/ STAFF WRITER
Almost four years ago, after his third-seeded New Mexico team was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Coach Steve Alford could be comforted only by thoughts of his son Bryce joining the Mountain West Conference champions the next season.
A couple hundred miles south of Albuquerque, N.M., UTEP was beaming about the impending arrival of Isaac Hamilton, the first five-star recruit in recent memory to sign with the program.
Meanwhile, Lonzo Ball was a spindly freshman who had just finished his first season at Chino Hills High, and much like a gangly freshman from the outskirts of San Diego named TJ Leaf, he was already a hot commodity on the recruiting circuit.