Pitino is high on UNM newcomers as Lobos start summer workouts

Jun. 7—Tru Washington arrived in Albuquerque over the weekend and spent his first night in the apartment he'll share with Lobo teammates alone, still awaiting his roommates' arrival in Albuquerque.

His biggest concern?

His controller wasn't charged for his X-Box.

"I was bored," he told his coach, Richard Pitino earlier this week when the two were talking at the youth camp the team is running at the Pit.

Wednesday, many of those new Lobo teammates were with him on Bob King Court for a brief 45-minute workout during the lunch break of that basketball camp, at which they are all serving as coaches. The newcomers showed off the skills that have Lobo fans drooling about the next step in the rebuild under Pitino, who admits there is reason for some of that hype.

"It's so hard to say right away (how good players are when they just arrive in June)," Pitino said to a gathering of media on Wednesday at the Pit. Pitino hopes to use eight weeks of summer workouts for the team to get acclimated to classes and routines before the fall semester, and then season, begin.

"(But) what I can say is it's one of the best recruiting classes in the history of Lobo basketball. I really believe that. ... There's so much that goes into it — playbook, defensive schemes, all those things, you know? Are they able to grasp them? And if they are, they're gonna have a chance. But it's just too hard to tell right now."

RIVALRY SCHEDULING: Pitino said the 2023-24 schedule is not yet done, but his staff has "reached out to all the high major schools about coming here" to play in the Pit, and none is interested.

As for the still unscheduled UNM-NMSU games, Pitino sounded like he expects the games to be played. The impasse over scheduling has come to the fore lately amid concerns about violence at a Lobo-Aggie football game in Las Cruces in October and a shooting death on UNM's campus the morning of the men's basketball game in November, which led to the cancellation of both games this past season.

"It has nothing to do with me," Pitino said. "The first year that we did it, we won at their place and they got us at our place and thought everything went fine. I know Eddie (Nuñez, UNM's athletic director) and Mario (Moccia, NMSU's athletic director) are trying to put together a plan. I mean, listen, last year, the circumstances that happened at the football game in Las Cruces and the circumstances that happened here, that is a big, big deal. A life was lost. So I think it's very important that we all work together to be careful and to make sure that we bring college basketball to our community, their community."

PRESENT/ABSENT: Returning Lobos Jaelen House, Jamal Mashburn Jr., and Sebastian Forsling and new Lobo Nelly Junior Joseph are not in Albuquerque for the first summer session of classes in June.

Present at Wednesday's lunchtime workout, which was in the middle of the morning and afternoon sessions of the Richard Pitino youth skills camp, but not participating in drills were Dayton transfer Mustapha Amzil and walk-on Shane Douma-Sanchez. Amzil arrived late Tuesday and was awaiting completion of his physical. Douma-Sanchez, the Del Norte graduate, has not yet been cleared to practice due to an injury suffered during this past season in high school.

Donovan Dent is expected to arrive later this week and join in practices.

Running through some drills were newcomers Jemarl Baker, Jr., Isaac Mushilla, Jadyn "J.T." Toppin and Washington as well as returning Lobos Quinton Webb and Braden Appelhans.

EB TO UTAH STATE: The Utah State Aggies on Wednesday officially announced the hiring of Eric Brown as assistant coach.

Brown spent the past two seasons as a Lobos assistant. He was the lead recruiter for rising sophomores Dent and Webb, who sat out this past season as a redshirt, preserving a season of playing eligibility.

Webb admitted Wednesday that he was concerned when he first heard about Brown's departure a few weeks ago. Though not often talked about, the relationship players have with their lead recruiter often remains integral to their comfort throughout their college careers.

"I'm not gonna lie, at first I was a little worried or a little nervous just because that is the coach that recruited me," Webb said. "But at the end of the day, I'm trying to get to a position where my game shows and my game speaks for me. I don't ever want it to come down so this coach or that coach, but at the same time coach Pitino reached out to me shortly after and let me know, 'Hey, we're gonna be getting a new coach and there's nothing to be worried about. He's gonna be in the gym with you just as much.'"

Webb said Aaron Katsuma, the former Colorado State staffer who was hired last week to replace Brown, has already reached out to him to make sure he knows anytime the California native wants to get in the gym and work out for any reason, he'll be there as Brown was.

As for Brown, he reunites with close friend Danny Sprinkle, who was hired as Utah State's head coach in April. The two were roommates when they were both on staff at Cal State University Northridge for the 2000-01 season (Brown was an assistant there for three seasons).

He also reunites with Andy Hill, who was a Lobo assistant for the 2021-22 season before joining Sprinkle last season at Montana State and following him to Logan.

UNCLE MO: Former Lobo Morris Udeze is staying plenty active himself this summer. His name came up multiple times in Wednesday's media session as a shining example of how a transfer can come to UNM and flourish immediately with the Lobos but also because he was a veteran presence and mentor to younger Lobos like Webb and Appelhans this past season.

Udeze worked out Wednesday with the Detroit Pistons and last week had a group workout with the Los Angeles Lakers.