The question is this..

[Miners Fight]

how much of UTEP's current basketball problems are due to injuries and other non-playing issues, such as recruiting, transfers, academics, conference affiliation?

before judging Floyd too harshly, what has happened that is effectively outside his control??

is he doing the best he can under the circumstances, or has he created the circumstances which have led to our poor performance??

my major complaint is that I rarely get to see the Miners play because CUSA doesn't get very good television coverage. its difficult to recruit quality players into this environment.

I sometimes wonder if going independent and playing anybody we want to would be an option to remaining in a conference with such poor upside potential. but I don't know. that's why I'm asking.

MF

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

All I know is we need out of conference USA!!

 

[STexMiner]

So, you complain about the CUSA media coverage (though justified) and you're solution is to go independent? I don't know about you, but I sure do miss seeing all those NJIT games on ESPN ever since they moved to the Atlantic Sun.

As for the conference affiliation, get used to CUSA because there isn't going be much realignment in the near future. Why don't we actually try to be halfway relevant in this crappy little conference and make ourselves halfway attractive before we starting griping about it?

 

[PositivelyPete]

Agreed STex. Independent in basketball is a stupid idea. We could join the WAC and be with our river brothers NMSU and Rio Grande Valley.

 

[EPsports27]

When a coach hasn't produced anything in 6 seasons, its falls 100% on the coach. Even if we had Wilms, we would still have the same record as we do right now. This program has shown zero improvement since Floyd has been here. Its all his fault. BG inherited a mess, and it took him 2 seasons to turn it around. We don't have a general manager bringing in players and Floyd has to coach them. Floyd is the one bringing in and screening these players, so its 100% his fault.

 

[MinerInWisconsin]

All I know is we need out of conference USA!![/QUOT
C-USA probably wouldn't care or miss us at this point. Do we add anything to the conference other than a long trip right now?

Instead of whining about the conference we need to start winning it in both major sports and then maybe UTEP will be seen as valuable to other conferences that we aspire to.

 

[Minerinciter]

Keep upgrading and start winning, see what happens.

 

[Miners Fight]

thanks, but I was hoping for some solid answers, not just some more whining. whining solves nothing.

as for going independent, before dismissing the idea, how much money do we actually make by being affiliated with a conference that doesn't seem to be able to land decent television contracts? why do you think BYU jumped to independent status? because they didn't like the revenue sharing arrangements and wanted to upgrade their scheduling, that's why. it doesn't appear to be hurting them too much. they have a far superior football program and intend to make it a national contender but that wasn't going to happen while they were in the MWC, so they jumped. they're taking a risk. but it was necessary.

as I look at our history I see a program that has digressed into irrelevance. one cannot look back 50 years and see what has happened to the protagonists of 1966 and not wonder why. Kentucky is still a power. We are an afterthought. they are still playing for national championships, we don't even get invited. there's plenty of blame to go around. but that solves nothing, either.

something has to change. some difficult choices need to be made. being in charge of our own destiny is one of those choices. its risky. but the status quo seems even worse.

I did get to watch Sunday's game with whoever the heck it was we lost to. truly memorable.

MF

 

[JudenSmithFan]

how much of UTEP's current basketball problems are due to injuries and other non-playing issues, such as recruiting, transfers, academics, conference affiliation?

A lot of it is due to that stuff, but I would dispute the notion that all of those things are out of Floyd's control. In fact, I'd say he has at least some control over all of those things except conference affiliation. The great Branch Rickey once said, "luck is the residue of design." If you have an injury-prone guy, recruit a capable backup. If you have a guy who's clearly itching to leave for the NBA, recruit a capable backup. If you recruit a risky guy who might never make it to campus, you better we'll have a plan B. If there is any one thing that characterizes Floyd's years at UTEP, it's the lack of a Plan B. And Plan A has failed every year.

A coach's job is not just diagramming plays on the court. Choosing who to recruit and then getting that job done is more important as the in-game stuff. Floyd has consistently failed at this. And he very much has control over most of the "bad luck" things you mentioned.

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

So what if you have a 5 star guard that you signed as has shown no sign of wavering until the last minute?

Or if you have a guy supposedly good cleared to play then a week or so before denied?

Or having three decent players on your team gamble on a trip??

 

[Voice of the Mosquito]

At a school like UTEP plan B recruits often have to be projects. If you are a highly regarded player you are not going to sign with a UTEP or any other mid-major to be a backup. This creates a problem for schools like UTEP where they might get 3-4 high quality players in each class but these recruits have to have a window to play, no window they leave. Being able to play right away is really the only thing a mid major can entice recruits with. Budda Jones is a perfect example, signed with SDSU, but with multiple options at his position he opted to come here where we lost a lot of inside players. Top recruits don't want to redshirt, be the second option or be any part of plan B. Floyd has been burned by this his entire time at UTEP and he has never been able to sustain any consistent position depth. He has taken too many chances IMO with high value recruits and should have been looking more at a combination of high value recruits and development type players like Cedric Lang. If you look at Lang, he was a player that didn't even average a double figures in HS but had a big body and good grades and work ethic. He made a good college player of himself and contributed to the program. Then you look at Hunter, he stayed for a couple of years, contributed but really didn't advance the program. He kinda hurt it, because I am sure Floyd tried to get a power forward as a good backup to Hunter the last few years, but ran into the simple fact that a college ready player wasn't going to sign on to play behind him for 2 years. He books and we are left with a vacuum to fill. I think this is a #1 problem for NCAA schools in all sports, mid-majors, non-BCS what ever you want to call us we can't compete. Our margin for error is "0" a kid opts out of his LOI, fails a class, gets injured or transfers we are done. I do fault Floyd for taking too many of these risks and so many have backfired we have been left in desperation mode every year. This in combination with our conference changes, isolation and instability of college sports in general have left UTEP on the outside.

 

[Minerforlife]

So what if you have a 5 star guard that you signed as has shown no sign of wavering until the last minute?

Or if you have a guy supposedly good cleared to play then a week or so before denied?

Or having three decent players on your team gamble on a trip??

The guys who gambled all had red flags and character issues when Floyd signed them. Its not a shock they embarrassed the program.

 

[Imaminer]

thanks, but I was hoping for some solid answers, not just some more whining. whining solves nothing.

as for going independent, before dismissing the idea, how much money do we actually make by being affiliated with a conference that doesn't seem to be able to land decent television contracts? why do you think BYU jumped to independent status? because they didn't like the revenue sharing arrangements and wanted to upgrade their scheduling, that's why. it doesn't appear to be hurting them too much. they have a far superior football program and intend to make it a national contender but that wasn't going to happen while they were in the MWC, so they jumped. they're taking a risk. but it was necessary.

as I look at our history I see a program that has digressed into irrelevance. one cannot look back 50 years and see what has happened to the protagonists of 1966 and not wonder why. Kentucky is still a power. We are an afterthought. they are still playing for national championships, we don't even get invited. there's plenty of blame to go around. but that solves nothing, either.

something has to change. some difficult choices need to be made. being in charge of our own destiny is one of those choices. its risky. but the status quo seems even worse.

I did get to watch Sunday's game with whoever the heck it was we lost to. truly memorable.

MF

Could it be that Kentucky is the most storied basketball school in the country? UTEP is a mid-major school in an isolated West Texas town that is so far out of most high school players zone of awareness that a recruiter has to carry a map to convince the kid and his parents that El Paso is in the USA. Gillespie sold out to recruit JC players in a win now approach that got him a bigger job but didn't advance the program. Floyd has been committed to building a solid program in a "win now" sports culture and that is a rocky road at best. Anyone who thinks that losing Wilms, Hunter, McSwiggen, etc. didn't have a negative impact on this team just doesn't have a clue.

 

[Minerforlife]

Could it be that Kentucky is the most storied basketball school in the country? UTEP is a mid-major school in an isolated West Texas town that is so far out of most high school players zone of awareness that a recruiter has to carry a map to convince the kid and his parents that El Paso is in the USA. Gillespie sold out to recruit JC players in a win now approach that got him a bigger job but didn't advance the program. Floyd has been committed to building a solid program in a "win now" sports culture and that is a rocky road at best. Anyone who thinks that losing Wilms, Hunter, McSwiggen, etc. didn't have a negative impact on this team just doesn't have a clue.

Hunter coundn't have come back if he wanted to. He hadnt attended a class in months he would have been academically ineligible.
Wilms is not a d1 center. He wouldnt have helped this season.
Mcswiggen, is an unproven player. Lots of school go after Euro players very few go after Englishman. Its doubtful he can create his own shot at this level. I do think he can be a catch and shoot three point specialist. We wont know how good he is until he plays. Almost every recruit the last six years has been overhyped and failed to live up to expectations.

 

[e-rick]

Could it be that Kentucky is the most storied basketball school in the country? UTEP is a mid-major school in an isolated West Texas town that is so far out of most high school players zone of awareness that a recruiter has to carry a map to convince the kid and his parents that El Paso is in the USA. Gillespie sold out to recruit JC players in a win now approach that got him a bigger job but didn't advance the program. Floyd has been committed to building a solid program in a "win now" sports culture and that is a rocky road at best. Anyone who thinks that losing Wilms, Hunter, McSwiggen, etc. didn't have a negative impact on this team just doesn't have a clue.

Well stated!

 

[myminers]

Kentucky didn't play against the best competition because of racism so their so called legacy is false. And El Paso isn't isolated your mind is though.