ADVERTISEMENT

Just a friendly reminder that I accurately predicted all of this after the Marquette Game.

I’ve gone back to the beginning of our time in CUSA and there has not been a single case where a team finishes 14th or bottom two and jumps up to the top 3 or even the top four next season.
This is CUSA, this conference sucks. It can be done with the right additions. CUSA isn't the MW. Billy G went from 10th to 1st in the WAC with us.
 
Last edited:
Disagree about Lathon being the only one returning. Efe was Terry's recruit from Fresno and he had an Amazing Freshman year. Hawkins is also his guy. Gilyard and Eze are up in the air possibly, but hopefully Gilyard stays.
Not talking about players staying or leaving. Talking about potential starters to make up an up tempo offense. This year's offense was miserable...slow, too deliberate, too many turnovers, no point production, etc.
 
Last edited:
This is CUSA, this conference sucks. It can be done with the right additions. CUSA isn't the MW. Billy G went from 10th to 1st in the WAC with us.
Sure it can be done but it hasn’t. I hope he does but Terry is no Billy. By his 8th year as HC Billy already had 4 NCAA Tournament appearances, a Sweet 16 run, and two NIT quarterfinal runs. Terry in his 8th year just led UTEP to a last place finish in this conference that sucks.
 
Technically we were the 12th seed. I wasn’t satisfied but I along with other on this board did think we had a good chance to upset utsa in the conference tournament. I wanted our season to continue for as long as it could.

I’ve gone back to the beginning of our time in CUSA and there has not been a single case where a team finishes 14th or bottom two and jumps up to the top 3 or even the top four next season.

A lot of fans are saying next year we will win a conference title or make the NCAA but I’m going to go on record and be the first to say none of that will happen. Next year around this time I’m going to bring this thread up and make a pat myself on the back thread.
I think more people are saying next year will be much better and we can compete for a title, maybe not necessarily win it and go to NCAA. However we should be in the fight. With the following year going for an NCAA bid no question. 20 plus wins and at least an NIT should be the least expectation in year 2 based on what Terry has brought in, I would think. This year is a throw away. How many people on here give Gillespie crap about his 1st year? So let's just see what happens next year.
 
Sure it can be done but it hasn’t. I hope he does but Terry is no Billy. By his 8th year as HC Billy already had 4 NCAA Tournament appearances, a Sweet 16 run, and two NIT quarterfinal runs. Terry in his 8th year just led UTEP to a last place finish in this conference that sucks.
His 8th year of what? Terry hasn't been a HC for 8 years! He has 1 NCAA appearance and would've probably had another one had he stayed. He came to rebuild a mess with 3 scholorships left to play with him and some patchwork freshman. If you are ready to judge and jury Terry on this year then you simply don't know Mid Major Basketball or you just are never liked the Terry hire in the first place. That's your choice too, but yes we will definitely bring this thread up next year if your wrong, which I think you will be.
 
His 8th year of what? Terry hasn't been a HC for 8 years! He has 1 NCAA appearance and would've probably had another one had he stayed. He came to rebuild a mess with 3 scholorships left to play with him and some patchwork freshman. If you are ready to judge and jury Terry on this year then you simply don't know Mid Major Basketball or you just are never liked the Terry hire in the first place. That's your choice too, but yes we will definitely bring this thread up next year if your wrong, which I think you will be.
Two more games and Terry will have finished his 8th year as a HC. I don’t think he will win a conference title or make the NCAA next year. That’s my prediction and hopefully I’m wrong. I have no problem eating crow. 20 wins isn’t that impressive when the ooc schedule is loaded up with no names. And the conference schedule is loaded with sucky CUSA teams as some have mentioned.

It’s his throw away so I’m not judging him based of the win total.

It took Terry five years at Fresno before winning 20+ regular season games or making a Tournament that starts with the letter N. I’m expecting an improved team next year but have realistic expectations. Let’s say he does win 20 games but doesn’t make the NIT will you be disappointed? Is the CBI acceptable?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MineroFanatico
I bet there is a strong correlation between those who refuse to acknowledge existing deficiencies and constantly say “next year...” and those who supported CTF the longest.

I hope to high heaven that the shit gets turned around next year. I really do. I’d like almost nothing better in life than to be excited about UTEP hoops in March...and beyond. But what ultimately spelled doom for Floyd was written on the wall years before his ousting. It didn’t just creep up, yet the mantra for so many was “next year...”. It can be difficult to acknowledge short comings, but don’t be surprised if some of our issues this year are issues next year, and the year after, and the year after that. I hope I’m dead ass wrong, but I’m not as impressed with our potential next year, as many on here appear to be. I’d gladly have this message pulled up next year and eat crow over it in exchange for even an NIT appearance. If it’s between Miner bb success and me being right, I’ll take being wrong all day long. I ain’t complaining. I’m not a doom and gloom kind of guy. I’m concerned about a few things and frankly I’m surprised there aren’t more who share at least some concern. To each their own, though.
 
Last edited:
Just my humble opinion, but let's get real my peeps! This whole thing is getting blown out of proportion. Just take a step back and look at the situation objectively. Let's keep things in perspective. There were A LOT reasons why this season was going to be tough (before and during). Give CRT a chance. Let him at least field a full squad before bashing his coaching, his history and his or his team's progression. Having a limited team will put a monkey wrench in EVERY aspect of whatever our each individual expectations were. Let's take the positives and move forward. It was ALWAYS about next year with CRT and this UTEP BB team. It's not about the past anymore. Its about the future, and it starts after saturdays game in my book.
 
I bet there is a strong correlation between those who refuse to acknowledge existing deficiencies and constantly say “next year...” and those who supported CTF the longest.

I hope to high heaven that the shit gets turned around next year. I really do. I’d like almost nothing better in life than to be excited about UTEP hoops in March...and beyond. But what ultimately spelled doom for Floyd was written on the wall years before his ousting. It didn’t just creep up, yet the mantra for so many was “next year...”. It can be difficult to acknowledge short comings, but don’t be surprised if some of our issues this year are issues next year, and the year after, and the year after that. I hope I’m dead ass wrong, but I’m not as impressed with our potential next year, as many on here appear to be. I’d gladly have this message pulled up next year and eat crow over it in exchange for even an NIT appearance. If it’s between Miner bb success and me being right, I’ll take being wrong all day long. I ain’t complaining. I’m not a doom and gloom kind of guy. I’m concerned about a few things and frankly I’m surprised there aren’t more who share at least some concern. To each their own, though.
Wow!!! Coog; you got it. I would love to remove "next year" from my vocabulary. It's been permanently affixed for way too long.
 
Sure it can be done but it hasn’t. I hope he does but Terry is no Billy. By his 8th year as HC Billy already had 4 NCAA Tournament appearances, a Sweet 16 run, and two NIT quarterfinal runs. Terry in his 8th year just led UTEP to a last place finish in this conference that sucks.
Who cares what Billy did in his first 8 years. Billy is one of those rare amazing coaching talents that come along every so often and we were lucky enough to get him. You can't seriously expect every one of our coaching hires to be a BG. It is like saying you expect every rookie NBA player to be like Jordan or Lebron.
 
Who cares what Billy did in his first 8 years. Billy is one of those rare amazing coaching talents that come along every so often and we were lucky enough to get him. You can't seriously expect every one of our coaching hires to be a BG. It is like saying you expect every rookie NBA player to be like Jordan or Lebron.
You guys are the ones comparing Billy to Terry. And saying that Billy took UTEP from last to first and to expect something similar next season. I’m being realistic and have temperate expectations for next year.
 
Listening in to Terry last night on his last radio show you could sense his level of frustration for how the year turned out. Obviously, we are oversigned by two at the moment. However, I wouldn't be super shocked if Terry added one more guy late, if the right guy comes available. He mentioned that a guy like Efe would have likely played about five minutes per game at Fresno. He also mentioned again that Vila would have been a starter at the 4 this year at Fresno. I am excited to see what the new guys bring to the table, and my expectations are high for next year. There are some question marks, but I feel Terry is a good enough coach to get this group to produce at a high level.
 
Not too bad considering Fresno State was under NCAA sanctions and probation when he got to Fresno, and coached in a conference way tougher than CUSA.
Fresno St probation ended in 2010 so they were not in probation during any time of the Terry era. Actually comparing the first five years of the Cleveland era which he did under sanctions and probation compared to the Terry era and there are a lot of similarities in the overall records.
 
Fresno St probation ended in 2010 so they were not in probation during any time of the Terry era. Actually comparing the first five years of the Cleveland era which he did under sanctions and probation compared to the Terry era and there are a lot of similarities in the overall records.
My bad I thought he got there in 2010. But not really a lot of similarities in their records though.
 
You guys are the ones comparing Billy to Terry. And saying that Billy took UTEP from last to first and to expect something similar next season. I’m being realistic and have temperate expectations for next year.
I never compared the two , and never said to expect similar things next season. I was just showing you that you can be a bottom team and go to a top team in two years when you play in a sucky conference in response to you saying a 14th place team has never jumped up to a top 4 team in a year in CUSA. Yes I know we finished 10th in the WAC in Billy's first season, and not 14th place like we did this year, but I really don't see a huge difference from a 6 win team vs. a 3 win team like you do.

I agree with your temperate expectations for next year. Terry's big year is going to come in year 3. We are still going to be a young team next season and the transfers and this years players need to learn how to play together. That might take a little time
 
Two more games and Terry will have finished his 8th year as a HC. I don’t think he will win a conference title or make the NCAA next year. That’s my prediction and hopefully I’m wrong. I have no problem eating crow. 20 wins isn’t that impressive when the ooc schedule is loaded up with no names. And the conference schedule is loaded with sucky CUSA teams as some have mentioned.

It’s his throw away so I’m not judging him based of the win total.

It took Terry five years at Fresno before winning 20+ regular season games or making a Tournament that starts with the letter N. I’m expecting an improved team next year but have realistic expectations. Let’s say he does win 20 games but doesn’t make the NIT will you be disappointed? Is the CBI acceptable?
Short answer, No! The talent coming in demands at least 22-25 wins and NIT minimum. The reason why I say it's not for sure about NCAA next year, is due to one bid league.
 
I never compared the two , and never said to expect similar things next season. I was just showing you that you can be a bottom team and go to a top team in two years when you play in a sucky conference in response to you saying a 14th place team has never jumped up to a top 4 team in a year in CUSA. Yes I know we finished 10th in the WAC in Billy's first season, and not 14th place like we did this year, but I really don't see a huge difference from a 6 win team vs. a 3 win team like you do.

I agree with your temperate expectations for next year. Terry's big year is going to come in year 3. We are still going to be a young team next season and the transfers and this years players need to learn how to play together. That might take a little time
Why is it that you and so many others continually harp on the sucky conference we're in? That's the conference we're in. You and I and the others have no alternative. Everyone knows it's an inferior conference so you might as well pound that into your noggin. It is what it is. I don't need you to remind me.
If you have a solution, please put it into action.
 
I'm tempering my expectations also. Although the talent looks good on paper, we still have to overcome chemistry, new offenses, new roles and maybe injuries. We also don't know who is in or out for next year. As of right now im giving the miners 18 wins and a 3rd to 5th finish in CUSA. I think we compete in our league for the championship but fall just short and don't expect any ncaa or nit bids in year 2. Hope I'm wrong like some of the rest of us "doubters" on the board but do believe we need to temper expectations. 22 wins from 8 would be great but easier said than done even when the talent looks great on paper
 
  • Like
Reactions: MineroFanatico
My bad I thought he got there in 2010. But not really a lot of similarities in their records though.

When I saw the regular season win totals through the first five years they were very similar. Something like Cleveland 78 Terry 80.


I never compared the two , and never said to expect similar things next season. I was just showing you that you can be a bottom team and go to a top team in two years when you play in a sucky conference in response to you saying a 14th place team has never jumped up to a top 4 team in a year in CUSA. Yes I know we finished 10th in the WAC in Billy's first season, and not 14th place like we did this year, but I really don't see a huge difference from a 6 win team vs. a 3 win team like you do.

I agree with your temperate expectations for next year. Terry's big year is going to come in year 3. We are still going to be a young team next season and the transfers and this years players need to learn how to play together. That might take a little time

Could it be as you said earlier that we were lucky that Billy was a “rare amazing coaching talent” and not the norm? I don’t know of too many instances were a team goes from rags to riches overnight even in the shittier conferences. The WAC was a top ten RPI conference when Billy took over the UTEP program. The accomplishments he achieved here are phenomenal and should not be used as a measuring stick for Terry cuz I fear many will be disappointed.

My expectations for next year are 20 wins before pos season and 4-6th conference finish. I don’t think we make a tournament that starts with the letter N but we will play in the pay to play postseason.

As @FanatiCoog said I rather be dead wrong and eat crow than to be right.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lil_Train
When I saw the regular season win totals through the first five years they were very similar. Something like Cleveland 78 Terry 80.
Yawn Terry had a 2nd place MW finish and a NCAA within 5 years.. who really cares about Clevelands first 5 years vs. Terry's at Fresno. Terry still had to rebuild a mess there. I think the most important part of Terry's tenure at Fresno is he has 3 straight 20+ win seasons, 1 NCAA Tourney appearance, 1 NIT appearance before he came to UTEP.
 
Could it be as you said earlier that we were lucky that Billy was a “rare amazing coaching talent” and not the norm? I don’t know of too many instances were a team goes from rags to riches overnight even in the shittier conferences. The WAC was a top ten RPI conference when Billy took over the UTEP program. The accomplishments he achieved here are phenomenal and should not be used as a measuring stick for Terry cuz I fear many will be disappointed.
The Billy was rare amazing coaching comment was for this comment you made. I was just telling you if you are going to compare the 2 like that, BG is a rare coaching talent. Not too many coaches can turn around UTEP and turn A$M into a basketball power within 4 years of being a head coach.

Sure it can be done but it hasn’t. I hope he does but Terry is no Billy. By his 8th year as HC Billy already had 4 NCAA Tournament appearances, a Sweet 16 run, and two NIT quarterfinal runs. Terry in his 8th year just led UTEP to a last place finish in this conference that sucks.
You are the one who seems to be using the measuring stick between Terry and BG, and you are the one disappointed.
 
When I saw the regular season win totals through the first five years they were very similar. Something like Cleveland 78 Terry 80.




Could it be as you said earlier that we were lucky that Billy was a “rare amazing coaching talent” and not the norm? I don’t know of too many instances were a team goes from rags to riches overnight even in the shittier conferences. The WAC was a top ten RPI conference when Billy took over the UTEP program. The accomplishments he achieved here are phenomenal and should not be used as a measuring stick for Terry cuz I fear many will be disappointed.

My expectations for next year are 20 wins before pos season and 4-6th conference finish. I don’t think we make a tournament that starts with the letter N but we will play in the pay to play postseason.

As @FanatiCoog said I rather be dead wrong and eat crow than to be right.
Commitment. Commitment. Commitment. By the school, the regents/board, the president/chancellor, fans, boosters and obviously the athletic department. Big, small or in the middle. First you get laughed at when you win. Then you get sneered when you win again. They then respect when you win again. Then despised when you win some more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TxRdKiller
Yawn Terry had a 2nd place MW finish and a NCAA within 5 years.. who really cares about Clevelands first 5 years vs. Terry's at Fresno. Terry still had to rebuild a mess there. I think the most important part of Terry's tenure at Fresno is he has 3 straight 20+ win seasons, 1 NCAA Tourney appearance, 1 NIT appearance before he came to UTEP.
The point is it took five years. What do you think is a bigger mess to inherit the Fresno rebuild or the disaster Floyd left behind? Either way all I’m saying is that it might not be as quick as we think it will be.

As far as your other posts You were the first one to mention Billy G and all I said is Terry is no Billy.

It’s alright I’ve said my predictions for next year and how I think it will take Terry some time to be successful here. When or if I’m wrong feel free to bring this thread up.
 
Sometimes, ok most of the time, you guys baffle me. Terry is finishing year one with a roster full of new guys to D1 hoops, a senior that flat out sucks, and 2 sophs that aren't that good, yet a lot of you are questioning his coaching. OMG.....Sure, MAYBE we are over reaching by expecting a run at the CUSA title next year, but for petes sake we did that EVERY year with that idiot Floyd, didn't we? Look at Fresno this year. most of those guys were Terrys guys. Be positive for next year when Terry has his full roster of HIS players and see what he can do. THEN attack if we suck.

I have it on great authority that the coaching staff has said point blank..."We KNEW the mess we were walking into when we took the job and we know we will fix it"

Me thinks most of you are over reacting once again....go have a shot....
 
Commitment. Commitment. Commitment. By the school, the regents/board, the president/chancellor, fans, boosters and obviously the athletic department. Big, small or in the middle. First you get laughed at when you win. Then you get sneered when you win again. They then respect when you win again. Then despised when you win some more.

HUH?!?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lil_Train
The point is it took five years. What do you think is a bigger mess to inherit the Fresno rebuild or the disaster Floyd left behind? Either way all I’m saying is that it might not be as quick as we think it will be.

As far as your other posts You were the first one to mention Billy G and all I said is Terry is no Billy.

It’s alright I’ve said my predictions for next year and how I think it will take Terry some time to be successful here. When or if I’m wrong feel free to bring this thread up.
Just because it took 5 years at Fresno doesn't mean anything. Rodney Terry was a brand new head coach back then. He won 66 games in his final 3 seasons at Fresno.

Once again a never compared Terry and never said Terry is Billy. It was to show you it is possible to go from a bottom team to a top team in a year, especially in a league like CUSA.

I guess it is just a difference of what meets our individual expectations. If 4 more CUSA wins and a first round blowout in the CUSA Tourney would have satisfied your expectations, then cool I respect that and Terry failed to meet expectations.
 
Sometimes, ok most of the time, you guys baffle me. Terry is finishing year one with a roster full of new guys to D1 hoops, a senior that flat out sucks, and 2 sophs that aren't that good, yet a lot of you are questioning his coaching. OMG.....
And a bench that consists of a sophomore that gives you very little, a true freshman who should be redshirting but has to play, and 2 walk-ons. The only thing our bench gave us this season was a body so we could have 5 players on the court. They gave no production on the court.
 
Sometimes, ok most of the time, you guys baffle me. Terry is finishing year one with a roster full of new guys to D1 hoops, a senior that flat out sucks, and 2 sophs that aren't that good, yet a lot of you are questioning his coaching. OMG.....Sure, MAYBE we are over reaching by expecting a run at the CUSA title next year, but for petes sake we did that EVERY year with that idiot Floyd, didn't we? Look at Fresno this year. most of those guys were Terrys guys. Be positive for next year when Terry has his full roster of HIS players and see what he can do. THEN attack if we suck.

I have it on great authority that the coaching staff has said point blank..."We KNEW the mess we were walking into when we took the job and we know we will fix it"

Me thinks most of you are over reacting once again....go have a shot....
Great points. This is all that has to be said about the 2018-19 UTEP men's basketball season. Period. End of story.

We move on, and hope Terry does have this thing in the right direction. Once the clock shows 0:00 tomorrow, next season starts and now we can start judging and see what Terry is all about since he will have a full deck and most of the roster will be his guys. This year was like trying to bone a hot chick with a half chubb, it aint gonna go right, but we got Viagra on deck to give us the best roster we've had in a long while and guess what, most of those cats are here and already have a year in the UTEP/Terry system.

Let's hope the guys who are staying get in the gym this summer and bust their asses, next year will be fun.
 
And a bench that consists of a sophomore that gives you very little, a true freshman who should be redshirting but has to play, and 2 walk-ons. The only thing our bench gave us this season was a body so we could have 5 players on the court. They gave no production on the court.
Absolutely correct
 
Just because it took 5 years at Fresno doesn't mean anything. Rodney Terry was a brand new head coach back then. He won 66 games in his final 3 seasons at Fresno.

Once again a never compared Terry and never said Terry is Billy. It was to show you it is possible to go from a bottom team to a top team in a year, especially in a league like CUSA.

I guess it is just a difference of what meets our individual expectations. If 4 more CUSA wins and a first round blowout in the CUSA Tourney would have satisfied your expectations, then cool I respect that and Terry failed to meet expectations.
Sounds good. Terry is a veteran now so the turnaround will be much faster. I still think it will take 3-5 years before we win a conference title or make the NCAA tournament.

Showing one rare example of an extraordinarily good coach that went from last to first does not give me much confidence we go from the bottom to the top next year.

Yes, finishing last in an awful CUSA that gave him four winnable games during pod play did not meet my expectations. My bad for having expected a bit more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MineroFanatico
Why is it that you and so many others continually harp on the sucky conference we're in? That's the conference we're in. You and I and the others have no alternative. Everyone knows it's an inferior conference so you might as well pound that into your noggin. It is what it is. I don't need you to remind me.
If you have a solution, please put it into action.

How about fans and alumni take this into their own hands? Cough up some money -- big money -- and offer it to either the Big-12 or the PAC-12. **** the MWC.

It's unfortunate that we are stuck in a no-win situation. We're in a bullshit, suck-ass conference with no money and no ****ing future. So we can hope for a miracle in one hand and let the college football and basketball powers shit in the other.

Or we, the fans and alumni, can pony up some big cash and tell the Big-12 and PAC-12: We offer you 200 million over 20 years to make us part of your conference. Thats 10 million per year that WE ARE PAYING THEM to have us in their conference. And we have to come up with another 5 million per year to pay coaches and staff.

If we fail to grow into a competitive member then that failure is on us. If after 300 million and 20 years in a top conference we still suck then nobody will ever question anyone saying we should drop football and play basketball against local high schools.

Surely there's 15 million per year out there somewhere in Miner village. I can't imaging that El Paso and UTEP have failed to produce enough successful people that we cannot come up with a measly 15 million per year to make UTEP a competitive program in a top conference.

Ok, let me have it...
 
  • Like
Reactions: axingfools1
Listening in to Terry last night on his last radio show you could sense his level of frustration for how the year turned out. Obviously, we are oversigned by two at the moment. However, I wouldn't be super shocked if Terry added one more guy late, if the right guy comes available. He mentioned that a guy like Efe would have likely played about five minutes per game at Fresno. He also mentioned again that Vila would have been a starter at the 4 this year at Fresno. I am excited to see what the new guys bring to the table, and my expectations are high for next year. There are some question marks, but I feel Terry is a good enough coach to get this group to produce at a high level.
Do you think he meant Vila have been the starter before or after Williams left?
 
Yes, finishing last in an awful CUSA that gave him four winnable games during pod play did not meet my expectations. My bad for having expected a bit more.
Give Charlotte, Rice, and MTSU the bench Terry has, and put one of their better players on injury, and the results will be the same for those 3 schools as well in POD play.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: axingfools1
Do you think he meant Vila have been the starter before or after Williams left?
The way I took it, based on what he mentioned about Efe, is that he was referring to a Fresno team as if he had not left. So, that would include Williams. I can envision a lineup with both Williams and Vila. Vila would defend a 5, but play at that stretch 4 on offense. Williams would provide the interior presence on offense, and defend the 4.

Terry also mentioned again that Tarke is transitioning from the 4 to the 3. He said his development on right hand is still a work in progress.

On defense, he talked about defending full court. He should have plenty of players to do that. I'm looking forward to seeing an experienced and physically mature team next year.
 
Listening in to Terry last night on his last radio show you could sense his level of frustration for how the year turned out. Obviously, we are oversigned by two at the moment. However, I wouldn't be super shocked if Terry added one more guy late, if the right guy comes available. .
Terry seems like he will always bring in a player at anytime if it benefits the team. I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled off another Lathon type of move in the offseason.
 
  • Like
Reactions: utep-piggy
The way I took it, based on what he mentioned about Efe, is that he was referring to a Fresno team as if he had not left. So, that would include Williams. I can envision a lineup with both Williams and Vila. Vila would defend a 5, but play at that stretch 4 on offense. Williams would provide the interior presence on offense, and defend the 4.

Terry also mentioned again that Tarke is transitioning from the 4 to the 3. He said his development on right hand is still a work in progress.

On defense, he talked about defending full court. He should have plenty of players to do that. I'm looking forward to seeing an experienced and physically mature team next year.
So maybe:
Vila
Williams
Tarke
Archie
Lathon
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT