Its not gonna l;ook good if a pro aussie team loses to new mexico

With their starters from 1-3 out, their back-up PG out, and only three players from last year suiting up I would be amazed if the Kings won in their first game together, would look bad for New Mexico!

... although I guess New Mexico lost a couple of good players in the off-season, so perhaps it should be a good matchup!

Ogilvy has been pretty good so far

Wow, Ogilvy getting lost defensively even against these guys. He could score very effectively in Europe but his minutes were limited because of the other end.

Big difference between Ogilvy and Crosswhite anchoring the D, will be interesting to see how quickly Heal can develop AJ.

That could be the difference between Sydney having a good year or struggling, especially before Madgen and Ellis arrive and they have limited offensive options.

Wish I was there!

New Mexico lost arguably their best player to the NBA after last season (Tony Snell), and lost freshman star recruit (and coache's son) Cullen Neal who needed an emergency appendectomy 1 day after arriving in Australia!

The Lobos are talent laden and a genuine top 25 college team, featuring an awesome front court in Alex Kirk and our own Cameron Bairstow, and have a great back court too featuring Greenwood!

Thanks for the link! Watching now...

Kings press breaker is woeful, hugging the sidelines!

Bairstow was impressive in that 3rd quarter

Yep, the Kings relying a lot on Harvey and he wasnt hot that quarter (had 20-odd at the half though). Should be a good final term, much better than China v India which Im meant to be watching!

I think the Ogilvy-Garlepp combo will be a good one offensively, Garlepp more than willing to play the complementary role but can punish doubles on AJ from midrange.

Indeed. Gee he is good from the high post though, not many centres in the world who can keep up with his first step.

Yeah, but with Madgen, Sanders, Carmouche and Ellis not there that was always going to be the case, not a lot of offensive talent on the rest of the roster.

Lobos missed a hundred free throws. They should be well in front. Look loaded for a top 15 sort of NCAA season. Good team!

UNM up by 2pts with 3.7sec left

+1 Rohant16.

Cam Bairstow has improved out of sight over the papst 18-24 months. Amazing to see how far he has come.

Yeah, was it Weeks or Armour just fixated on getting it to Harvey when he was covered. Needed to go to Garlepp who had a driving lane.

Anyway, entertaining game, nice to see it back again! Kings might score a lot of points this season but have a lot of work to do defensively.

To be honest I think Heal would be pretty happy with tonight with almost his whole backcourt missing. I am surprised they got so close with Armour and Weeks running the show.

The issue for them is obviously missing Ellis and Madgen to start the season, but with their full line-up they will be very competitive later in the year.

You really have to question what Armour is doing in this team, especially since he's supposedly covering for Madgen who is a flat out scorer. Yes it is only temporary (let's hope he doesn't pull a Joyce & stick around all season) but he looks no better than Weeks. Neither is really NBL standard but at least Weeks has served a 3 year apprenticeship as a development player so earned something in return you'd think.

agrre dont think kevin white shouldve been resigned. he's not NBL standard

Fore sure they could do a lot better than White. He is a one dimensional player & doesn't seem to be improving much at this level despite the chances he keeps getting.

I get White and Weeks confused. Is Weeks the one you think has more of an NBL future?

Did White or Armour have much success last year? Was Armour from the Cats? Can't remember.

Boxscore: http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/20910/05/73/90/17UiJJwssdZtg

I think, as Paul said, with 3 starters out, and also really only training together for a couple of weeks if that, it was a decent result... My feed quality wasn't that good and couldn't get on the PC until the final quarter, so it was disappointing to see AJ foul out and the comments on his defence, but that was a known criticism coming in, hopefully with Hammer's focus on D, he'll catch on quick and improve that part of his game...

We scored well, despite the lack of options... I think White did well and is doing what he should be doing, it's just that with Madgen and no imports, he's still being thrown in the deep end a bit with expectations... if he can be the guy we look to to lock down opposing guards, be aggressive when they give him space and make his open shots, that's a very good improvement... Looking at the stats from last night, he's well on his way to doing that...

Great to see Hill put up some nice backup numbers, filling in where he will be needed most... Making his shots, attacking and grabbing boards...

Allen was Allen, but I'll leave it until at least the end of the pre-season games to criticise him too much :)

I like White and thought he was ok last night, but he is a 9th or 10th man who can come down and play solid defence, nothing more at this stage.

Isaac:

Weeks is the scrawny little point guard who is very fast & can shoot a bit but that's about all. he's been a development player for the 3 years the Kings have been back in the competition. He got no court time under Moose but Heal gave him a few runs last season with mixed results. He is not a natural point guard but at his height it's all he could play at NBL level & most would agree he's not NBL standard.

White was also originally a development player but was given a roster spot during their first season. He wasn't re-signed for season 2 as I recall but made a comeback last season. He's about 6'4" & can cover the 2 or 3 position. He plays good defence but as noted above, he's like a rabbit in the headlights offensively at this level & I think there are others who could provide the same defensive intensity as White but provide a bit more besides.

Yeah, if he could hit even an honest 33% of his threes he would be a very valuable bench guy because of his defence and rebounding.

So, White is the hustle guy I would've seen a few times last season? Always hard to evaluate those players as a fan of other teams. I remember thinking "WTF is Greg Hire?" in the early days, and he's come a long way for a contending team.

That's him, and I think Hire is a good example for White to follow. He's developed a pretty decent outside shot, nailing 37% of threes on the road last year. If White can get anywhere near that he will have a decent career.

And any of these low-minute guys will only benefit further if there are a couple of extra teams in the league.

Neal had been a St.Mary's commit before his Dad getting NMexico job.