Nov. 22, 1999

It only seems like the end of the world to many University of New Mexico men's basketball fans. In reality, it's just a new beginning -- which was very apparent this weekend.

Lobo fans' dreams of Mountain West titles and Final Four appearances got a dose of reality when UNM was beaten on consecutive nights at home for the first time in two decades.

On Friday, the Lobos fell to Dayton 70-57 in the opening round of the CoSIDA Classic. They then lost the consolation game to St. John's 70-62 on Saturday.

Help may be on the way for next year. Prep star Keith Jenifer of Towson (Md.) Catholic visited Albuquerque this weekend and told the Journal late Sunday night he was considering signing with UNM, but had not talked to his mother about it. He said he may decide today.

And there may still be plenty to get excited about this year, but success isn't going to come overnight for first-year coach Fran Fraschilla -- whose Lobos face Stephen F. Austin Tuesday night in the Pit.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize, that in some situations, we're undermanned," Fraschilla said. "But we still have a very good player in Lamont Long ... we have experience and two quality newcomers in Marlon Parmer and Wayland White."

What the Lobos (1-2) don't have is a win against a Division I team. If not for a victory in an exhibition game against Simon Fraser, which ended up counting on the record, UNM would be 0-2 out of the gates. Fortunately for New Mexico, its exhibition loss against the Double Pump All-Stars didn't count -- or the Lobos would be riding a three-game Pit losing streak.

Put in perspective, that's as many losses as New Mexico suffered at home in its previous four seasons.

"In the Pit, we expect to win no matter what the odds are," said UNM's Damion Walker, who scored 26 points in the weekend losses. "So of course we got a little spoiled. But that doesn't mean anything anymore. We've got to grab people by the throats and take it to them."

The Pit crowd -- well known for making opponents, as well as officials, clutch their own throats and gag -- hasn't been much of a factor.

The gathering of 16,270 was downright sedate when Saturday's third-place game started, and only briefly got into the act during a UNM comeback in the second half.

"Honestly, it's not quite as loud as I thought it would be," said Darren Eversos of the Daily News, one of a number of New York writers in town for the event. "It might be the six o'clock start, but it seems like when the team isn't doing well, there's not much excitement from the crowd."

Said Andrew Gross of The Journal News, "I don't want to come off as a conceited New Yorker, but I was expecting to have my ears blown out. But I retained my hearing throughout the weekend."

The New York entourage was here in anticipation of a matchup between Fraschilla and St. John's, the school that fired him in 1998.

They got the grudge match, but not much of a game. Both teams shot poorly and combined for 34 turnovers, UNM committing 20.

The Lobos were killed on the boards in the first half, getting outrebounded 15-1 on the offensive end, but made it respectable in the second half and lost the overall rebound battle 43-35.

"We learned we need to hit both ends of the boards a lot harder," said Long, who hit 8 of 29 shots this weekend. "We need to work on boxing out, guards and post players both. Last year, coach (Dave Bliss) didn't preach boxing out."

Part of the early woes can be traced to the transition between coaching regimes. It takes time to learn a new system, and UNM is finding that out. It also makes a difference to play quality opponents, not the parade of patsies the Lobos faced most of last season.

"The main thing we're basing the season on is getting better," said UNM guard Kevin Henry. "In the past we got used to playing teams like Simon Fraser. Come March we'd hit a good team and not know how to handle it. It's not too often you get a chance to play teams like Dayton and St. John's early. We're going to learn from it, and we're going to win tough games because we played tough teams early on."

St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said he's confident Fraschilla will get things going at UNM -- but warns it may take a season or so.

"It won't take Franny long to get some horses in here and they'll have it rolling," said Jarvis, who succeeded Fraschilla at St. John's.

"There will come a time again when they won't lose too many games in this place. He'll get as much out of these kids (this season) as anybody -- whether that's enough or not, who knows?"