(This is the fortieth installment of Bill Harty’s game recaps as part of The Mid Majority ninth season taking readers to mid-major college basketball games around the country. Visit midmajority.com to find out more about this group-sourced effort to spread the word about the many fine basketball programs around the country that are having success on and off the court while generally not having access to the resources brought to athletic programs by big-time college football. Bill will be recapping most Aggie home games, and the occasional road foray, for both The Mid Majority and bleedCrimson.net.)
I was sure at the end of my nineteen-game week in Las Vegas (the WCC final, all 18 M/W WAC tournament games) that my season was over. I was so tired that I slept the entire trip on the plane home, through the St. Patrick’s Day party at my spouse’s college roommate’s home, and through the family birthday dinner at my sister’s. But late that night, I checked on whether bleedcrimson.net, where my NMSU recaps are published, could get us media credentials for San Jose, where the Aggies were to meet A-10 champion Saint Louis. I had an orphaned free ticket on Southwest that I had been trying to use for over a year; it would expire forever in April. So I gave that a shot and, surprise (!), there was a seat available to get to San Jose. I checked my frequent hotel stayer programs and found that I had enough points for a four-night stay. So, I made the decision that fate was taking me to the NCAA Tournament, reserved a small rental car, obtained the ok for three more days of annual leave, and headed to California. Here’s a snapshot of the east side of the Franklin Mountains from the car on the way to the El Paso airport. Continue Reading This Post >>