\n<\/p>\n
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. \u2014 It\u2019s 9:40 a.m. in the southeast parking lot at The Pit, and a man in black-and-white face paint circles on a dirt bike. This is Snake. He arrives early for New Mexico men\u2019s basketball games, hypes up friendly faces and sportively harasses the visiting team when it arrives. Everyone knows Snake. He\u2019s been at this for years. He\u2019s a believer.<\/p>\n
An attendant asks Snake how he is, and Snake declares he has everything he needs. His Lobos are hunting for their first NCAA Tournament berth in a decade. In a couple hours, they\u2019ll be on network television, playing the first of back-to-back home games against ranked teams. That hasn\u2019t happened in two<\/em> decades. A door cracked open for a program aching to find a way.<\/p>\n When the team\u2019s coach, Richard Pitino, pulls into his parking spot, Snake offers reassurance.<\/p>\n We\u2019re going to do this together!<\/em><\/p>\n The bubble is a sorting tool, yes. It\u2019s also a state. It\u2019s being where you\u2019re supposed to be, but not quite there yet. This is New Mexico, a team featuring two basketball scions, a COVID recruit-turned-star, a 25-year-old on his fourth program, a Nigerian center who almost didn\u2019t make it to the U.S. this season, a teenager with a nephew in the NBA<\/a> and more. With a Pitino leading the way in the high desert, eyes on the horizon.<\/p>\n On one mid-January Friday, right before everything became possible, senior Jamal Mashburn Jr.<\/a> puts it like this: \u201cAnything can happen in a week.\u201d<\/p>\n First: introducing the bubble\u2019s most eclectic crew.<\/p>\n Jamal Mashburn Jr. was oblivious to being the son of a college All-American and NBA All-Star who scored 11,000-plus points. \u201cI never understood why he got stopped so much in the mall,\u201d Mashburn Jr. says. He\u2019s the kid who liked fossils and lacrosse and didn\u2019t give basketball much thought before he was 11. He\u2019s a deep thinker who journals daily and a player with 1,703 career points, who left the Big Ten to follow a coach he\u2019s known since eighth grade. \u201cIt was a no-brainer to come from Minnesota over here,\u201d Mashburn Jr. says, \u201cbecause I trusted (Pitino), and he trusts me.\u201d<\/p>\n The relationship isn\u2019t like their fathers\u2019 connection, as coach and player at Kentucky. No one talks race horses inside the Davalos Basketball Center. But a Mashburn and a Pitino are in on something big, together. Again. \u201cIt\u2019s a partnership, honestly,\u201d Mashburn Jr. says. \u201cWe had one goal in mind. We wanted to come in and make a positive impact, and fast.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaelen House<\/a> grew up a pro wrestling fan. His favorite: Randy Orton, whose most famous gimmick involves hearing voices in his head. \u201cI like the way he carries himself,\u201d House says. \u201cHe\u2019s a little crazy. And I\u2019m a little crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n The 6-foot guard is now New Mexico\u2019s third-leading scorer, men\u2019s hoops\u2019 active career steals leader and, most notably, a mouthpiece-gnawing antagonist who plays like he\u2019s holding onto an electrified fence. \u201cThe way he acts,\u201d Lobos<\/a> sophomore Donovan Dent<\/a> says, \u201cputs a battery in my back.\u201d House needed his own recharge, though, three years ago. He went to Arizona State, just like his father, Eddie, who scored 2,000 points for the Sun Devils<\/a>. But the younger House didn\u2019t start once. He scored 229 points across two seasons. A transfer to New Mexico birthed a new antihero in The Pit. \u201cHe helped me become myself again,\u201d House says of Pitino. \u201cHe took the leash off me and just let me go.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick Pitino needed players at Iona, his latest next stop. A former player, Gorgui Dieng, recommended a big man from the NBA Academy in Nigeria. Pitino offered Nelly Junior Joseph<\/a> a scholarship, sight unseen. A day later, Junior Joseph took it. \u201cI didn\u2019t get to visit,\u201d he says. \u201cI just wanted to play for Rick Pitino, that\u2019s all. (New York) was crazy. Too many people. Loud.\u201d<\/p>\n After a transfer and a fraught visa process that delayed his arrival until Oct. 31 \u2013 a day before New Mexico\u2019s first exhibition game \u2013 Junior Joseph sits in a lounge, enjoying the tranquility. Albuquerque suits him, as does the son of his former coach. \u201cHe is more calm than his dad, for real,\u201d Junior Joseph says of Richard Pitino, smiling. \u201cHis dad has this high spirit. I thought it was going to be the same, until I got here. I was like, \u2018Oh, wow, Richard is more chill. That\u2019s good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Jemarl Baker Jr.<\/a> was a four-star recruit and top 100 player nationally in his recruiting class. He signed with Kentucky<\/a>. The top prep players in the country were Marvin Bagley, Michael Porter Jr. and DeAndre Ayton. This was 2017.<\/p>\n It is 2024, and Baker, 25, is in the practice gym, doing band work to help sore knees. He is at his fourth school after two seasons each at Kentucky, Arizona and Fresno State, the injuries and extra years of eligibility piling up. \u201cOh, there\u2019s definitely been times when I was done,\u201d Baker says with a laugh. He is not done, though. \u201cI\u2019ve wanted to play basketball professionally for my whole life,\u201d Baker says. \u201cI feel like this is my passion and purpose. If I stop, I feel like I\u2019m giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n Around the time Tru Washington<\/a> began to loathe practicing football in Arizona heat, he began to envy his nephew and the gear he\u2019d bring back from basketball tournaments. \u201cI\u2019m like, I want some shoes,\u201d Washington says. \u201cI\u2019m just sitting at home not doing anything, waiting for another game on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n He turned to basketball in middle school and relied on quickness \u2013 steal ball, shoot layup \u2013 before growing into the No. 98 recruit in the Class of 2023. Were it not for programs seeking out older transfer guards, Washington might not have been New Mexico\u2019s highest-rated signee in a decade. Now he targets the path his nephew set \u2026 because his nephew is TyTy Washington, current Milwaukee Bucks backup who\u2019s two years older than his uncle. Effectively? They\u2019re brothers. And the \u201colder\u201d brother keeps tabs on the \u201cyounger\u201d brother, sending video clips and commentary after every game he catches. \u201cI know how to see what he\u2019s doing to make me better,\u201d Tru says. \u201cHe plays the game with his brain. And he uses his brain at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n Donovan Dent proudly lists the colleges of his fellow starters from Centennial High School basketball in 2020-21: Duke<\/a>. Arizona. UCLA<\/a>. Loyola Marymount<\/a>. \u201cWe had a squad my junior year,\u201d the Riverside, Calif., native says. They also had a compressed schedule and few people in the stands due to pandemic restrictions. The player who\u2019d eventually become his state\u2019s Mr. Basketball stared at offers from the Big West \u2026 and anonymity. \u201cIt was pretty frustrating,\u201d Dent says. \u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t me not playing my part.\u201d<\/p>\n How does one go from overlooked to averaging 15.5 points and 5.9 assists in the Mountain West as a sophomore? By getting out of California. Dent\u2019s performance at the Border League tournament \u2013 held in Arizona during the summer of 2021 \u2013 opened eyes. \u201cHe didn\u2019t shoot a lot,\u201d Pitino says, \u201cbut we liked his feel.\u201d That helped the Lobos hold on when Dent led Centennial to a state championship as a senior and other programs converged. \u201cI\u2019m not going to abandon who trusted in me before I became what I am now,\u201d Dent says.<\/p>\n Richard Pitino is not from anywhere. Or doesn\u2019t feel like it, anyway. People assume he\u2019s a New York guy, but he was born in Boston. He\u2019s 41 and he\u2019s coached in seven states. It was not easy to lose the Minnesota job in 2021 after eight up-and-down seasons; suburban Edina began to feel like home. Nor was it easy to adjust to Albuquerque, but his family is comfortable, and the weather forecast never makes him wince. Always a fish out of water, somehow swimming along. \u201cI\u2019ve always felt like I can go anywhere, if you give me time, get to know me,\u201d Pitino says. \u201cWhen I got hired here, there was for sure a \u2018Hmm, that\u2019s weird.\u2019 But I feel like I can run a program anywhere, as long as I have that support I need.\u201d<\/p>\n He is his father\u2019s son, and also not. Every now and then, Pitino folds his arms behind his back as he watches the action, too. But he also lacquers on sarcasm and casually flips off players during shootarounds. \u201cHe encourages everybody to be themselves, which is incredible,\u201d Baker says. He\u2019s approaching middle age and another inflection point with the NCAA Tournament berth in reach. Who does he want to be? Will he earn the chance to choose? Will New Mexico, of all places, be enough? \u201cI want to be at a have, not a have-not, as it relates to your conference,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery time I walk down the ramp, there\u2019s a level of confidence that not everybody has this. Not everybody has 15,000 people (in the arena). Not everybody has these facilities, in our conference. The expectations are high here because the fans care, but they\u2019re not irrational about wanting to win.\u201d<\/p>\n In the 1960s, to bypass support columns and create clear sightlines in their new arena, administrators here put the roof at ground level and dug down. They also numbered the seating rows top to bottom, which is why Row 1 at The Pit is a relative nosebleed and Row 32 puts you near the edge of the floor. That\u2019s where New Mexico\u2019s coach stands before a Friday practice, establishing terms of engagement for the next 24 hours. \u201cIt\u2019s going to come down to, are we going to hit bodies?\u201d Richard Pitino asks, as San Diego State film rolls on a flat screen.<\/p>\n A rhetorical question. Without physicality, the Lobos will suffer a massive letdown against the Aztecs, the national runners-up in 2023. The Pit is sold out. CBS is here for New Mexico\u2019s first network-televised game since 2012. The Lobos are tenuously ranked 43rd nationally on KenPom.com. They are not wired for apprehension \u2013 \u201cThey gotta compete with us, too,\u201d Mashburn Jr. says of San Diego State \u2013 but they need to actually take that next step.<\/p>\n Everyone grasps the stakes. The plan to double-team Aztecs star Jaedon LeDee<\/a> with multiple looks is hammered home each rep. \u201cNon-negotiable,\u201d as Pitino puts it. There are inevitably light moments in the run-up, such as Washington asking his head coach if he could start against San Diego State, as if this were Biddy Ball. (\u201cI was just seeing if he was going to bite on it,\u201d the freshman guard explains.) But the gravity is felt.<\/p>\n In the locker room, Pitino notes the last time a network TV crew was on hand. Opportunity earned, he says. \u201cIf you play with a level of toughness and physicality, you\u2019re going to win,\u201d Pitino continues, voice rising. \u201cBut it ain\u2019t about offense, it ain\u2019t about defense. It is about rebounding. It is about loose balls. They\u2019re going to think they can bully you. You can\u2019t let them. You gotta set the tone right away. Every single shot that goes up, hit somebody. Every time you can f\u2014\u2014 sprint the court, sprint the court. Embrace every single second of this, all right?\u201d<\/p>\n The next two-plus hours are a noise monsoon as 15,437 fans get what they came for: an 88-70 win for New Mexico, propped up by a plus-10 rebounding margin, a school-record 14 blocks and limiting LeDee to 15 points, to that point his second-lowest total of the year.<\/p>\n The show-stealer is House, the son who escaped the shadow of a legend to find himself. San Diego State<\/a> looks like a Final Four team again for the better part of the first half \u2026 until House sinks a floater and trips a wire. Then comes a steal and a coast-to-coast layup. \u201cI told you I\u2019m the one!\u201d he screams into the din. Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher calls timeout. It doesn\u2019t help. House ultimately scores 11 straight points as part of a 17-0 blitz from which the visitors do not recover. House is unrelenting, finishing with 26 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and one on-brand technical foul. \u201cMan,\u201d he says, \u201cI was ready to go all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n In the locker room, there is happiness, but no excessive celebration. \u201cThat was nothing right now, compared to what we want to achieve in the future,\u201d Junior Joseph says later. Pitino wants his team to enjoy it \u2013 \u201cYou built that,\u201d he tells them \u2013 and he notes the team\u2019s goals remain achievable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all right in front of us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He informs the parents of two recruits that they should come to every game. One mom compliments his composure; Pitino assures her that he looked calm but felt like he was about to throw up. On his way to media duties, the Lobos coach is stopped by his son, Jack, who won a timeout contest and wants to hand over his prize: a box of Milk Duds. In his news conference, Pitino profusely thanks the fans. He says the atmosphere nearly made him cry. He calls it a moment his players will talk about forever.<\/p>\n A great day, Pitino says, and they\u2019ll turn the page tomorrow.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s tomorrow. Energy lingers long after the game ends. New Mexico might be what people yearn for it to be, and everyone feels it.<\/p>\n As the cheerleading team makes its way out of the arena, a familiar face greets them.<\/p>\n \u201cLadies and gentlemen, you kicked ass!\u201d Snake exclaims. \u201cWe kicked ass together!\u201d<\/p>\n At 1 p.m. on a Sunday, the Lobos settle into the film room. A San Diego State logo on the screen has the word \u201cCLEANUP\u201d underlining it. Standard day-after-game video review. But first? Another existential reckoning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did that game reveal?\u201d Pitino asks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can beat anybody if we play the way we\u2019re supposed to,\u201d comes the muffled reply from the front row.<\/p>\n If we play the way we\u2019re supposed to<\/em>, Pitino echoes, drawing out the words for emphasis. Existence is temporary in this bubble life. The 40 deflections against the Aztecs, the bench energy, the laughs at House enjoining the crowd after a stop \u2013 \u201cHonor my defense,\u201d is the head coach\u2019s deadpan narration of the clip \u2013 are reduced to memories within 12 minutes. Utah State, riding the nation\u2019s longest win streak, is coming. There is always the other side of the mountain. \u201cChampionship teams play this way all the time,\u201d Pitino says. \u201cAll the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet over the next two days, New Mexico seems to treat weighty circumstances with pervasive lightness. Freshman JT Toppin<\/a> catches Pitino\u2019s attention with a bad miss in practice. Toppin blames a hurt finger. \u201cWhich one? This one?\u201d the Lobos coach replies, extending his right middle digit. Pitino asks House to sub into a drill. House whines that his knee hurts. \u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d Pitino replies. Washington<\/a> triggers an out-of-bounds play for scouting purposes and invents a call for it each time, such as \u201cHey, combo, combo\u201d or \u201cHey, run that play.\u201d Execution and urgency are not overly robust going into a game in which ball pressure, disruption and sprinting back on defense are the keys. The Lobos act like they want to skip ahead to the game.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to tell if this is a good or bad thing.<\/p>\n \u201cQuad 1 win opportunity \u2013 we gotta have them,\u201d Pitino tells his team. \u201cThis game means just as much, if not more.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s maybe the charm of this group, and even this place, that expectations are met in unexpected ways.<\/p>\n While half a country nods off thanks to a 10:43 p.m. ET start, New Mexico assails Utah<\/a> State from the jump. The Lobos score 34 of 55 first-half points in the paint. They sink 13 of 14 free throws and commit only two turnovers before halftime. A timeout \u201cFlex Cam\u201d fixates on Holly Holm, the Albuquerque native and former UFC champion in attendance, who shows off her biceps and throws a couple jabs for good measure. None of it is a laughing matter. An eventual 99-86 win is fueled by a 26-point outburst from Junior Joseph, the starting center with visa issues who wasn\u2019t sure he\u2019d make it back to America for this season, and a 15-point, 14-assist night from Dent, the recruit no one noticed. \u201cEven in high school, I was doing all this and people didn\u2019t believe, (thinking) it wouldn\u2019t translate to the next level,\u201d Dent says. \u201cIt\u2019s cliche to say, but it is proving people wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n The head coach gathers his team at midcourt and delivers a pointed postgame speech. It\u2019s really late, Pitino says. Let\u2019s get out of here.<\/p>\n An NCAA-mandated day off awaits. The energy expended over these six days guarantees nothing. And two more months is a long time to maintain balance.<\/p>\n Within a week of this result, New Mexico debuts at No. 25 in the Associated Press poll. The Lobos tack on three more wins before stumbling at home against Boise State<\/a> on Jan. 31, but they nevertheless begin February as a top 20 team in both the KenPom and NET rankings. They cut the profile of an NCAA Tournament team.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear if they\u2019ll get there.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very clear what\u2019s coming if they do.<\/p>\n On a Thursday night in January, with one consequential week conquered, a sing-song voice fills the stairwell. It\u2019s Jaelen House, repeating the same two words as he bounds up and into the locker room.<\/p>\n Nobody tells him to be quiet. Nobody would bother to try.<\/p>\n \u201cGet that down there, too!\u201d the Lobos\u2019 guard says, pointing at a visitor and smiling wide. \u201cF\u2014 \u2019em!\u201d<\/p>\n (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton \/ <\/em>The Athletic; photos: Sam Wasson \/ Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Roll Call<\/h2>\n
The Legacy<\/h3>\n
The Other Legacy<\/h3>\n
The Nigerian Pitino expert<\/h3>\n
The hoops Methuselah<\/h3>\n
The teenager with an NBA nephew<\/h3>\n
The star who rose from COVID<\/h3>\n
The coach<\/h3>\n
San Diego State and A Showdown at The Pit<\/h2>\n
\n Nigerian center Nelly Junior Joseph has played for both Rick Pitino and Richard Pitino. (Sam Wasson \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nUtah State<\/a> and The Beyond<\/h3>\n