Audio: Head Coach Paul Weir
Audio: Senior Guard Ian Baker

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Standing midcourt in the Pan American Center practice facility, head men's basketball Paul Weir addressed the local media before the first on-court practice of the 2016-17 season began.
 
The Aggies started the day with some light shooting and defensive drills as local media, community members and budding Aggie Army members watched on.
 
The excitement of the new basketball season coupled with a new head coach in Weir really set the tone on Tuesday as Jess Bopp, one of the newest members of Weir's staff, quickly ramped up the energy level as they wrapped up their warm-up drills.
 
Bopp comes to New Mexico State with a strong defensive background, having worked with the likes of Larry Shyatt, Billy Donovan and Shaka Smart. "My job is to bring my different experiences and different things I've been around to Paul and Paul deciding if that's going to be something we can supplement already and enhance it," Bopp said.
 
When asked what's going to be the key to their style of play, the first year Aggie assistant coach said, "I think it is all team energy." "I've been around some great defensive coaches and what made those teams really good defensively were our energy and our discipline. That's the stuff I want to bring to Paul and the players."
 
The Aggies were nothing short of energy thanks to Bopp and the rest of the coaching staff as the second hour of practice began with players flying up and down during full-court drills.
 
"It was great," said Bopp, when asked about what he thought about the energy level during today's practice. "I don't know if anyone had a bad first practice, but I thought the energy was good. I thought we maintained it throughout practice. Sometimes you come out really energetic and then it can fade, but I thought we maintained that, our focus and discipline. We have a lot of capable guys and we got a lot of bodies. We really need to utilize that and really embrace the fact that we have a lot of guys that can play. We can play really, really hard, get a break and get right back in there."
 
While today served as the team's first official practice on the court, the Aggies opened the year up with a team-building workout at White Sands National Park this past Monday.
 
"I really viewed yesterday as our first practice just because that's going to resemble more about us as far as just being a team, being together, training and working hard," Weir said. "At the end of the day, all we really have is each other and the individuality stuff we just have to leave that at the door and really make this about the team. It's really about all of us being in this together and fostering that attitude. So, I think yesterday was really our first practice as far as establishing that and today was just kind of following through with it and continuing to stress competition, teamwork and unselfishness. The guys are buying into it. Based on the progress so far, I feel good that we will get there. That's the idea right now and that's the philosophy behind these early practices."
 
For those that attended the open practice on Tuesday, the players buying into what the longtime assistant and first year head coach at New Mexico State envisions for the team shouldn't be a problem.
 
Weir also stressed to his team on Monday how critical the unity of the team will heading into this season. "We need to start thinking about the guy next to you as opposed to thinking about yourself," he said. "That was kind of what yesterday brought into today and I thought that was really good. We spent a lot time on our team energy and our team body language. It's a culture change so it's going to take some time, but I feel really good that we're headed in the right direction and we're going to get to where we need to get to."
 
Whether the team heads in the right direction Weir plans or not, we'll all find out in 37 days when NM State opens the 2016-17 season at home against Arizona Christian on Nov. 11.