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Next season's roster ....

T

Tucson_Miner

MI Regular
Nov 24, 2004
1,042
257
83
I count 17 .... we can have 13 on scholarship.

Omega Harris
Jake Flaggert
Matt Willms
Trey Touchet
Deon Barrett
Paul Thomas
Kelvin Jones
Tim Cameron
Chris Barnes
Roderick Williams (So.)
Trey Wade (Fr.)
Isiah Osborne (So.)
Evan Gilyard (Fr.)
Tirus Smith (Fr.)
Joey St. Pierre (Fr. - committed not signed)
Kobe Magee (Fr.)
Ladarius Brewer (Fr. - committed not signed)

Available Scholarships (Artis, Wynn, Touchet - if moved to academic)
 
UTEPMiners8106 said:
Didn't Wilms graduate? I wonder if he would be a possible academic scholarship as well.
Click to expand...
I think the bigger question with Willms (who is in graduate school), is whether the NCAA will grant him that 6th year. The NCAA has done no favors for UTEP in the past, so nothing is ever a sure thing. As UTEPDefense mentioned, having a healthy and eligible Willms next year is probably the biggest question going into next year.
 
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Lil_Train said:
I think the bigger question with Willms (who is in graduate school), is whether the NCAA will grant him that 6th year. The NCAA has done no favors for UTEP in the past, so nothing is ever a sure thing. As UTEPDefense mentioned, having a healthy and eligible Willms next year is probably the biggest question going into next year.
Click to expand...
So the off season drama started already.
 
Lil_Train said:
I think the bigger question with Willms (who is in graduate school), is whether the NCAA will grant him that 6th year. The NCAA has done no favors for UTEP in the past, so nothing is ever a sure thing. As UTEPDefense mentioned, having a healthy and eligible Willms next year is probably the biggest question going into next year.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. But I can't imagine The NCAA denying a 6th year based on injury. That's not the norm.
 
Wilma listed as a junior on official site. I am sure the 6th Year is already a done deal.
 
kickballpro said:
Wilma listed as a junior on official site. I am sure the 6th Year is already a done deal.
Click to expand...
The expectation is that Willms will be granted the extra year by the Ncaa, but this is not a done deal yet. Per Coach Johnson, the school still needs to petition for Willms. I personally think it will happen as there is a precedence for this. However, looking at the numbers for next year, we are officially oversigned by two; not including the two guys verbally committed to sign late. The staff has also offered at least one other JC big man late (Bruce Stevens). It appears that the staff is trying to avoid a situation like last year where they were forced to reach late with a couple of guys. Again, it will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
 
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Lil_Train said:
The expectation is that Willms will be granted the extra year by the Ncaa, but this is not a done deal yet. Per Coach Johnson, the school still needs to petition for Willms. I personally think it will happen as there is a precedence for this. However, looking at the numbers for next year, we are officially oversigned by two; not including the two guys verbally committed to sign late. The staff has also offered at least one other JC big man late (Bruce Stevens). It appears that the staff is trying to avoid a situation like last year where they were forced to reach late with a couple of guys. Again, it will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
Click to expand...


I forgot about Bruce Stevens he would be an amazing signing!
 
At least 3 players won't be here next year. If we get Bruce Stevens and we can have a good PG by committe we might be ok. Gilyard, Touchette and Barrett will all see time at PG they won't be asked to score like Art is just distribute hit the occasional 3 penetrate and dish and not turn it over. The strength of this team now will be in the front court especially if we land Stevens and Willms situation is good. Don't sleep on Osborne either he may be really good and give Utep the chance to start 3 guards. My thoughts based on what I see at this point.
G- Trey Touchette 6-2
G- Omega Harris 6-2
G- Isaiah Osborne 6-5
F- Paul Thomas 6-8
C- Matt Willms 7-1
Bench
G- Deon Barrett 6-0
G- Evan Gilyard 5-9
G/F- Jake Flaggert 6-7
F- Titus Smith 6-7 or La darius Brewer 6-6
C- Kelvin Jones 6-11
 
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nattybry said:
Gilyard, Touchette and Garret will all see time at PG they won't be asked to score like Art is just distribute hit the occasional 3 penetrate and dish and not turn it over........... Don't sleep on Claiborne either he may be really good and give Utep the chance to start 3 guards. My thoughts based on what I see at this point.
G- Trey Touchette 6-2
G- Omega Harris 6-2
G- Isaiah Claiborne 6-5
F- Paul Thomas 6-8
C- Matt Willms 7-1
Bench
G- Deon Barrett 6-0
G- Evan Gilyard 5-9
G/F- Jake Flaggert 6-7
F- Titus Smith 6-7 or La darius Brewer 6-6
C- Kelvin Jones 6-11
Click to expand...

1.) Who is Garret?
2.) Who is Claiborne?
3.) Why is Roderick Williams missing from your list?
 
I figured that he meant Barret instead of Garret, and he likely meant Osborne instead of Claiborne. It was just kinda funny that he is telling us "not to sleep" on Osborne, yet multiple times he calls him Claiborne.
 
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Lil_Train said:
I think the bigger question with Willms (who is in graduate school), is whether the NCAA will grant him that 6th year. The NCAA has done no favors for UTEP in the past, so nothing is ever a sure thing. As UTEPDefense mentioned, having a healthy and eligible Willms next year is probably the biggest question going into next year.
Click to expand...

Since Wilms has been here 5 years, I am assume if he hasn't graduated, he will graduate in May. This means he is eligible to play at just about every other school in the country next year. A 7 footer with his skill set will be "recruited" pretty heavily by high major schools. I could see him taking his final year of eligibility and going to a big school where he has a chance to win something big. I wouldn't be surprised to see him transfer, though I know nothing about what he wants to do.
 
Actually I would be really surprised if he transfers with as much as we have helped him here and. Or given up on him
 
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If true, that Willms is already in Graduate School at UTEP, wouldn't that mean that he is less likely to transfer to another school? The reason being, that in most cases a Graduate Student will transfer to another school for their Senior year, using the excuse that they want to enroll in a different graduate program that is not offered by their current school. Sure it wouldn't be hard for Willms to find some rare/unique graduate program that UTEP doesn't offer at a bigger school, but would that grad school excuse still fly, considering that he has already selected his gradute field and is already enrolled in graduate school?

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...uate-transfer-rule-hurting-college-basketball

BTW, on a separate note. Willms is doing everything that a Student-Athlete should do. Assuming he finishes grad school next year(his 6th total year at UTEP), then he will likely leave UTEP with both a Bachelors Degree and a Graduate Degree 100% paid for by his athletic abilities. That is the way to do it, good for him!
 
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Because of all the mostly off season drama that seems to have become the norm under Floyd, I've given up on following UTEP's recruiting. I appreciate the informative updates from everyone. I've mentioned before, its just wait and see for me now, like alot of others here. I do think Wilmms will be granted a 6th year and no, no way he transfers. That's big for next year's team.
 
In December during the teams slump I have it on good authority that Wilmms was mad and talking about not wanting to be in this environment (im being nice and vague here on purpose). That being said every player probably felt that way during that losing streak. Not sure if he carried that sentiment with him and still feels that way. I think he will stay but if he still has those feelings and a past AAU coach trying to get him signed up with an agent we might have a bad surprise coming. Marshals DeAndre Kane comes to mind of a grad transfer in our conference.
 
You bring up some interesting points kappasigmaminer. I would think that the staff would have a relatively good idea with regard to the makeup of next year's team following spring break; especially if someone decides to "go pro", similar to Hunter and Moore. Neither one returned to school after the season ended, and instead opted to begin prepping for pro ball. My point being, although it is not easy to find a late signee who can contribute, it is still possible with the signing period starting next month. I'm not saying this is going to occur this year, but at the same time, we have all heard the excuses before.
 
Bob Stull did a Q & A with the Miner Athletic Club the other day and I asked him about the likelihood of Willms leaving as a graduate transfer. Stull said with a lot of confidence "he's not going anywhere." Said Willms appreciates everything UTEP has done for him and that he's happy here, and that his mom likes coming to EP to visit him. Take it for what it's worth, I don't know whether it's the truth or PR-babble, but that's the word from the horse's mouth, so to speak, if Bob Stull can be considered a horse.
 
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It's possible that BS isn't bs'ing us...for once.
I'd imagine a kid like willms appreciates the fact that this program didn't give up on him. He also genuinely seems to have a great bond with his teammates. My guess is he stays
 
I agree on Willms, USAF....What the heck, while we are discussing next year's team, I figured I'd take a stab at the way too early look at our starting five:

Willms
Thomas
Flaggert
Harris
Gilyard

No real surprises here. I think Roderick Williams will push both Flaggert and Thomas for playing time. The staff loves Flaggert, and his experience and outside shooting will be needed next year. Gilyard looks like the real deal, and quite frankly, we need him to be. Who do you all got?
 
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Lil_Train said:
I agree on Willms, USAF....What the heck, while we are discussing next year's team, I figured I'd take a stab at the way too early look at our starting five:

Willms
Thomas
Flaggert
Harris
Gilyard

No real surprises here. I think Roderick Williams will push both Flaggert and Thomas for playing time. The staff loves Flaggert, and his experience and outside shooting will be needed next year. Gilyard looks like the real deal, and quite frankly, we need him to be. Who do you all got?
Click to expand...
If we end up getting Bruce Stevens I think he'll start
 
What a nice surprise. In November we wouldn't give a dime for any of our players
and now we are wondering who should go to make room.
This team took a while to gel but once they got it together they really turn heads
around. We have a good nucleus of players who will pay off in the very near
future. The new recruits are gonna have to earn a spot.
My 2 cents.

Go Miners...
 
USAFminersfan said:
It's possible that BS isn't bs'ing us...for once.
I'd imagine a kid like willms appreciates the fact that this program didn't give up on him. He also genuinely seems to have a great bond with his teammates. My guess is he stays
Click to expand...
I agree, Wilms is staying. A very important factor in this is because of his girlfriend who is from El Paso (went to Eastlake High School).
 
Lil_Train said:
I agree on Willms, USAF....What the heck, while we are discussing next year's team, I figured I'd take a stab at the way too early look at our starting five:

Willms
Thomas
Flaggert
Harris
Gilyard

No real surprises here. I think Roderick Williams will push both Flaggert and Thomas for playing time. The staff loves Flaggert, and his experience and outside shooting will be needed next year. Gilyard looks like the real deal, and quite frankly, we need him to be. Who do you all got?
Click to expand...
That may be the starting five, but we can't forget about Trey Wade and Isaiah Osbourne who have a year under their belts with the program. I also see Roderick Williams and Tirus Smith making an impact and pushing to be starters.
 
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Is there even anything out there to suggest that it is even a possibility that we land Bruce Stevens? Other than that he has an offer?
 
mikesarabia said:
That may be the starting five, but we can't forget about Trey Wade and Isaiah Osbourne who have a year under their belts with the program. I also see Roderick Williams and Tirus Smith making an impact and pushing to be starters.
Click to expand...

This is the guy that is supposed to ink in the late signing period, correct?

There are no sure things, but is he still a solid verbal? Just haven't heard much in regards to him lately.

EDIT : Never mind. This article here says Smith has already signed.

http://www.elpasoproud.com/sports/u...es-two-additions-for-2017-18-season/607677247
 
Last edited:
I believe you are referring to Ledarrius Brewer. He is a verbal commit.

On Stevens, I have not heard anything beyond an offer from us. I would think he will schedule his visits right after his season ends.
 
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Lil_Train said:
I believe you are referring to Ledarrius Brewer. He is a verbal commit.

On Stevens, I have not heard anything beyond an offer from us. I would think he will schedule his visits right after his season ends.
Click to expand...

Brewer! That's who it is. Thanks for the reminder.
 
Based on who I think may leave and Brewer and Stevens not coming to Utep in my opinion at least right now, here's what I anticipate next year's team to look like and I believe we can win with this team.
Starters:
PG-Trey Touchet 6-2
SG- Omega Harris 6-2
F- Jake Flaggert 6-7
F- Paul Thomas 6-8
C- Matt Willms 7-1
Bench:
PG- Evan Gilyard 5-9
SG- Isaiah Osborne 6-5
F- Roderick Williams 6-7
F- Tirus Smith 6-7
C- Kelvin Jones 6-11
 
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This season the staff mentioned repeatedly that the lack of foot speed on the part of several players significantly limited what they could do on the defensive end, and in particular man to man. The implementation of Braswell's point zone defense was done, in part, because of this. While Floyd is known as a coach who likes to used so-called junk defenses at times, he is a man to man guy at the core. If he has the horses to go man next year, I have no doubt that will be the direction. Having both Flaggert and Touchet in at the same time makes this difficult. Also, while Thomas grew a lot during the season offensively, he needs to also show he can defend consistently.
 
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Paul Thomas was a 57.8% Free Throw Shooter this season.

Matt Willms was a 57.5% Free Throw Shooter this season.

Kelvin Jones was a 43.9% Free Throw Shooter this season.

That is our returning Front Court for next season, it is a 3 person group that had a combined average of 53% from the Free Throw line this year. When I try to think about how much we can possibly improve next season, I think that one of the top factors will be determined by if these 3 players can/can not improve from the Free Throw line?
 
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