SAN JOSE, Calif. — The hype around New Mexico's Darington Hobson and a possible jump to the NBA after this season has been building for weeks.

And while it isn't a topic that has snuck up on him or his head coach, neither seemed in the mood to address it after Saturday's loss to Washington in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"No comment," Hobson said when asked if he'd be back for the 2010-11 season.

That expected answer, however, did follow a quote from the 6-foot-7 Mountain West Conference Player of the year in which he talked about how good the Lobos could be next year and used the phrase "we" throughout, implying he planned to be a part of next year's Lobos.

Head coach Steve Alford, meanwhile, opted to steer clear of the topic during a postgame media session with reporters.

Asked if he thought his star swingman would return, Alford said, "I have no idea. The game ended 20 minutes ago. What players are doing from this point on, we sit and evaluate. Just as we sit and evaluate ourselves as a staff. We will do that in the next coming days and moments. So we haven't given that much thought."

Among the recent praise about Hobson has been comparisons this week — all from people outside of the Lobos program — to Ohio State's Evan Turner, a projected high NBA lottery pick, to former NBA All-Star Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and to former Washington star and current NBA All-Star with the Portland Trailblazers, Brandon Roy.

Day of upsets

While Las Vegas oddsmakers had No. 11 Washington favored by as many as 3 points prior to tip-off, in terms of seeding, Saturday's Lobos loss was a significant upset.

UNM was No. 3.

A possible silver lining, however, was the Lobos picked a good day to be upset as No. 2 Villanova fell to No. 10 St. Mary's and top overall seed Kansas lost to No. 9 Northern Iowa.

State connections

Four former New Mexico high school basketball players were participants in this year's NCAA Tournament.

All are now done.

Albuquerque Highland graduate Chad Adams advanced to the second round of the tournament with UNM, but the other three didn't advance past the opening round.

Santa Fe's Kelly Merker, who played at Monte del Sol, and Las Cruces High graduate Gordo Castillo play for New Mexico State, the No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region.

The Aggies almost upset No. 5 Michigan State before a controversial lane violation call seemed to derail the team's chances late in the game.

Hobbs graduate Jeffrey Taylor and his No. 4 Vanderbilt Commodores were upset in Thursday's opener in San Jose by No. 13 Murray State.

Keeping in touch

About 10 minutes after the UNM/Washington game, and before both team's opened their locker rooms to the media, Tanya Alford and Leona Romar, the wives of the UNM's head coach and Lorenzo Romar, Washington's head coach, shared a long embrace in the hall way.

The two have grown very close through the years as their husbands have both been involved in their various coaching careers.

Tough Saturday

Former UNM assistant coach Chris Walker, now an assistant at Villanova, was on the wrong end of Saturday morning upset.

Walker, who coached under Alford for two seasons (2007-08, 2008-09), and the South Region's second seed were bounced from the second round via a 75-68 loss to No. 10 St. Mary's.

Walker played at Villanova from 1988-92.

Following the Lobos

Among the faces in the Lobos crowd on Saturday were former players Hunter Greene and J.J. Griego.

J.R. Giddens, who plays for the New York Knicks after being traded earlier this season from the Boston Celtics, was thinking Saturday was going to be a special one for UNM.

He posted on his Twitter page: "At home waiting to watch the lobo game they are gonna be the greatest team in lobo history 2nite when they win proud and happy for them."

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at grammerschoolblog.com.