Gov. Martinez, AG Balderas predict NMSU will make Sweet 16

Gov. Susana Martinez and state Attorney General Hector Balderas are members of opposite political parties, but they agree that New Mexico State’s men’s basketball team will reach the NCAA’s Sweet Sixteen.

The Republican governor and Democratic lawman released their brackets Wednesday that showed both believe 14th-seeded New Mexico State would defeat Baylor and SMU. They also predict the Aggies would go down against Duke.

Martinez says Arizona will win it all. But New Mexico’s top law enforcement officer predicts Arizona only would make it to the Final Four. He sees UCLA winning the tournament.

Balderas also predicts New Mexico State’s women’s basketball team will reach the Sweet Sixteen and lose to Texas.

The governor did not fill out a women’s bracket, but a spokesman said she was “saddened, shocked and outraged” that Balderas picked Texas to defeat New Mexico State.

“No wonder we can’t win our water war,” Martinez spokesman Chris Sanchez said, referencing New Mexico’s ongoing legal battles over water with its neighboring state. “The AG is in the tank for Texas.”

Sanchez said the governor was joking and she respects the attorney general and appreciates a lighthearted partisan battle amid the legislative session.

James Hallinan, a Balderas spokesman, said the attorney general would be happy to address the governor’s women’s bracket “when and if she submits one.”