The 1990 Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game was held March 10 at the Special Events Center in El Paso. UTEP beat Hawaii 75–58, to clinch their fourth overall, and second consecutive, WAC men's tournament championship. UTEP was the 4th seed and beat the 3 seed Hawaii. The number 1 seed Colorado State and the number 2 BYU both lost in the Quarterfinals.
The Mark McCall slam towards the end of the game was featured as the ESPN play of the day. UTEP advanced to the NCAA Basketball Tournament as a No. 11 seed in the Southeast losing to Minnesota (6 seed) 64-61.
Thanks centex. I remember watching this game from the living room of my apartment in San Diego. I had graduated from UTEP the year before, and I had wished that I was there, especially for that last McCall dunk. I can only imagine how crazy it was in that crowd after that play.
That was a strange, uneven season for the Miners, the first in four years without Tim Hardaway. The team got blown out out at Arkansas Little Rock, but barely lost by 3 at 11th ranked Indiana. They lost to South Carolina in the first round of the Sun Bowl Tournament, got swept by both CSU and Hawaii in the WAC regular season, and barely beat Air Force in the WAC Tournament. But they also dominated UNM and Hawaii in the WAC Tournament, and took number 20 Minnesota to OT in the NCAA Tournament. It was a crazy year.
There was obviously no problem inside. Foster and Davis each had long careers in the NBA, and being able to bring Van Dyke and Maxey off of the bench was incredible. The problem, in my opinion, was the lack of consistent play at the point, and the lack of a good wing player.
If you ever doubted that great players can make those around them better, look at the stats of the 88-89 Miners versus their 89-90 team. Foster, Davis, Stewart, and Van Dyke all had lower shooting percentages in 89-90 than they did in 88-89. Of the significant players who played on both teams, only McCall improved his shooting percentage (.512 to .531) from the previous year. In fact, the team's shooting percentage fell from .489 to .454. The team certainly missed Tim.
The other thing missing was a fantastic wing. During the 9 year period from 83 to 92, when we made the NCAA Tournament 8 times, we had some really, really good wing players: Fred Reynolds, Juden Smith, Quintan Gates, Chris Sandle, Chris Blocker, Johnny Melvin, and Ralph Davis, but none of them played in 89-90. We either went with a lineup of three small guards (Prince, Hall, and McCall, like we did in this game), or we would play Van Dyke or Maxey out of position at the 3 spot. A good, legitimate wing would have really helped.
I can't help but think about Eddie Williams in all of this, though he wasn't even on that 89-90 team. Haskins had received a commitment from Williams a few years before, then Gary Payton came calling. Payton, a friend Foster's, wanted to play for UTEP, and Haskins wanted him. But Coach had already accepted Williams' commitment, and didn't want to pull the offer. Obviously we would have been even better in 88-89 with Payton playing beside Hardaway, and in 89-90 with him taking over as our primary playmaker. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.
Thanks again, centex, for another great trip down memory lane.
