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Initial Thoughts

TenaciousD

Rookie
Jun 28, 2001
132
516
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El Paso, TX
Apologies if I am mentioning comments already posted by others.
  • Apparently, the PA Announcer “always gets a headache” after his pre-game introductions, Dude watch the “hot mic”, we all heard it.
  • As expected, someone forgot to hit a button to pipe in Teicher the first few minutes of the game so just silence and the PA guy announcing fouls. I saw MinerManiac noticed this as well.
  • I like the pressure defense and over-denying the wings, however a telling stat is Bienemy had 6.4 fouls per 40 min, White was at 7.1 F/40, Giffa was 6.7/40 (per 40 so you have a comparative number)– so we can expect more fouls on our guards as they reach or hold when guys try to roll by them – something that needs to be cleaned up – otherwise we’ll be putting teams at the line quite a bit as we hit the bonus earlier in the half. And typically guards shoot better FT’s vs bigs, so we’ll be putting better FT shooters at the line earlier as well.
  • Under 60% from the line, I know Boum is at the 90% mark, but Kalu and Maring will need to hit a few, Verhoeven as well.
  • Offensively was a bit rough at times and lacked fluidity, but I would expect that to improve in the next few games as the rotations are set and Boum is in the lineup.
  • From watching practice clips online, I see practices are high energy, I didn’t see that to start the game, seemed a bit lackluster. I was expecting to see similar energy.
 
Apologies if I am mentioning comments already posted by others.
  • Apparently, the PA Announcer “always gets a headache” after his pre-game introductions, Dude watch the “hot mic”, we all heard it.
  • As expected, someone forgot to hit a button to pipe in Teicher the first few minutes of the game so just silence and the PA guy announcing fouls. I saw MinerManiac noticed this as well.
  • I like the pressure defense and over-denying the wings, however a telling stat is Bienemy had 6.4 fouls per 40 min, White was at 7.1 F/40, Giffa was 6.7/40 (per 40 so you have a comparative number)– so we can expect more fouls on our guards as they reach or hold when guys try to roll by them – something that needs to be cleaned up – otherwise we’ll be putting teams at the line quite a bit as we hit the bonus earlier in the half. And typically guards shoot better FT’s vs bigs, so we’ll be putting better FT shooters at the line earlier as well.
  • Under 60% from the line, I know Boum is at the 90% mark, but Kalu and Maring will need to hit a few, Verhoeven as well.
  • Offensively was a bit rough at times and lacked fluidity, but I would expect that to improve in the next few games as the rotations are set and Boum is in the lineup.
  • From watching practice clips online, I see practices are high energy, I didn’t see that to start the game, seemed a bit lackluster. I was expecting to see similar energy.
Good read TD and don't be a stranger.

WNM came in with a chip on their shoulder and I mean that as a compliment. However, when you run the offense and score the majority of points and the ref says "knock it off with the attitude or you're outta here!", you knock it off. There was smack going on amongst the pg's.

Bonke is the real deal and our best answer to Ken Lofton, Jr from La Tech to literally push him around instead of vice versa. He needs to fit into his massive frame. I have not seen a player that massive in a UTEP uni since the Marlon Maxey days.

Sibley, aka "Scottie Pippen" because he's a dead ringer, has a good motor.

Bienemy's ball handling has improved drastically. He needs to watch Hardaway's "UTEP 2 STEP" killer crossover to freeze his opponent.

Kalu is just a freshman but I can see why he was a stud of the Baltimore Catholic school league, he has good explosiveness down in the paint and crashes the boards. If he bulks up even more I can see a Chris Sandle (UTEP 86-88 may he rest in peace) type player two years down the road.

Saterfield looked like he had jitters but since Bienemy's shooting is very inconsistent throughout the season, his 3 ball will be needed.

White was a very nice "whoa! who dat?". Good energy and productive off the bench.

Giffa needs more work. Not quiet a solid mid major player.....yet. However, he showed fearlessness.
 
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That’s interesting how we all see things different …. I don’t see any explosives out of our bigs except sibley…. I think our inside is gonna get torn up vs nmsu and I do like giffa but he needs to hit the weight room……

I thought white was the best player of the new ones….
 
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Apologies if I am mentioning comments already posted by others.
  • As expected, someone forgot to hit a button to pipe in Teicher the first few minutes of the game ...
Probably Teicher. Did he say Hooper Vint was calling the game on Saturday?
 
Good read TD and don't be a stranger.

WNM came in with a chip on their shoulder and I mean that as a compliment. However, when you run the offense and score the majority of points and the ref says "knock it off with the attitude or you're outta here!", you knock it off. There was smack going on amongst the pg's.

Bonke is the real deal and our best answer to Ken Lofton, Jr from La Tech to literally push him around instead of vice versa. He needs to fit into his massive frame. I have not seen a player that massive in a UTEP uni since the Marlon Maxey days.

Sibley, aka "Scottie Pippen" because he's a dead ringer, has a good motor.

Bienemy's ball handling has improved drastically. He needs to watch Hardaway's "UTEP 2 STEP" killer crossover to freeze his opponent.

Kalu is just a freshman but I can see why he was a stud of the Baltimore Catholic school league, he has good explosiveness down in the paint and crashes the boards. If he bulks up even more I can see a Chris Sandle (UTEP 86-88 may he rest in peace) type player two years down the road.

Saterfield looked like he had jitters but since Bienemy's shooting is very inconsistent throughout the season, his 3 ball will be needed.

White was a very nice "whoa! who dat?". Good energy and productive off the bench.

Giffa needs more work. Not quiet a solid mid major player.....yet. However, he showed fearlessness.
That Avalos guy on WNMU got tossed and rightfully so. That was just stupid. The funniest part was when Tydus burst into laughter right before the guy got thrown out and laughed even harder when refs called the technical. That Avalos guy had zero poise.
 
A bit late, but here are my thoughts:

Miners did what they were expected to do, win by a large margin. But as we all know, this was just a tune up game. Saturday against NMSU will be the real test. That's all my thoughts pertaining to the team and game itself.

Now for some non-game thoughts:

Did anyone noticed the National Anthem was performed before the teams came out onto the court? Is that something new now, possibly to prevent on-court demonstrations from the players? Was that a university decision or a conference decision (even though this wasn't a conference game)?

Was curious how UTEP was going to change up the "only team from the state of Texas to win an NCAA Men's Division I Championship" tag line. As expected, it was changed to "the first team from the state of Texas". Well at least that will never have to be changed again.

The mountain on the court is a bit darker than I thought it would be. Shouldn't be a problem for the Miners themselves, but maybe for the opposing team. I do miss the two large pick axes though.

Nice crowd for a Tuesday night. Over 6,700 announced. Would have to believe that was the number of tickets sold, and not necessarily those who actually passed through the doors. In any case, hopefully it's a good sign to come.

The real change of course were the new banners hanging from the rafters. They do look nice, and it great they're all uniform in color (except for the women's banners), font and size. I assume the recognition for conference championships are only for the regular season, and not for tournaments. A banner commemorating Coach Haskins' 719 wins is nice too. In addition to our NCAA and NIT appearances, we now have separate banners for Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final Four. Sadly, I think the lone entries for Elite 8 and Final Four will be up there for quite some time. Hopefully I'm wrong. The new National Championship banner is nice as well. I'm glad they used the Texas Western College logo on that one. Had they changed it to a UTEP logo, I would have been extremely pissed off.

Just glad basketball season is back. Hopefully Golding can turn this program around. We were let down by Floyd and Terry. Hopefully the third time's a charm.
 
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