UTEP Non Conference Basketball Schedule

[66CHamps]

10/21 Orange vs White
10/28 Sul Ross State
11/03 Western New Mexico
11/10 Louisiana College
11/16-19 Puerto Rico Tipoff
11/25 @ NMSU (59)
11/27 Lamar
11/30 NMSU (59)
12/02 New Mexico (86)
12/09 Washington State (163)
12/19 Incarnate Word
12/21 Howard
12/22 UNC Wilmington (27) or N. Dakota State (111)

Puerto Rico - Appalachian State, Boise State (72), Illinois State(33), Iowa State (21), South Carolina (43), Tulsa (132) and Western Michigan.

Numbers in parentheses are the final RPI of the better teams on the schedule. Games against these teams will help at the end of the year.

Sul Ross and Western NM are probably exhibitions as the season doesn't officially start until November 10.
Louisiana College may be part of the Puerto Rico classic as exempt events allow you to include 1 home game prior to the event.

Much better schedule than last year. 8 pretty tough games....3 in Puerto Rico, 2 NMSU, UNM, Wash St. and 2nd game of Sun Bowl. Could include Lamar also who won 19 games last year and has most of their team back.

 

[Haskins Fan]

Not a fan of that schedule.

 

[JCorona]

We knew we had two games to add. We added what should be two easy wins in Louisiana College and Incarnate Word. I was hoping we would hit the road to a P6 conference but not happening. We have one "true" road game from October to the end of the year.

In conference play while we don't have to make the road trip to Florida this year but we are still not playing the projected top teams h&a. Marshall, UAB, WKU, ODU and Middle Tennessee along with us are all pre season favorites to compete for a top four finish and the conference crown. Yet we only play them once. CUSA has to get smarter about scheduling.

I wonder if we can stay in DFW area after the final game and wait for the CUSA tournament that starts four days later. We should be able to hit at least 22 wins with this schedule.

 

[Minerforlife]

Not shocked, we never play true road games in non conference, except for nmsu,UNM and occasional home in home with a power school. These schedules are always built to amass wins to get to 20. We are really low on the college hoops totem poll. It's going to be very hard to get home and homes with power schools. I would get upset in the past about the schedule but this is the new reality. We play in a one bid league, the season especially non conference is irrelevant. The season doesn't really start until we show up in Frisco in March.

 

[unihorn]

P5 teams fear Floyd in The Don.

 

[Roy_Bigwood_05]

Not shocked, we never play true road games in non conference, except for nmsu,UNM and occasional home in home with a power school. These schedules are always built to amass wins to get to 20. We are really low on the college hoops totem poll. It's going to be very hard to get home and homes with power schools. I would get upset in the past about the schedule but this is the new reality. We play in a one bid league, the season especially non conference is irrelevant. The season doesn't really start until we show up in Frisco in March.

I might get sh*tted on for saying this, but believe it or not and even in our current state as a below average program, and this is coming from a former UTEP assistant coach, UTEP is treated like a P5 school in when it comes to basketball scheduling due to their budget. That's why it's rare you will see UTEP play a guarantee game on the road, no one wants a Home-and-home with UTEP unless theirs a relationship i.e Ernie Kent, Sean Miller....

 

[unihorn]

I might get sh*tted on for saying this, but believe it or not and even in our current state as a below average program, and this is coming from a former UTEP assistant coach, UTEP is treated like a P5 school in when it comes to basketball scheduling due to their budget. That's why it's rare you will see UTEP play a guarantee game on the road, no one wants a Home-and-home with UTEP unless theirs a relationship i.e Ernie Kent, Sean Miller....

Are you saying it costs the same to play UTEP as it does to play any other money game, so no one chooses UTEP?

 

[Roy_Bigwood_05]

Are you saying it costs the same to play UTEP as it does to play any other money game, so no one chooses UTEP?

That's a legit question, and wanted to get a clear answer on that but I never asked.

I'm sure Floyd asks for a lot in return for guarantee games, like paid travel, the actuall $$$, nice hotels, and meals, just my guess.

 

[unihorn]

That's a legit question, and wanted to get a clear answer on that but I never asked.

I'm sure Floyd asks for a lot in return for guarantee games, like paid travel, the actuall $$$, nice hotels, and meals, just my guess.

Ok, can you dumb down your point above so I might get it haha?

 

[66CHamps]

P5 schools play Guarantee games.
Guarantee has 2 meanings.
1. The guarantee is the amount of money paid to the school to come play (usually $80-$100,000)
2. Guarantee that the game is a win for the home team. You don't pay that kind of money for a loss.

UTEP doesn't meet definition 2.

 

[unihorn]

P5 schools play Guarantee games.
Guarantee has 2 meanings.
1. The guarantee is the amount of money paid to the school to come play (usually $80-$100,000)
2. Guarantee that the game is a win for the home team. You don't pay that kind of money for a loss.

UTEP doesn't meet definition 2.

 

[Roy_Bigwood_05]

Ok, can you dumb down your point above so I might get it haha?

LOL

What I understood from this UTEP assistant, and I actually heard this on a Miner Rush podcast, the bells and whistles of the Don, the 1966 title, the 80's run, and fan support classify UTEP has a Power 5 basketball program in terms of budget, history, and even though most of us hate him, we have a "big name" coach.

So if Ohio State, Texas, Texas Tech, LSU, UCLA want a guarantee game, their going after smaller schools with tiny budgets looking for a quick cash grab in where the Power 5 team can do all the negotiating.

Like 66Champs said, most think were a tough team beat to beat because we have some financial advantages over certain mid-majors, even though we've been a middle of the standings C-USA program.

I basically took that because we invest so much in basketball, were not an "easy" win or easy to come to the table to agree to a guarantee game.

 

[unihorn]

Who is the last P5 team we beat at their home gym?

 

[JCorona]

Who is the last P5 team we beat at their home gym?

The only one I can remember top of my head is Washington St 2013.

 

[unihorn]

The only one I can remember top of my head is Washington St 2013.

So the notion that we're a tough game doesn't fully explain it.

 

[Roy_Bigwood_05]

So the notion that we're a tough game doesn't fully explain it.

Also, imo, I think Floyd's pride has a lot to do with it too

Bring in a young, hungry coach, and he might play anyone, anywhere, anytime, doesn't matter.

But Floyd really eats up the "stigma" UTEP has when it comes to things like that, and won't stoop to a "low level" in taking a guarantee game. Basketball scheduling is not easy at all, that's all I know.

 

[unihorn]

Also, imo, I think Floyd's pride has a lot to do with it too

Bring in a young, hungry coach, and he might play anyone, anywhere, anytime, doesn't matter.

But Floyd really eats up the "stigma" UTEP has when it comes to things like that, and won't stoop to a "low level" in taking a guarantee game. Basketball scheduling is not easy at all, that's all I know.

I guess we should be happy we get 3-4 decent home non-conference games.

 

[JCorona]

We play about one road P5 game every other year so the data scale is not large enough to provide conclusive evidence.

The main point is with our basketball history, budget that ranks as a high major, our "name coach", and proof of beating P5 teams (road, home or neutral) not many programs are lining up to invite us into their home court. When they can easily invite an FIU or San Jose St and guarantee a victory. The P5's will be tested during conference play so they need the ooc to build up their win total and there is no need to risk a loss scheduling UTEP.

 

[unihorn]

We play about one road P5 game every other year so the data scale is not large enough to provide conclusive evidence.

The main point is with our basketball history, budget that ranks as a high major, our "name coach", and proof of beating P5 teams (road, home or neutral) not many programs are lining up to invite us into their home court. When they can easily invite an FIU or San Jose St and guarantee a victory. The P5's will be tested during conference play so they need the ooc to build up their win total and there is no need to risk a loss scheduling UTEP.

What proof of beating P5 teams?

 

[66CHamps]

Who is the last P5 team we beat at their home gym?

P5 Road Record since 2004
Beat ASU 2004
Lost Texas Tech 2005
Lost Syracuse 2005
Lost Syracuse 2006
Lost Oregon 2011
Lost Arizona 2012
Beat Wash St 2013
Lost Wash St 2015

The Washington State,Texas Tech and Arizona games were actually part of home and home series.
Really only the Syracuse games could be considered Guarantee games.
Bottom line is UTEP does not play Guarantee games against P5 schools.
There are 23 SWAC and MEAC schools who play about 10 each....that's 230 guarantee games available to P5s who play about 2 each. No need to look to any school that averages a better than 200 RPI for a guarantee game.

 

[JCorona]

What proof of beating P5 teams?

In the last 20 years we have beat
Penn St, Washington St X3, Washington X2, Texas Tech X3, Rutgers, Arizona St, Oregon St, Oklahoma, Michigan, Clemson, Auburn, Oregon, Nebraska, Tennessee, & Xavier.

That averages out to one win over a Power team per season. We haven't been particularly good the last 20 years. I'm almost sure if I went into the early 90s, 80s and 70s I could a find a lot more wins over power teams.

 

[Minerinciter]

 

[unihorn]

In the last 20 years we have beat
Penn St, Washington St X3, Washington X2, Texas Tech X3, Rutgers, Arizona St, Oregon St, Oklahoma, Michigan, Clemson, Auburn, Oregon, Nebraska, Tennessee, & Xavier.

That averages out to one win over a Power team per season. We haven't been particularly good the last 20 years. I'm almost sure if I went into the early 90s, 80s and 70s I could a find a lot more wins over power teams.

We've all changed our majors to history.

 

[JCorona]

We've all changed our majors to history.

In this case we need history to repeat itself.

 

[FeralFelidae]

P5 Road Record since 2004
Beat ASU 2004
Lost Texas Tech 2005
Lost Syracuse 2005
Lost Syracuse 2006
Lost Oregon 2011
Lost Arizona 2012
Beat Wash St 2013
Lost Wash St 2015

The Washington State,Texas Tech and Arizona games were actually part of home and home series.
Really only the Syracuse games could be considered Guarantee games.
Bottom line is UTEP does not play Guarantee games against P5 schools.
There are 23 SWAC and MEAC schools who play about 10 each....that's 230 guarantee games available to P5s who play about 2 each. No need to look to any school that averages a better than 200 RPI for a guarantee game.

2009 UTEP beat Oklahoma at a "neutral site" in Oklahoma City. It was effectively a road game, if not officially.

 

[MineroFanatico]

We beat Oregon in a triple OT game (91-84 I think). Don't remember the year. 2012?

We beat TT (82-71) in a game right after the NM Bowl also. So 2010.

EDIT : NM. I just read the WHOLE thread asking about wins on the road. Sorry, reading is hard.

 

[LaserCoog]

P5 teams fear Floyd in The Don.

Link?