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OOC Schedule

MinerManiac

MI Hall of Famer
Jun 28, 2001
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Before someone complains about the fact that the Men's Basketball schedule has been out for a while now, and that the statute of limitations has passed for complaining about it, let me offer my mea culpa. Still, having the bad taste of posting an OPT for a Div III team fresh in my mouth, I wanted to complain about our abysmal OOC schedule, especially the home portion of said schedule. We play a total of three attractive teams OOC: Texas, DePaul, and NMSU. The last of these we play at least twice, possibly three times, and does anyone else think that the possible third game is overkill? Other than the Aggies once (and possibly twice) at home, we don't have any attractive OOC home games. Sul Ross St? Alcorn St? A&M Corpus Christi? CS Bakersfield? NC A&T? What Miner fan circled any of these dates on their calendar?

I get that you can't schedule too many P5 teams, both because of the likelihood that we lose to them, and the fact that they will want a home game rather than coming to the Don. But we played UNM in the Pit last year. Why aren't they playing in the DHC this year? Why can't we schedule some home and homes with some other MWC teams? Or AAC teams? Or other decent G5 teams? And why have anyone that is not Div I on our schedule?

The schedule as is will only bring out the die hards. We need to grow new fans, and to do that we need to do two things:
1. Bring in some attractive teams for the fans to watch, and
2. Beat them.

As I'm addicted to Miner athletics I'll still watch these games, like many of us, but we're the exception. And it's more fun watdhing the games when we play against a quality opponent.
 
Before someone complains about the fact that the Men's Basketball schedule has been out for a while now, and that the statute of limitations has passed for complaining about it, let me offer my mea culpa. Still, having the bad taste of posting an OPT for a Div III team fresh in my mouth, I wanted to complain about our abysmal OOC schedule, especially the home portion of said schedule. We play a total of three attractive teams OOC: Texas, DePaul, and NMSU. The last of these we play at least twice, possibly three times, and does anyone else think that the possible third game is overkill? Other than the Aggies once (and possibly twice) at home, we don't have any attractive OOC home games. Sul Ross St? Alcorn St? A&M Corpus Christi? CS Bakersfield? NC A&T? What Miner fan circled any of these dates on their calendar?

I get that you can't schedule too many P5 teams, both because of the likelihood that we lose to them, and the fact that they will want a home game rather than coming to the Don. But we played UNM in the Pit last year. Why aren't they playing in the DHC this year? Why can't we schedule some home and homes with some other MWC teams? Or AAC teams? Or other decent G5 teams? And why have anyone that is not Div I on our schedule?

The schedule as is will only bring out the die hards. We need to grow new fans, and to do that we need to do two things:
1. Bring in some attractive teams for the fans to watch, and
2. Beat them.

As I'm addicted to Miner athletics I'll still watch these games, like many of us, but we're the exception. And it's more fun watdhing the games when we play against a quality opponent.
MM, you're probably right about OOC opponents but...historically the Aggies run up a great record in a so so conference and, even if they don't win the Championship, they can point to their gaudy record. Helps with recruiting and fan retention. Nobody questions their 20+ victories at the end of the season.
And...that beautiful Miner victory in front of all those "New" fans last Saturday might enthuse them going forward regardless of opponents...maybe.
 
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Can't look past the fact that we've played two big time programs in tournament like environments. That might help recruiting and success down the line.
 
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MM, you're probably right about OOC opponents but...historically the Aggies run up a great record in a so so conference and, even if they don't win the Championship, they can point to their gaudy record. Helps with recruiting and fan retention. Nobody questions their 20+ victories at the end of the season.
And...that beautiful Miner victory in front of all those "New" fans last Saturday might enthuse them going forward regardless of opponents...maybe.
Have you ever looked at the Aggies schedule? This year they have road games at Santa Clara, Duquesne, and St Marys. Along with their yearly games at UNM and UTEP. They’re also playinin 2 4 team tournaments. That is 9 games away from home.

UTEP is playing 3. They have a 1st year head coach and turned over their whole roster. UTEP decided to load up on cupcakes for their 2 year coach.

UTEP doesn’t challenge themselves, that’s why they finish poorly in CUSA and flame out of the conference tournament quickly.
 
Before someone complains about the fact that the Men's Basketball schedule has been out for a while now, and that the statute of limitations has passed for complaining about it, let me offer my mea culpa. Still, having the bad taste of posting an OPT for a Div III team fresh in my mouth, I wanted to complain about our abysmal OOC schedule, especially the home portion of said schedule. We play a total of three attractive teams OOC: Texas, DePaul, and NMSU. The last of these we play at least twice, possibly three times, and does anyone else think that the possible third game is overkill? Other than the Aggies once (and possibly twice) at home, we don't have any attractive OOC home games. Sul Ross St? Alcorn St? A&M Corpus Christi? CS Bakersfield? NC A&T? What Miner fan circled any of these dates on their calendar?

I get that you can't schedule too many P5 teams, both because of the likelihood that we lose to them, and the fact that they will want a home game rather than coming to the Don. But we played UNM in the Pit last year. Why aren't they playing in the DHC this year? Why can't we schedule some home and homes with some other MWC teams? Or AAC teams? Or other decent G5 teams? And why have anyone that is not Div I on our schedule?

The schedule as is will only bring out the die hards. We need to grow new fans, and to do that we need to do two things:
1. Bring in some attractive teams for the fans to watch, and
2. Beat them.

As I'm addicted to Miner athletics I'll still watch these games, like many of us, but we're the exception. And it's more fun watdhing the games when we play against a quality opponent.
When was the last time that the home schedule was good? I get what you're saying and agree but it's always bad.

Maybe the real problem with these soft schedules is that we have been losing to a lot of these no name teams lately.

I don't go to UTEP games to watch the opponents. I wonder if scheduling a big name would even matter for attendance at this point. Much of EP has lost faith in UTEP and I think that's the bigger problem as far as people not showing up.

Last Saturday we had a fake "near sellout." Even though it wasn't sold out, it was still the largest crowd we've had since that 1966 tribute game against WKU. Hopefully some of those people had enough fun to keep coming back despite the opponents.
 
I have season tickets and went Sat — loved the hustle. I’m out til the LA Tech game. The DePaul road game will tell us more.
 
Since CUSA is a one-bid league I see no point in scheduling cupcakes. Maybe 2 cupcakes as tune-ups, but we should be going on the road and playing a Duke (like SFA) maybe Notre Dame, or any big schools we can at least twice a year. In the end, if we lose it won't affect if we make an NCAA tournament because we know we don't have a chance for an at-large bid anyway. But win or lose it would put UTEP in the national spotlight a couple times a year.
 
I understand where y’all are coming from but just remember, Texas A&M CC just beat UTSA by 20, Southern Nazarene (D2) almost beat UNT and look what happened to TCU. Nothing is a gimmie anymore. The OOC isn’t sexy but you never know until you play the game.
 
I have season tickets and went Sat — loved the hustle. I’m out til the LA Tech game. The DePaul road game will tell us more.
Why? Not looking to argue or accuse you of something, but you’re not going because you can’t or don’t want to?
 
I understand where y’all are coming from but just remember, Texas A&M CC just beat UTSA by 20, Southern Nazarene (D2) almost beat UNT and look what happened to TCU. Nothing is a gimmie anymore. The OOC isn’t sexy but you never know until you play the game.
Yep, good point. For UNT, they were without their starting backcourt (Perry and Jones); they also got killed by St. Marys. Texas A&M CC was a tourney team last year, and should also provide a good challenge for UTEP. Not sure what the deal is with TCU; even without Miles, there is no excuse with how they have played. I guess being 2-21 from 3 point range makes it pretty tough 😀
 
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Since CUSA is a one-bid league I see no point in scheduling cupcakes. Maybe 2 cupcakes as tune-ups, but we should be going on the road and playing a Duke (like SFA) maybe Notre Dame, or any big schools we can at least twice a year. In the end, if we lose it won't affect if we make an NCAA tournament because we know we don't have a chance for an at-large bid anyway. But win or lose it would put UTEP in the national spotlight a couple times a year.
100%
 
The transfer portal is helping lesser teams now. While they are losing some of their best players, they are getting better players who want more playing time or a greater role more often.
 
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UTEP shouldn’t be playing Sul Ross. They are D3 and a complete joke to charge fans for this game. I am fine with 1 D2 game as the season opener, with cheaper than normal tickets. UTEP shouldn’t be playing D2 schools otherwise.

Let’s pretend UTEP has 10 non-conference games going forward, here’s what I would want to see.
1) D2 opponent
2) MEAC team for Sun Bowl Tournament
3) SBT game 2 vs MAC/WAC/MWC/Summit/Horizon/Ivy teams
4) Alternating Home/Away vs UNM
5) Alternating H/A vs Grand Canyon
6) Road game vs Big 12 team
7) Road game vs Pac 12 team
8) Home game vs Idaho, New Orleans, San Diego
9) Road game at SMU, Houston, Rice, Texas St
10) Home game vs Drake, Indiana St, etc
 
UTEP shouldn’t be playing Sul Ross. They are D3 and a complete joke to charge fans for this game. I am fine with 1 D2 game as the season opener, with cheaper than normal tickets. UTEP shouldn’t be playing D2 schools otherwise.

Let’s pretend UTEP has 10 non-conference games going forward, here’s what I would want to see.
1) D2 opponent
2) MEAC team for Sun Bowl Tournament
3) SBT game 2 vs MAC/WAC/MWC/Summit/Horizon/Ivy teams
4) Alternating Home/Away vs UNM
5) Alternating H/A vs Grand Canyon
6) Road game vs Big 12 team
7) Road game vs Pac 12 team
8) Home game vs Idaho, New Orleans, San Diego
9) Road game at SMU, Houston, Rice, Texas St
10) Home game vs Drake, Indiana St, etc
I wouldn't be so specific with some of the teams you chose, but yeah, I basically agree with this schedule. Hopefully we could do some 2 for 1 games against P5 teams, allowing a major home game attraction for fans. We should definitely play UNM annually, and fill the schedule with many more G5 teams. Also, whatever happened to our participation in the early season exempted tournaments? We used to play in one every year, giving us a chance to play some quality games in a tournament format.
 
UTEP shouldn’t be playing Sul Ross. They are D3 and a complete joke to charge fans for this game. I am fine with 1 D2 game as the season opener, with cheaper than normal tickets. UTEP shouldn’t be playing D2 schools otherwise.

Let’s pretend UTEP has 10 non-conference games going forward, here’s what I would want to see.
1) D2 opponent
2) MEAC team for Sun Bowl Tournament
3) SBT game 2 vs MAC/WAC/MWC/Summit/Horizon/Ivy teams
4) Alternating Home/Away vs UNM
5) Alternating H/A vs Grand Canyon
6) Road game vs Big 12 team
7) Road game vs Pac 12 team
8) Home game vs Idaho, New Orleans, San Diego
9) Road game at SMU, Houston, Rice, Texas St
10) Home game vs Drake, Indiana St, etc
They are charging ridiculous prices for this game (I was thinking of going). $45 a ticket for the decent seats?
 
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Haskins scheduled these kinds of teams, too.
Ww certainly had our fair share of cupcakes under Haskins, but we would play tough teams at home, too. I remember the likes of Indiana, Michigan, Georgetown, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Maryland, Purdue, Texas Tech, Washington, and others visiting the Don. We haven't had a game like that at home since we played Arizona.
 
Ww certainly had our fair share of cupcakes under Haskins, but we would play tough teams at home, too. I remember the likes of Indiana, Michigan, Georgetown, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Maryland, Purdue, Texas Tech, Washington, and others visiting the Don. We haven't had a game like that at home since we played Arizona.
Haskins also played in a Top 10, multi-bid league. Also, times were different and if you won 20 games and finished high in a respectable WAC, you could at least make the NIT.

Beating Sul Ross and Bakersfield doesn’t get you anywhere finishing 5th in CUSA.
 
I wouldn't be so specific with some of the teams you chose, but yeah, I basically agree with this schedule. Hopefully we could do some 2 for 1 games against P5 teams, allowing a major home game attraction for fans. We should definitely play UNM annually, and fill the schedule with many more G5 teams. Also, whatever happened to our participation in the early season exempted tournaments? We used to play in one every year, giving us a chance to play some quality games in a tournament format.
Yeah, I mean some of those teams could be anyone, just giving an example of what I think UTEP should do.

Since UTEP is losing 2 “good games” versus NMSU, I know what they will do; replace them with 2 weak home games.
 
While I understand the argument about playing Sul Ross, think of these 2 things.

1. With the transfers being as they are and damn near our entire team is new here, a glorified scrimmage is needed.
2. Sul Ross typically has a lot of El Paso kids on their team. They get to play in the Don, with family and friends there to watch them. That's cool.

But yeah, charging regular prices is nuts. At least give out free cokes n popcorn. Geez.
 
While I understand the argument about playing Sul Ross, think of these 2 things.

1. With the transfers being as they are and damn near our entire team is new here, a glorified scrimmage is needed.
2. Sul Ross typically has a lot of El Paso kids on their team. They get to play in the Don, with family and friends there to watch them. That's cool.

But yeah, charging regular prices is nuts. At least give out free cokes n popcorn. Geez.

WKU isn’t playing a D3 team in the regular season. That is why they’re successful and UTEP isn’t. UTEP plays these games in the regular season to rip off fans and pad their win totals.

Crowd doesn’t look very good to me. I guess the 5 El Paso kids didn’t have very many friends and family willing to pay to see them play.

 
WKU isn’t playing a D3 team in the regular season. That is why they’re successful and UTEP isn’t. UTEP plays these games in the regular season to rip off fans and pad their win totals.

Crowd doesn’t look very good to me. I guess the 5 El Paso kids didn’t have very many friends and family willing to pay to see them play.

WKU played Rhodes College and Centre College last season.
 
WKU isn’t playing a D3 team in the regular season. That is why they’re successful and UTEP isn’t. UTEP plays these games in the regular season to rip off fans and pad their win totals.
That's all we have to do? Why haven't Senter and Golding been notified of this?
 
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Next week will be a tough week. TAMU-CC made the NCAA tourney last season and is returning all 5 starters apparently.
They play in a horrible conference and lost in the 16th seed play in game. A great accomplishment for them, but that is being a NCAA tournament team in name only.

If playing Alcorn and TAMUCC here in El Paso is considered a “tough week”, this program has fallen to the depths unimaginable 30 years ago. Expectations are lower than I thought.
 
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