Why not

[PURPLEFIRE]

now that we have seen this team get some games under their belt— what place do you see them finishing in conference USA??

I am gonna aim high and say that they continue their progression upward and somehow sneak into 5th place — utep needs a lot of work on offense but their defense the past two games has been really good for the most part....


So where do you all think they finish in cusa ?

 

[shyminer81]

I tend to agree with you. This is no longer a Floyd coached team! They have potential. They need to work on their free throws...

 

[MineroFanatico]

Top half. 6th or 7th. I think we’re not quite as good as you think we are...but I’d love to be wrong.

I do, however, think a solid foundation is being laid for next year, and especially two years from now.

 

[Voice of the Mosquito]

5th Agree, but with one caveat. One injury to anyone on this team would spell disaster. Depth not only effects a game but it also does through the season and I hope they keep their legs, their hustle and develop the metal side of the game till the end.

 

[EPTUTEP]

We will finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in CUSA. We are not one the top teams in CUSA but we are not one of the worst teams.

 

[USAFminersfan]

Top half. 6th or 7th. I think we’re not quite as good as you think we are...but I’d love to be wrong.

I do, however, think a solid foundation is being laid for next year, and especially two years from now.

Agreed. Don't think we're quite as good as we've made ourselves look, or at least we probably won't be consistently "good". Our freshman are going to give us a lot of "hit or miss" games. I think we'll finish 7th or 8th, but i'll bet we're competitive in most of our losses

 

[Minerforlife]

I'm very bullish on this team. Before the season I predicted 10-12 wins. I thought this was going to be Terry's throw away season. These guys are getting better every game. They are taking big leaps. When conference games roll around in January this team will be alot better. C-USA is s***. Wku and Marshall have really disappointed in non conference play. I see this team finishing third getting to at least the semi finals of the conference tournament and wouldn't be suprised if they get in the finals. This team is going to go on a run in conference play. I didnt expect the team to be anywhere near this good this year. I've never been more excited about 0-4 team as I am about this team. It's going to be a fun season.

 

[utep2step]

The damned turnovers! Someone needs to get it in their heads that they are looking at making UTEP history if they just cut the TO's. This is a true freshman team with one senior, one sophomore, an international transfer learning the american college D1 game and a walk on junior transfer (Fresno). That's it! They can easily be 4-2 instead of vice versa just because of the TO's (and a tanker ship full of missed free throws). And the only senior, Thomas, isn't much help to them towards the final minutes because he always fouls out.

So IMO, 5th at best if they cut the TO's which is damn good for a freshman mid major team in an "eh" conference, to dead last if the TO's careless miscues continue. As I said in a previous post, Gilyard told a buddy of mine if some of these guys get it out of their head they are not in high school anymore they will be really good.

 

[MineroFanatico]

Not to be nit picky 2step, but we have two sophs in Gilyard and Magee.

And Gilles Dekonink, that international transfer, is also a soph. But point well taken. Very young team.

 

[MinerMambo]

It is clear to me that Terry is willing to sacrifice this season for next. By that I mean he is going to put his recruits even if they don’t give us the best chance to win this season. This was very clear to me during the last NMSU game when Hawkins, Lathon, and Campbell got the minutes (to include all the turnovers) they did and Magee was given shortshrift. That being said, we finish 7 or 8.

 

[axingfools1]

It is clear to me that Terry is willing to sacrifice this season for next. By that I mean he is going to put his recruits even if they don’t give us the best chance to win this season. This was very clear to me during the last NMSU game when Hawkins, Lathon, and Campbell got the minutes (to include all the turnovers) they did and Magee was given shortshrift. That being said, we finish 7 or 8.

I feel about the same but this team could always get hot during tourney time and give us a ride. Expectations are climbing quicker than I thought.

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

The only problem as one person stated—- one injury and we are in the bottom half of cusa

 

[MineroFanatico]

Couldn’t find a better thread to ask this question on. Haven’t seen anything posted.

How did we look tonight? Saw that we had 4 in double figures. Anything else stand out in the game tonight?

 

[minermx07]

I think were going to be really good. At least in comparison to our initial expectations. We have ATHLETES!!! Oh my gosh that's exciting. We got guys who can out-run, out-jump, and out-muscle opponents. They're young and we lack depth. That's going to hurt. But this will not be Gillispies first year part 2 as a lot of us thought. I think were going to be a tough .500 team. I think 6-9 place makes sense. But I wouldn't be shocked if we finished as high as 4th.

 

[axingfools1]

Couldn’t find a better thread to ask this question on. Haven’t seen anything posted.

How did we look tonight? Saw that we had 4 in double figures. Anything else stand out in the game tonight?

We looked ok. Northwestern state was outmanned so nothing special. There were a few nice dunks and blocks. CRT put Lathon at the point and Hawkins off the ball. They both probably had their best games. Hawkins hit 4 3-pointers to end the game. Efe seems to coming back to reality the past few games. He is missing quite a few bunnies now and doesn't get above the rim at all.

 

[MINER.JAY]

Hawkins got most of his points in garbage time. Hit about 3 3 pointers real late in the game. Besides that he hasn't looked as advertised yet to me. Thomas looked better tonight. He hit a couple open 3s. He looks more comfortable out there. Magee had a few highlight passes and was setting up guys all night. Lathon had his best night in a Miner uniform to me. They played well tonight against weaker competition. But at the same time blew out the competition not like in previous years when they would win by around 10 points. I say they compete in conference USA and get as low as an 8 seed

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

I think Hawkins problem to this point has been he injured his shooting hand... hopefully that is healing up because that would cause all sorts of problems...

One thing to me though that is starting to frustrate me is we have a lot of guys who can get to the rim but none can consistently hit a free throw ughhhh that’s gonna bite us a lot if it doesn’t get better — already cost us the Aggie game

 

[miner1liner]

Couldn’t find a better thread to ask this question on. Haven’t seen anything posted.

How did we look tonight? Saw that we had 4 in double figures. Anything else stand out in the game tonight?

What I saw last night was a continuation of a team that's improving with each game. Granted they were playing an inferior opponent who had lost by similar margins to others like BYU, Houston, Rice, etc although our 30 point victory was their largest defeat and the 47 points their lowest total. Now they play A&M. I am hoping that the emergence of Hawkins and Lathon will provide needed confidence....Lathon is a rebounding maniac. We continue to out rebound our opponents. Free throws!!! This is like a UTEP incurable pandemic going back several years. Gotta fix it somehow. Marquette has a superstar named Markus Howard who had 45 points yesterday against 12th ranked K State. If we can play some big time D on him, we could make the game competitive. They should be ranked after whipping K State.

 

[MineroFanatico]

Thanks for the input fellas. Wasn’t able to catch the game and saw what miner1liner pointed out, that we had a similar margin of victory over this team to that of some pretty good programs. It wasn’t long ago that we struggled with a very inferior team so it was good to see this result when I checked.

One more question. Did it look at all like we had developed some more offensive chemistry, or did we just outclass them individually?

 

[Lil_Train]

Thanks for the input fellas. Wasn’t able to catch the game and saw what miner1liner pointed out, that we had a similar margin of victory over this team to that of some pretty good programs. It wasn’t long ago that we struggled with a very inferior team so it was good to see this result when I checked.

One more question. Did it look at all like we had developed some more offensive chemistry, or did we just outclass them individually?

It's still a work in progress, in my opinion. In the first half, they went nearly six minutes without scoring a basket. That can't happen against good teams. In the second half, things started to loosen up towards the end, and I thought Kobe did a great job finding the open shooters. Good to see Hawkins finally hit some threes. We will need him and Lathon to continue to improve their efficiency offensively. Against Marquette, both will get their shot at defending Howard.

 

[axingfools1]

Per CRT, putting Hawkins off the ball was intentional so he could regain some confidence. His shooting in the second half was lights out. I don't care if it was against an inferior opponent, it looked WAY better than his 1st game when he was putting up bricks. He has to start somewhere and I was glad to see it. Now let's hope he can build on it.

As for Lathon, he is much more comfortable with the ball and is an all around stat stuffer glue type player. I'm starting to really like his style. His shot is flat, but he also hit some nice jumpers as well.

This team is going to win through their guards. I think eventually Eze will catch up to and pass Efe. If we are to complete on a high level with CRTs style of play, our center needs to be a high level defender AND rebounder. I like Efe, but I just don't think he has that first part in his repertoire.

 

[Lil_Train]

Per CRT, putting Hawkins off the ball was intentional so he could regain some confidence. His shooting in the second half was lights out. I don't care if it was against an inferior opponent, it looked WAY better than his 1st game when he was putting up bricks. He has to start somewhere and I was glad to see it. Now let's hope he can build on it.

As for Lathon, he is much more comfortable with the ball and is an all around stat stuffer glue type player. I'm starting to really like his style. His shot is flat, but he also hit some nice jumpers as well.

This team is going to win through their guards. I think eventually Eze will catch up to and pass Efe. If we are to complete on a high level with CRTs style of play, our center needs to be a high level defender AND rebounder. I like Efe, but I just don't think he has that first part in his repertoire.

I think Efe's true spot down the road is at PF. Right now, his main issue is his inability to guard many PFs, as Terry has mentioned. I think dropping some more weight would improve his ability to defend; Terry has mentioned that he would like Efe to lose 20lbs. Efe is not going to be an a above the rim athlete, but he can improve defensively by leaning up more, and of course, gaining more experience. For Eze, he is still very raw offensively. He is a true 5. Once these young guys develop, I think we could see both on the court at the same time.

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

I am not sure how much of you if any follow Baylor basketball but efe reminds me a lot of a guy they had last year named terry maston ....hope he can develop into that type of player...

Also because of the wide body and number I think of Claude Britten I think his name was

 

[unihorn]

I am not sure how much of you if any follow Baylor basketball but efe reminds me a lot of a guy they had last year named terry maston ....hope he can develop into that type of player...

Also because of the wide body and number I think of Claude Britten I think his name was

Teicher said Efe reminds him of Big Baby Davis.

 

[miner1liner]

I think Efe's true spot down the road is at PF. Right now, his main issue is his inability to guard many PFs, as Terry has mentioned. I think dropping some more weight would improve his ability to defend; Terry has mentioned that he would like Efe to lose 20lbs. Efe is not going to be an a above the rim athlete, but he can improve defensively by leaning up more, and of course, gaining more experience. For Eze, he is still very raw offensively. He is a true 5. Once these young guys develop, I think we could see both on the court at the same time.

Efe has missed some "right under the basket" layups. He needs to get off the floor, go straight up and JAM it.

 

[axingfools1]

I am not sure how much of you if any follow Baylor basketball but efe reminds me a lot of a guy they had last year named terry maston ....hope he can develop into that type of player...

Also because of the wide body and number I think of Claude Britten I think his name was

I don't know the guy from Baylor but Britton played way above the rim. Maybe if Efe can get down to 250lbs it would help, but I just don't think he is athletic enough.

 

[UTEPfan1966]

Britton played above the rim? I don't remember that at all.

Efe is more like big baby. If he would become more aggressive and slam it down, that would be cool.

 

[jamasterj]

Britton playing above the rim...pfffft please. Good player but not a high flyer lol. I think you have confused with somebody else.

 

[unihorn]

Big Claude had sweet feet, though.

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

Ok I’m glad you all said that thought I was having memory issues lol... I remember Britten as broad shouldered with decent feet and post moves that played below the basket

 

[Cube Jack]

One thing to point out -- yes, it was only Northwest Louisiana Srate, but two years ago UTEP lost to them by 11 (I could be off) so even there we see improvement

 

[axingfools1]

Sorry, but you guys are all wrong about Britton. You guys are all mis-remembering . He played WAY above the rim. He didn't play much because of his 'breathing issues', but when he was in there he could get up with ease. As a matter of fact Barbee used to brag about how Britton could stand at the freethrown line, take one step and throw down with 2 hands. Don't any of you guys remember his performance during that epic double overtime loss at UAB in 2011? Britton had multiple big dunks in that game alone.

 

[Lil_Train]

Sorry, but you guys are all wrong about Britton. You guys are all mis-remembering . He played WAY above the rim. He didn't play much because of his 'breathing issues', but when he was in there he could get up with ease. As a matter of fact Barbee used to brag about how Britton could stand at the freethrown line, take one step and throw down with 2 hands. Don't any of you guys remember his performance during that epic double overtime loss at UAB in 2011? Britton had multiple big dunks in that game alone.

I remember the same Britton as you. He was a guy who could jump, but not run (due to his condition). I see Efe right now as a guy that can run, but who can't jump. Efe is shorter as well, but has considerably better skill set offensively. Not a great comparison in my opinion.

 

[Roy_Bigwood_05]

Finally saw this team in person and.....

We play hard, we defend hard, and will be tough to beat during C-USA play.

This current team lacks the fire power to be a legit C-USA contender, but you can see the team has fully bought into "blue collar" culture and it was fun to watch early in the game, we were struggling offensively, but led 10-1, then 10-3 for a long stretch, and NW State had trouble getting anything easy because RT's guys were working their ASSES OFF.

NW State is a very bad, very bad team, but we out worked them, and out hustled them, then in the second half out talented them. Hate to bring this up, Floyd's teams would get out worked and out hustled, if we had more fire power, we could have led by 20 points or more in the first seven minutes of the game last Saturday, and you didn't feel like a let down was coming because we out everything'd them from a hustle standpoint.

We might not be a top five team in C-USA, we might get a first round exit in Frisco, but it's hard to see this team getting blown out during C-USA play if the improvement continues, and one of the freshman guards start scoring to help Evan. We will be a competitive team that's missing that scoring punch which is sitting on the bench and practice everyday in the Foster Center.

I'm all the way in on the Rodney Terry era.

 

[miner1liner]

Finally saw this team in person and.....

We play hard, we defend hard, and will be tough to beat during C-USA play.

This current team lacks the fire power to be a legit C-USA contender, but you can see the team has fully bought into "blue collar" culture and it was fun to watch early in the game, we were struggling offensively, but led 10-1, then 10-3 for a long stretch, and NW State had trouble getting anything easy because RT's guys were working their ASSES OFF.

NW State is a very bad, very bad team, but we out worked them, and out hustled them, then in the second half out talented them. Hate to bring this up, Floyd's teams would get out worked and out hustled, if we had more fire power, we could have led by 20 points or more in the first seven minutes of the game last Saturday, and you didn't feel like a let down was coming because we out everything'd them from a hustle standpoint.

We might not be a top five team in C-USA, we might get a first round exit in Frisco, but it's hard to see this team getting blown out during C-USA play if the improvement continues, and one of the freshman guards start scoring to help Evan. We will be a competitive team that's missing that scoring punch which is sitting on the bench and practice everyday in the Foster Center.

I'm all the way in on the Rodney Terry era.

Good to hear ya Bigwood. Hang around for awhile.

I remember the same Britton as you. He was a guy who could jump, but not run (due to his condition). I see Efe right now as a guy that can run, but who can't jump. Efe is shorter as well, but has considerably better skill set offensively. Not a great comparison in my opinion.

Maybe Miner's Won has an old video of Britton he could share with us.

 

[USAFminersfan]

Britton just had a knack for getting the ball in the basket. He wasn't fast, athletic, or flashy (maybe because of his breathing issues) but his shots just seemed to find their way in. He had a crazy fg% from what i remember

 

[MineroFanatico]

Britten had a nice soft touch for a guy his size. He was a lefty. Two shots stick out in my mind. He had a little fade away from 6-8 ft out that he used regularly, and a little baby hook that he was pretty deadly with. He only averaged like 10 minutes a game for his career.

Always preferred him in the game when we needed points because Portalatin was our other option, and well....

 

[HeWore62]

Bigwood ... going stronnnnng to the rack.

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

Britten had a nice soft touch for a guy his size. He was a lefty. Two shots stick out in my mind. He had a little fade away from 6-8 ft out that he used regularly, and a little baby hook that he was pretty deadly with. He only averaged like 10 minutes a game for his career.

Always preferred him in the game when we needed points because Portalatin was our other option, and well....

thats exactly what i remember! i honestly dont remember him above the rim... but i definitely could be wrong...

 

[minermx07]

Thanks for the input fellas. Wasn’t able to catch the game and saw what miner1liner pointed out, that we had a similar margin of victory over this team to that of some pretty good programs. It wasn’t long ago that we struggled with a very inferior team so it was good to see this result when I checked.

One more question. Did it look at all like we had developed some more offensive chemistry, or did we just outclass them individually?

I remember there was always one really bad game early in the season and the threads afterwards. I would get so mad when people would argue "Floyd's teams always start slow."