Albuquerque is a crazy town. The combination of high altitude and desert climate causes a certain sense of madness in the area. It shouldn't be too surprising to find out that this is a basketball-crazy town, and the biggest game in town is always the University of New Mexico Lobos. One of the most renowned college basketball arenas is the Pit, where the Lobos play their home games. The Pit is where Jimmy V's underdog N.C. State team won the NCAA championship with the famous miracle oops-alley-oops play. The Albuquerque faithful regularly pack the place with sixteen to eighteen thousand people. Until recent seasons, most of the local madness has been saved for the men's team, but this year, the women's team did something no UNM of either gender had been able to do: make it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

When I went to good old UNM, the women's team did not exist. It had died after years of miserable and unsupported games. Even when the school revived the program in my final two years, five wins a year was an accomplishment for the ladies. That changed when they hired the most successful women's high school basketball coach in New Mexican history. With more than 400 wins and only 13 losses in the high school ranks, Don Flanagan brought his magic to the college ranks, and he brought respect to a joke.

With two appearances in the NCAA Tournament (both first round losses) and a championship WNIT game last year, the Lady Lobos went from attendance in the hundreds to thousands of crazy Albuquerque folks screaming for bouncing ponytails. The Lady Lobos averaged over 11,000 fans per game this year, with only powerhouse Tennessee drawing bigger crowds in the women's game. The NCAA was quick to notice this development and awarded Albuquerque with four rounds of tournament play this year. Everyone said if the Lady Lobos could just get in the tournament, they would have home court advantage potentially to the Final Four.

At midseason, it didn't look like the women were going to make it. Wallowing in the middle of the pack in the Mountain West Conference play, the ladies appeared to be letting the golden opportunity slip away. As if on cue, they turned things completely around. They won seven of their last eight games to finish second in the league behind Utah. They won all three games in Las Vegas to win the MWC tournament, guaranteeing the sought-after NCAA birth and home court advantage with a six seed in the Midwest Region.

With the men's team going through a disappointing rebuilding year, the women were just the thing for the basketball-hungry Albuquerque folk. The locals packed the Pit, setting NCAA tournament records for the first and second round games. This weekend, they will break the record for the regional games. We may be crazy in Albuquerque, but at least we're devoted.

The first game appeared to be the Lady Lobos last. Eleventh seed Miami came in and ran circles around UNM in the first half. Up eleven at half-time and fourteen in the second half, the Hurricanes appeared ready to ruin all the fun. Then something happened. It's what usually happens to visiting teams to the Pit. They forget that about that high desert altitude. Albuquerque is a mile high, and Miami ran out of wind. The Lady Lobos caught up, went into overtime, and pulled out a thriller. The locals went, well, crazy.

The next game was against third seeded Mississippi State, and the Lady Lobos came out on fire. Shooting inside and out, UNM led almost the entire game form the outset. When our ladies are working on all cylinders, they are among the premiere teams in the country, and the Lady Lobos coasted to a 73-61 win.

The Sweet 16. No UNM men's team or women's team had ever accomplished that. The men had gotten to the second round a handful of times, but it was the first time the Albuquerque faithful got to the second weekend. Very, very cool.

I'd like to say the women are still smoking, but they hit a wall against juggernaut Texas Tech last night. An 18-0 run by the Red Raiders to close out the first half ended the Lady Lobos miracle run. That's how basketball goes though. Only one team wins their last game. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the ladies bringing a little bit of joy to the desert.

And oh yeah, just wait until next year.

Chris Jungle has March Madness all year round.