Yes, this blog is dedicated to football and women's basketball, but I happened to be on the same flight back from El Paso as Roman Martinez.
Pure coincidence.
I got a chance to talk with him at the airport before our flight left, and he was really nice.
He is wide-eyed and excited about the recruiting process. He said he had one good tournament with the New Mexico Force and his life really changed. All sorts of recruiters started checking him out.
As a reporter, I'm not really supposed to steer him any way. I answered questions about Albuquerque and UNM, where I also went to school, as much as I could. Then I suggested he ask coaches to put him in touch with fellow El Pasoan Abbie Letz. She'll be able to give him a better perspective of what it's like moving from El Paso and being an athlete here. Her older brother used to play on the baseball team, so she's about as good a resource as you can get on what it's like to be a student athlete.
Roman already is really familiar with Albuquerque thanks to a lifetime of playing in tournaments here. He said The Pit is awesome and caught the Texas Tech-West Viriginia game here during March Madness. He has seen several games and understands the enormity of fan support.
Of course, he wasn't expecting the attention he got from fans when he arrived at the airport and was impressed by those from Wolf Bytes eager to get out and welcome him. He also was startled by the idea that reporters would even acknowledge him before coaches had even offered him a scholarship.
Roman doesn't seem to be near a decision on his favorite school yet, and my only advice to him was to have fun. When else are schools really going to roll out the carpet for a player? The rest is all work.
He comes from a solid high school program with a coach, Tony Harper, I really admired while growing up in El Paso. I went to a lot of his basketball camps and have to say I learned quite a bit from him. I was a camp junkie as a kid, hitting the higher profile Don Haskins and Tim Hardaway camps. But Coach Harper gave the most individual attention and really cared about helping kids develop. His was also the most economical camp around. I have the utmost respect for him and what he has done for his high school program.
Roman also spoke with reverence about his coach. He is nice, funny and respectful. He knows he's pretty lean and lanky. We're not talking Sean Phaler skinny, but he's relatively thin and roughly 6-foot-6 or 6-foot-7. He said he realized Division I basketball is a big deal and will be a major jump for him. He didn't seem to mind the idea of redshirting, giving him time to hit the weight room hard to put meat on his bones and adjust to the speed of the game.
That's all I know, thanks to my hometown ties.
Check out the Tribune for more recruiting news at www.abqtrib.com. Most of the stories obviously come from Jeff Carlton, our ace Lobo men's beat writer, but we'll have plenty of folks to cover for him while he's on vacation this coming week.

Posted by ilimon at 08:01 AM | Permalink