Has a New Mexican ever won a college basketball national championship?
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Throughout the history of the NCAA tournament, there have been a few players from New Mexico to participate in the Big Dance. There are even a few that have been on teams that won the national championship.
In 1966, Texas Western’s famous glory road team led by hall-of-fame Coach Don Haskins had a player from Albuquerque on its roster. Louis Baudoin played his high school ball at Sandia before joining Texas Western in El Paso. In the 1966 championship season, Baudoin appeared in 16 games and averaged two points per game.
More recently, a former La Cueva Bear won the natty in 1997 as a starting member of the Arizona Wildcats. AJ Bramlett played a crucial role for UofA in its run through the tournament, as he recorded three double-doubles and averaged over eight points and ten rebounds per game.
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“I mean, it was a time in my life that was, continues to be special to this day,” said Bramlett. “When it was happening, and I was so young and 19 years old going through it, it was an incredible run. So, it’s fun to go back and think about that every year when tournament time comes around.”
Even though Bramlett was no longer playing in his home state, he feels that the success he had on a national stage helped prove that New Mexicans are more than capable of playing against the best in the country.
“You want to represent for your hometown, and you want to make sure that you’re putting them on a map,” Bramlett said. “From a basketball standpoint, I wanted to make a difference and work with players and give these kids an opportunity to see that I was able to do that out of here, and they can do the same thing, and I thought I did a good job of that through that run, definitely.”
