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UTEP vs Marshall in Frisco (C-USA Tourney)

groundrounds

MI Regular
Dec 3, 2017
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The Mountains of New Mexico
An Analysis
The C-USA Tourney is hard to predict because there are so many teams and so many extenuating circumstances. For instance, all teams don't play each other twice. If we had played FAU and FIU at home, as well as on the road, those could have been Ws. And when we played them on the road the first time, Coach was in the hospital in critical condition.
Some stats jump out of the chart, above. Both UTEP and Marshall have been owned by WKU, Charlotte, UAB and North Texas. In the mean time, UTSA has been a wash.
All this is a good indicator of where we both are in C-USA 2020: middle of the pack.
So looking at the Marshall schedule since Feb. 1, it's been loss then 2 wins. Loss then 2 wins, loss then 2 wins. If this trend continues, their next game should be a loss.

UTEP is on a 4 game win streak and our last loss was (wait for it) Marshall, at our house.
Here comes a prediction taking all this into account:
1. UTEP's 4 game win streak (thank you Rice!).
2. Lust for revenge against Marshall.
3. A general feeling that the team is coming together at the end of the season.
4. Our depth. We've got several frustrated players on the bench chomping at the bit to get on the floor. I'm looking at you Efe, et al. CRT could shorten the bench and look for a possible return of some of our wounded heroes during the tourney if we make a run.

Therefore, The Canary is going to fly out on a twig and predict a win for the Miners on Wednesday. Oh you want me to predict a score, also? Sorry...I'm not going to stick my beak out that far.
 
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So last year Marshall won pod 2 and RICE won pod 3. RICE finished 8-10 and went into the game on a four game winning streak (same as us) they lost by almost 20.

Marshall has won 6 out of the last 8. We had lost 6 out of the last 7 prior to pod play. We’re actually 6-6 in our last 12 games. The only problem is all six wins have come against RICE, USM and MTSU.

I’m not feeling the false sense of “program peaking” at the right time. I think Marshall is going to bring us back to reality.
 
An Analysis
The C-USA Tourney is hard to predict because there are so many teams and so many extenuating circumstances. For instance, all teams don't play each other twice. If we had played FAU and FIU at home, as well as on the road, those could have been Ws. And when we played them on the road the first time, Coach was in the hospital in critical condition.
Some stats jump out of the chart, above. Both UTEP and Marshall have been owned by WKU, Charlotte, UAB and North Texas. In the mean time, UTSA has been a wash.
All this is a good indicator of where we both are in C-USA 2020: middle of the pack.
So looking at the Marshall schedule since Feb. 1, it's been loss then 2 wins. Loss then 2 wins, loss then 2 wins. If this trend continues, their next game should be a loss.

UTEP is on a 4 game win streak and our last loss was (wait for it) Marshall, at our house.
Here comes a prediction taking all this into account:
1. UTEP's 4 game win streak (thank you Rice!).
2. Lust for revenge against Marshall.
3. A general feeling that the team is coming together at the end of the season.
4. Our depth. We've got several frustrated players on the bench chomping at the bit to get on the floor. I'm looking at you Efe, et al. CRT could shorten the bench and look for a possible return of some of our wounded heroes during the tourney if we make a run.

Therefore, The Canary is going to fly out on a twig and predict a win for the Miners on Wednesday. Oh you want me to predict a score, also? Sorry...I'm not going to stick my beak out that far.

I hope your "long term sponsor" didn't spend too much on your website that gets 5 views. LOL
 
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So last year Marshall won pod 2 and RICE won pod 3. RICE finished 8-10 and went into the game on a four game winning streak (same as us) they lost by almost 20.

Marshall has won 6 out of the last 8. We had lost 6 out of the last 7 prior to pod play. We’re actually 6-6 in our last 12 games. The only problem is all six wins have come against RICE, USM and MTSU.

I’m not feeling the false sense of “program peaking” at the right time. I think Marshall is going to bring us back to reality.
Good points! A big issue I have with the Canary's analysis is the 3 wins one loss trend. I don't think that makes a valid prediction starting the tournament. Everything changes during the tourney on a neutral court.
But I do agree with the unpredictability argument at the beginning of the article.

So, you predict a Miner loss? That would actually be a safe bet.
 
Good points! A big issue I have with the Canary's analysis is the 3 wins one loss trend. I don't think that makes a valid prediction starting the tournament. Everything changes during the tourney on a neutral court.
But I do agree with the unpredictability argument at the beginning of the article.

So, you predict a Miner loss? That would actually be a safe bet.
I would feel better picking us to win if we were playing FIU. I’m not saying it’s a guaranteed loss either. I don’t think our results the last few weeks show that we turned a corner or something. I think we benefited from playing a lot of games against really bad teams.
 
I would feel better picking us to win if we were playing FIU. I’m not saying it’s a guaranteed loss either. I don’t think our results the last few weeks show that we turned a corner or something. I think we benefited from playing a lot of games against really bad teams.

True, but these really bad teams had some pretty good wins too. Rice beat FIU, Charlotte and UNT. Two pod 1 teams and the 5th seed. SoMiss beat FIU, Charlotte and pushed WKU to the edge.

Yes, FIU would’ve been an easier draw most likely, but Marshall is definitely beatable with losses to UAB twice, Florida Atlantic and UTSA who sit at seeds 7, 9 and 10.

I just think that goes to show that anybody in CUSA is beatable...and it wouldn’t even that much of a stretch. Anything can happen, maybe even a Miner win.:cool:
 
We CAN beat Marshall, et al, but we beat exactly ZERO teams above us in the rankings and we shot ourselves out of most games.

Against Marshall we shot 25% from 3 and 66% from free throw line. Marshall shot 40% from 3 (usually they shoot 31%) and 75% from the line.

We have no other choice but to shoot well and keep defending the 3 well. We have no other plan.
 
BS. We have the same chance as Rice? We have a 4.3 chance to make semis? I would take those bets.
I agree 'cause UTEP has caught fire but it's "what have you done for me lately" D1 college culture.

La Tech knows how to come alive in post season.
 
We need a deep bench to win the tourney but we've played a lot of guys this year. They've all had experience against the conference.

We're in a conference where anybody can beat anybody. This is often said but it really applies to CUSA.

We have absolutely turned a corner. We've learned what it takes to win. How many teams in conference beat Rice twice this year?
 
If the Miners win, they would play LaTech on Facebook. If they win there, the Semis and Championship will be on CBSSN. Cool huh? Regular Stadium is also televising 2 Quarterfinal games, Facebook has the other 2. All 4 first round games are on ESPN+
 
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The fact that we're using 7 players will not be good during tournament. We need Efe to give us a Solid 15 min at least.
Any word on whether Hawkins is over his "injury" yet? He could certainly provide a few minutes here and there.
 
I don't care if we play 5 guys all game, but Terry needs to play whoever is going to help us win. 4 games in a row or not, we cant afford and crap minutes at this point. It is what it is at this point. If we use our bench beyond the top 7, then they need to be on a 'short leash'. If they play well then great.
 
...We're in a conference where anybody can beat anybody. This is often said but it really applies to CUSA....
Weak this year. This was CRT's chance to overachieve in CUSA, especially since it was Bassey-less during conference play, but he blew it. This tournament is so wide open that I honestly believe Rice can pull a couple upsets.
 
I like the rotation we’ve got right now. Guards are shooting well and taking care of the ball. The defense has tightened up with Verhoeven in there. Williams is due for a couple good games.

Fortunately we didn’t play most of the season with just 7 guys like the Floyd team that came together but had no legs left in the 13-14 conference tourney did. These guys may have it in them to win a couple/few. I’m still rooting for em. I’m willing to pay the price of disappointment to still believe they can make something out of this season and hang around for just a few more days.
 
We should have the 2nd highest fan representation after UNT, heck, we may even outnumber them - lets make it Don Haskins Center - East!
Thanks Pony10. I'm glad some people are reading the OP, because some of us are restating parts of it.
I agree that we should have a great representation! Wish I could be there!
 
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The fact that we're using 7 players will not be good during tournament. We need Efe to give us a Solid 15 min at least.
From the OP

4. Our depth. We've got several frustrated players on the bench chomping at the bit to get on the floor. I'm looking at you Efe, et al. CRT could shorten the bench and look for a possible return of some of our wounded heroes during the tourney if we make a run.
 
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