Looked at the roster yesterday and had some random thoughts I figured I’d share, ole Miner Rush style. 🙃
Thank you for reading. Again, all these thoughts are coming from just a glance and dissection of the roster. I’ve seen 46 seconds of practice footage through instagram so what the hell do I know right? Thoughts?
- New guards rotation and some concerns to look at - lots of new guards with with big question marks on the roster in my opinion, biggest question mark is depth. Can Golding revamp the offense to his guards strengths or just a semi productive ppg average and shooting percentage as a whole? I feel there are slightly better options on paper in my opinion compared to last year, although will it lead to improvement? Idk man the slightly better a stretch when you dig deeper in my opinion. Powell and Hardy should be productive veterans and I think they’ll be a good tandem but I’m setting the bar high for both they must average more than 10 ppg, over 35 percent from three, get to the line and make them at a 70 plus % or higher clip if this is going to be a competitive team, clearly any legitimate thoughts or predictions of a magical CUSA run right now are delusional with questionable guard play where the bar was low last year with turnovers and poor efficiency. Outside of those two, Camper, Heeb, and Terrell would be my guard rotation after Hardy and Powell. It’s scary because if at least two of those three don’t produce UTEP is going to have shit guard play again and I’m just not very enthused or excited about the depth behind the two veterans as of yet. Also who is going to be the sharp shooter UTEP desperately needs to emerge? I don’t know if that person is on the roster yet, I’d bet Heeb but those are plus odds and Camper would be a close second but will he have the JUCO cherry popping struggles we’ve seen in previous “JUCO scoring guards”. Camper will be one to watch, I hope he can score for UTEP because if not, another recruiting whiff for this staff. Also defensively who can adapt is another question, UTEP’s guard play not only on offense but defense was atrocious last year in consistent stretches and that has to be improved upon and be a earmark for playing time as well for these newbies and I really don’t see a lengthy or super athletic lock down defender in the backcourt and should be a concern for all.
- This season will test Joe Golding’s development of the program and the ultimate judgement of his job security - Year 3, a very slightly upgraded roster in terms of scoring talent, but I felt his “culture” and style of coaching could win with a roster like this when hired. Time to find out, I’ve been sketchy on his recruiting and in game offensive schemes and adjustments on defense and this is the make or break year to see if he can really effect a game or winning streak with his style which he’s proven is there at times in some situations, but totally absent in stretches last seasons Again as in my football comment, does UTEP have the right assistants around? That is another question that will be truly answered this year. Saw a small practice story on IG this week from practice and it was Kalu tossing some no name walk on weak left handed drive and some pretty intense defensive drills and that was cool to see from an all effort standpoint but again it’s a hype video on social in media. First year we applauded “how hard” that team played under Golding, last year there was clear disconnect there at times and in other chemistry factors that saw the dam break more often that not last year in terms of a blown lead or a bad stretch that made the game ugly for UTEP. It’s now year three, I wanna see that hustle, heart and in your face defense and rebound effort every night or to me it means Senter has failed in all three of his revenue sport hires plus the on court results I mention later in this post. Basically put, Golding should be on the hot seat for improvement this year, it’s time for his culture and high energy stuff to work or it’s legit time to look elsewhere because he’s not recruiting enough skilled talent in my eyes to overcome short comings in his “system”.
- I kinda like the front court depth - But Dos Anos was huge disappointment last year and was hurt which was out of his control and maybe played hurt all year who knows, can he improve and help or forever be a liability. There’s experience with Solomon, Kalu, Frazier and Hamilton but we saw just as much as good as bad from each at times but again, another year in the system which their development or possible lack thereof goes on Golding and his staff. Hope Hamilton laid off the El Cometa, Whataburger and pizza and was running stadiums at the Sun Bowl all summer and can actually provide meaningful minutes or else he is proving to be a wasteful spot on the roster, he’s showed promise (obviously) in some weird stretches of minutes but your best ability is your availability and if it’s a conditioning thing or Golding decision thing it needs to be figured out early in the season, his situation has been helter skelter to me.. Again, I like the depth because five returns have played here and been around but those four or five have to produce at a high level and cut the turnovers down and be aggressive on the defense boards, idk how consistent they can be and that’s another question mark. Clearly Solomon and Frazier who’ll be looked upon for production but consistently is desperately needed from them and they need to be ****ing leaders man. they are good players with potential IMO but need to helped by craft schemes on offense at times and will need to play hard on the defensive end, these dudes should take major pride in looking at averaging five or more boards if this team is going show any physicality and grit when it matters the most in conference play and if they are true alphas that can elevate this team to improvement. Also, will Elijah Jones bring any extra depth that is going to be needed it if the five returners in the front court don’t produce as they should be expected too.
- My expectations are sadly low for this season - As much as I liked the Golding hire and still want it to work, the lack of transfer portal quality acquisitions and overall roster improvement worry me. If you don’t have skill, you will suck in CBB now a days, and the lack of skilled scorers worries me if UTEP doesn’t play hard on defense and play physical like Golding’s system relies upon because it’s hard to see this roster as a prolific offense team from a guard standpoint as I mentioned, which has been absent from the Foster Center since Terry’s recruits moved on. They return a lot of returning experience from the front court, but who is going to be the that dude or the group of dudes you need to win in March? The bodies are there, but are there enough consistent bodies for this program to elevate? Obviously we don’t know the exact schedule and it’s a somewhat decent schedule upgrade this year based on the OCC slate that’s been revealed, and don’t wanna sound negative but in an objective way I see this being an average or maybe a slightly above average team and average doesn’t make a run in conference play or a conference tourney. Idk how to rank CUSA haven’t started my CBB betting prep yet but there’s going to be drop in competition in my opinion and looks to be wide ass open. Anything less than a winning record in CUSA play plus a respectable semifinals or finals appearance in CUSA tourney is my realistic expectations or bar Golding should meet this year to prove to me he’s the right guy or is turning the ship. Getting to the NCAA tournament is the ultimate goal, but again just setting a bar of improvement. Obviously Senter ain’t canning him if this year is another dud because he has no spine hope but either way as mentioned this is the show me year for him. Overall, I’m pretty meh on this team and well I hope I’m wrong and we can all clown this lengthy post in March but my optimism is very sketchy and clearly all over the place for year three of the Joseph Charles Golding era.
Thank you for reading. Again, all these thoughts are coming from just a glance and dissection of the roster. I’ve seen 46 seconds of practice footage through instagram so what the hell do I know right? Thoughts?
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