Hoops thoughts

[TortugaEP]

I actually was able to watch the whole game last night as my 3 year was calm cool and collected!

IMHO, Omega is by far our best player. He is sooooo much better than he was last year. We need to keep this kid playing.
Winn is our second best. Nice soft touch inside and a very good rebounder. With time, I think he will dominate.
I don't think I would put Artis in the top 5. He seems like a selfish player. Yes, he drove to the hoop for the winning basket last night, but any guard on the floor at the time could have done the same, he just wouldn't pass the ball. (some could argue he didn't need to)
I agree that we are better suited to run, but honestly, if we can't figure out a way to get a damn rebound to start the breaks, we are screwed. I like the way the offense ran the whole game last night. The biggest problem is our shots just didn't fall in the second half. I think we shot like 39% for the game. It's hard to win any game when the shots don't fall.
Vint got a technical last night because he wouldn't shut his mouth. I watched the whole thing (but couldn't hear him) and was thinking STFU dude...Overall, he seemed to hustle better, but the constant whining annoys the crap out of me. (much like Vince last year)
I still feel Trey should come in to relieve Artis from time to time. I think he can be a REAL leader.

This team still can be relevant if they learn to be team players instead of selfish individuals. There is a lot of talent, but unless they don't care about their stats and just want to win, we won't win.

 

[UTEPy79]

Seems like if the Miners weren't rebuilding every year they'd be good.

 

[utep2step]

Totally agree about Omega.

Opponents have obviosly noticed our perimeter D is not good. Rice was not real efficient from inside nor outside the arc. UTEP did shut down their freshman stud and leading scorer most of the night.

UTEP future is Winn, Jones, Romine and Thomas. UTEP fans want Vince Hunter type satisfaction, but players like him come only once every few years. These young men are here now with huge, huge upside. Two years from now it will be like having Wayne "Soup" Campbell, Dave Feitl, Marlon Maxey and Antonio Davis in the lineup! (3 of the 4 went on to the NBA). The future is bright, however, the Lang/Washburn/Hunter withdrawal is going to be painful this year.

 

[kickballpro]

Just happy we won.

We have a lot of open offers and signed 2 guards for next season. Also just offered Mike Bibby Jr. That would be a pretty huge get. I hope we sign a big, I am not convinced that Kelvin Jones will help. He may not be awarded a scholarship anyway. We will see.

 

[liebestraum]

Totally agree about Omega.

Opponents have obviosly noticed our perimeter D is not good. Rice was not real efficient from inside nor outside the arc. UTEP did shut down their freshman stud and leading scorer most of the night.

UTEP future is Winn, Jones, Romine and Thomas. UTEP fans want Vince Hunter type satisfaction, but players like him come only once every few years. These young men are here now with huge, huge upside. Two years from now it will be like having Wayne "Soup" Campbell, Dave Feitl, Marlon Maxey and Antonio Davis in the lineup! (3 of the 4 went on to the NBA). The future is bright, however, the Lang/Washburn/Hunter withdrawal is going to be painful this year.

This assumes these guys will still be around in two years. I have yet to see that kind of continuity.

lieb

 

[MineroFanatico]

Just happy we won.

We have a lot of open offers and signed 2 guards for next season. Also just offered Mike Bibby Jr. That would be a pretty huge get. I hope we sign a big, I am not convinced that Kelvin Jones will help. He may not be awarded a scholarship anyway. We will see.

What makes you say that? Have you heard whisperings?

Provided KJ is awarded a schollie, I don't think he'll help much next year. Maybe as a soph or Jr. I hope I'm wrong. He does throw down with authority, which I haven't seen a big in a UTEP uniform do, with any consistency, in quite a while. We need a big with an attitude to match his size.

 

[Vegasminer]

kelvin Jones is projected to be the next Lang. Banger that gets better every year. If he shows up with the same attitude as Lang we will all love him.

 

[nattybry]

Was at last night's game. Liked the ball movement and defense in first half, then second half we settled for contested jum shots and floaters. The defense then suffered as a result and Jones offered 0 help lastudents night in any way. He seems out of place and not sure where his place is. Artis can take over, but takes too many plays off and dribbles too much.

 

[elpasodan]

Long time poster, but haven't posted much in years. It's tough to move away from EP and stay interested when the FB and BB teams consistently disappoint. To see UTSA destroy us in FB, and Norfolk St and UT Arlington embarrass us in BB, just kills my desire to follow... here is my opinion of this years team. I have followed the news clipping and watched some highlights but last nite was the first time watching them on tv this year, have to say we are very very small. As always, our offensive sets are very basic, a good perimeter team like UT Arlington or WSU, can easily stop us. If I was game planning against UTEP, I would pack in a 2-3 zone and dare them to hit 3's, expect to see that a lot this year....Unless our bigs get much better, this will be a long season. Disappointed that Floyd has not done more, 6 seasons is enough time to get his players here, but UTEPs mentality has always been, "maybe next year". Sad to see a program relegated to this....

 

[Voice of the Mosquito]

Harris is a good player and all and he makes some spectacular plays and scores a bunch which makes him a fan favorite. However, he tends to play out of control both on offense and defense. Last night he didn't make much effort to fight through screens or step out and force the player to go around and although it wasn't his man who scored he let Rice get into their offense. Like all of our players when he focuses of defense his offense suffers, like last night when he did most of his damage in the first half. Its not all on him though, I think this team is really a bunch of kids who want to score and are a little unwilling to do the other kinds of things that occur in a game like rebounding. Artis, Moore, Harris and Morris and Vint all what to put the ball in the hoop but don't seem willing to do other things consistently. If you look at our assist stats game by game this kind of team mentality is predicted. If you link this with out lack of strong inside game and this weakness is magnified. We have a lot of talent, but most of it appears to be only one dimensional and if this team is headed for bigger things, players are going to have to give up some of their offense and focus on defense, rebounding, getting back etc. Last night Rice played us like all teams will in conference, keep us from running by placing 2-3 back, force us to play patient and hope we go on a cold stretch or two. If we can't improve our team mentality we are headed for about .500 in conference and an early exit from the conference tourney IMO.

 

[miner1liner]

Harris is a good player and all and he makes some spectacular plays and scores a bunch which makes him a fan favorite. However, he tends to play out of control both on offense and defense. Last night he didn't make much effort to fight through screens or step out and force the player to go around and although it wasn't his man who scored he let Rice get into their offense. Like all of our players when he focuses of defense his offense suffers, like last night when he did most of his damage in the first half. Its not all on him though, I think this team is really a bunch of kids who want to score and are a little unwilling to do the other kinds of things that occur in a game like rebounding. Artis, Moore, Harris and Morris and Vint all what to put the ball in the hoop but don't seem willing to do other things consistently. If you look at our assist stats game by game this kind of team mentality is predicted. If you link this with out lack of strong inside game and this weakness is magnified. We have a lot of talent, but most of it appears to be only one dimensional and if this team is headed for bigger things, players are going to have to give up some of their offense and focus on defense, rebounding, getting back etc. Last night Rice played us like all teams will in conference, keep us from running by placing 2-3 back, force us to play patient and hope we go on a cold stretch or two. If we can't improve our team mentality we are headed for about .500 in conference and an early exit from the conference tourney IMO.

I agree with most of your post, but I think if you review the stats you will see that ther are some contradictions to your ideas. You will find that for the season we are allowing under 40% from the field. Can't complain about that. We have an assist to T/O ratio on the plus side, but I agree; could be better. I think our problems are primarily with the offense; not the defense. For the most part, we are struggling with our inside scoring amd rebounding. If we had that going for us, our perimeter game would improve immensely. We need a BIG, STRONG, MEAN, NASTY power player inside...maybe a couple of them.

 

[Voice of the Mosquito]

Agreed, but we take care of the ball pretty well and that T/O ratio can be a little deceptive when you don't have many assists or turnovers. Allowing 40% from the defense is very good but it really seems like it is a feast or famine stat. We give up 2-3 chances when we can't rebound and that makes a difference what kind of 40% we allow, 40% of 80 shots vs. 40% of 60. I agree we need an inside presence or two, which we don't have. Winn is going to be one soon, but we need two or more like him.

 

[allminer]

My biggest gripe with Artis is once the shot clock gets to 10 seconds, you can forget about the ball being passed. Plenty of time to move the ball around but he just won't do it. His defense is weak, but then so is everyone else's too. I thought the result of our cold shooting in the second half had a lot to do with the Rice defense. They really stepped it up a notch, IMO. Good drive for the game winner though.

 

[kickballpro]

What makes you say that? Have you heard whisperings?

I don't have insider info, but we have 2 seniors and 2 commitments, both Guards. They are still putting out new offers which points to that we will have some spring signings. They are high on Kavell Bigby-Williams who is a British big man that has played with McSwiggan on the National Team. He also is the leading Juco rebounder, which we desperately need.

It's a numbers game. Furthermore, Jones was underwhelming at times at Hobbs. He had just one offer.