thick to avoid confusion for the women's basketball teams. Only the men's basketball teams are affected by the move of the three point line to 20 feet 9 inches.
Marcus Nelson of the Palm Beach Post reports that the Sun Belt Conference has signed an agreement that could possibly place up to three teams in postseason bowls. All we have to say was where was this in 2002 when the Aggies finished 7-5 yet were shut out of the postseason?
Shawn Harrison of the Logan Herald Journal has an update on our non-NMSU Aggie favorite Jaycee Carroll. Carroll scored 22 points last night for the New Jersey Nets against the Utah Jazz in the NBA summer league.
Patrick Hruby of ESPN's Page 2 asks the question "When does fashion cross the line?"
If you've found an article that you think other Aggie fans would like to read, send it to us! Select "The Daily Aggie" from the 'Category' drop-down.
