That Will Do

Haiku for Juarez

no guns drugs or death

the army wears white and sings

vamos Indios

Post-CBI Game Two

UTEP head coach Tony Barbee talks about the CBI, then gets asked some uncomfortable questions at the end about whether he's staying in El Paso, followed in this clip by Miners Julyan Stone and Gabe McCulley.

Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson and Rickey Claitt, who went off for 28 points to lead the Beavers to the CBI title.

CBI Post-Game

Here's audio from last night's post-game press conferences.

UTEP head coach Tony Barbee, followed by Stefon Jackson and Randy Culpepper...

Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson...

Does the CBI Have Value?

Is it worth it?

After Wednesday night, an easy answer: Yes.

Call the College Basketball Invitational third-rate. Call it the Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl of hoops.

But you can’t call it meaningless. Not after the goosebumps many got Wednesday night at the Don Haskins Center rivaling any UTEP-Two-Steppin’, Sweet-Sixteen-Dancin’ vintage performance by a home crowd since the building opened in 1979.

Notice I said the home crowd. Not UTEP, which sputtered a number of times in the regular season and almost did again Wednesday. Not the CBI itself, which is not the NCAA’s big dance, or even its more-recognized step-sister, the NIT.

The Miners’ 70-63 win over the Oregon State Beavers has great meaning because it may have helped reconnect a community to its basketball team and coach – maybe, for the first time, connecting a team and coach to the community.

To sell tickets to the College Basketball Invitational UTEP had to tell season ticket holders, “Sorry, we can’t afford to wait,” exchanging slow-but-steady money in exchange for a land grab.

The result? Attendance: 12,000.

(Anyone still doubt El Paso’s still a $10 town?)

And the space displaced for the CBI left something else in its wake. Like a ship’s propeller churning up phosphorous in the ocean, UTEP’s fans glowed in what has long been a dead sea full of dull orange seats.

The good vibrations in the rafters Wednesday night shook loose dust that’s been steadily collecting on The Don’s ductwork since 1992.

Sure, there was Billy-Ball and Doc-Din and two straight NCAA Tournaments.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tertiary tourney aside, there simply hasn’t been this kind of emotion from a DHC crowd since Brigham Young, New Mexico and Utah left the Miners trying to build a passionate fan base against Nevada and Fresno State.

Jeezh, it’s amazing, but UTEP and El Paso might well be saying, “Thank you, CBI.”

The CBI: the one event that can get El Pasoans to show up early (to get the best general admission seats). The one event that might just plug fans back into a program they used to love.

Can UTEP and UTEP fans build on this for the future? Yes.

Many fans who hadn’t shown up for years shelled out their $10 and revived a passion for Miners hoops.

Credit Bob Stull and the athletic department for recognizing there was no way to get a big crowd and make some money without upsetting some longtime season ticket holders.

The term “greater good” applies here. Stull is betting the Miners’ tithers will be back next season. For some, the fact The Don might be the place to be seen again means they can put up with one wild week away from front-and-center. For the others who are just passionate fans, where else would they go?

My bet is, in part due to Wednesday (and looking like Friday, too), UTEP will have a few more season ticket holders for the 2009-2010 season if the economy picks up any steam.

So, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, could you put in a good word to your brother-in-law? Just to keep things moving.

Speaking of subsidies, when asked if he was ready to subsidize some more $10 seats to get the atmosphere back next season, UTEP head coach Tony Barbee was almost ready to say yes before he remembered and said, “We have $10 seats already.”

Yeah, just not 12,000 of them.

There are other differences between Wednesday and the Miners’ Glory Road Days.

There’s a jumbotron that shows many longtime Miners fans who were both there then and here now have introduced gray into their own personal color scheme. And, sure, the cheerleader’s music was decidedly more Li’l Wayne than NKOB.

Ah, but was “Texas Fight” clapped to more boisterously? Was Tim Hardaway cheered more loudly than Stefon Jackson?

And was anyone booed more roundly than spawn-of-BYU Roeland Schaftenaar? 

Wow, did OSU’s 6-11 Dutchman make a splash. The only thing missing was a Kent Lockhart right to the jaw. The kid was Danny Ainge, Greg Kite and Fred Roberts rolled into one, complete with use of hands and elbows and griping to the officials. 

Oh, yeah, and more than a few clutch buckets. Hey, nobody would have hated those guys if they weren't good.

It was all like a high school reunion. No one knew what to expect when they got back together. But, as is usually the case, the bigger the party, the better the party.

Some might even be willing to keep the party going into next season. 

Now, that’s value.

"UTEP Will Have the Number 18. Can They Super-Size That?"

It was a drive-thru game for a combo meal price. But though Miners fans have been looking for a gourmet meal from UTEP for a few years, sometimes food you can order by numbers more than hits the spot.

It was Stefon Jackson's and Tavaris Watts' last regular season game at home. It was an ugly shooting performance by UAB. It was ground beef, not filet mignon. And it was a Miners' win, 70-52.

UTEP keeps its hopes alive for their first first-round bye in the Conference USA tournament under Barbee, and that this team -- sometimes so close to the heat lamp, at others, to the soft-serve machine -- zeroed in on a goal like they did against the Blazers speaks well going into the season finale Saturday at Southern Miss.

UTEP athletic director Bob Stull's decision to sell tickets for the last home game for Happy Meal prices was risky seeing as El Paso has spoken loudly through its season-long silence. But on a Wednesday night the Miners drew an announced crowd of 10,359, sending Jackson, the program's all-time leading scorer, off fittingly.

Frankly, it was loud. Almost Memphis loud.

The team deserves credit. With head coach Tony Barbee gone to tend to his family in the wake of his father's passing, with a UAB team still determined to peer from behind Memphis' shadow for a glance from the NCAA Tournament selection committee, while the crowd chanted "U-TEP! U-TEP!" like it was 1989; the Miners wrested control of a game theirs for the taking.

Sure, it helped that the Blazer who torched UTEP for 44 points and a UAB win in the Don last season, Robert Vaden, was colder than closing time french fries.

His teammates were worse. Vaden scored "just" 17 but no one else cracked double-figures. The visitors shot a lousy 30.9-percent from the field in the face of a crowd-broiled UTEP defense.

But we've seen the Miners crumble before. Against UAB, too.

They did not Wednesday night against one of the teams that could have vanquished them from any hopes of a top four finish -- and that first-round bye -- heading into tournament play next week.

Credit assistant coaches Tony Madlock and Randall Dickey, who kept their team's defensive deep-fryer at just the right temperature through a couple of potential boiling points. 

Midway through the second half with the Blazers threatening to go on a run, Jackson was whistled for a contentious technical foul after overreacting as UAB scratched and clawed for the ball while the senior was seated on the court trying to call time out.

It has taken less than this for a young UTEP team to lose its focus. Tempers flared, but did not spark. The Miners pleaded their case, but nobody tried to take more of a bite than they should. The Miners composed, survived, went on a run themselves and perhaps slew more than just UAB's dragon.

Perhaps they're beginning to show themselves ready for a menu without a speaker attached.

Walloping Memphis

Here's a little ditty from the Q Morning Show about the big game...  

Download Walloping Memphis 3 

UTEP's Cloudy teleVision

epic lines of sight

small details puncture vision

is this growing old

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. But if you ask, I'll say I prefer to think of this as a haiku about UTEP fans ongoing battle to see their team on television.

I wrote last year about AggieVision and what the folks up in Las Cruces have been able to do to get their message out in Crimson ink.

Here's the equation: Tuition Wavers plus State Building Project Money equals Extra Athletic Department Dollars, which all equals AggieVision, New Mexico State's push to get most of the university's athletic competitions on the tube. Not just football and men's hoops, but women's basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball, too.

The theory goes that somebody has a need for programming somewhere, so let's put it up on the bird and see who salutes. Sold advertising is a bonus, not a requirement, when there's extra moo-lah falling from Bill Richardson's wallet for stuff UTEP has to wring from Larry Durham and Paul Foster.

My friends at MetroSports Southwest have saluted, as has Fox Sports' regional cable outlets and markets and stations around New Mexico. Hey, it's free programming!

Yes, the Ags have needed Stan Fulton money and corporate bucks to build their athletic facilities, but an easier path to matching state funds has ramped up a construction schedule that has facilitated some major improvements faster than UTEP can say "basketball practice facility".

The bottom line is that when your state legislature is willing and able to write checks for scholarships and projects, you have more money to make things happen on your own -- like building your own TV network. The Miners do not have this luxury.

But for those UTEP fans who think more TV equals fewer of those oh-so-noticeable empty seats in the Don Haskins Center, AggieVision has not seen much if any increase in fan support up in the City of Crosses.

The Aggies have only averaged 6,158 fans in 14 home men's basketball games despite the fact that NMSU fans have been able to watch Marvin Menzies' team play on the tube considerably more than UTEP fans have been able to see the Miners, though UTEP's paid attendance averages are slightly better.

As for football? Forget any comparison between the two schools. The combined attendance of two football games between Las Cruces High and Mayfield High at Aggie Memorial Stadium comes way too close to the cumulative attendance for the final season of Hal Mumme's Aggie Air Raid.

Yes, television does mean more consciousness, if not better attendance. But TV ain't cheap, as well both schools know.

Consider that NMSU has kept costs down by employing Aggie students to run much of AggieVision's operation. UTEP could do the same, especially now with a burgeoning video media department. But that's mainly for home games. Road games usually mean hiring a local crew. Sometimes, you can get lucky and piggyback off a feed already provided by the home team, but not always.

Even bare bones, it's a five-figure proposition for just about any kind of meaningful game you want to put up on a satellite. Ready to ask advertisers to fork over maybe $50- to $80-thousand for a full year of grid and cage?

I've contended that one way to offset would be to push for Spanish-language play-by-play and market both English and Spanish broadcasts to any and all takers. If advertisers know they'll get more bang for their bucks, they would be much more amenable.

I'm not sure UTEP's marketing folks are able to look this way, for whatever reason, though I imagine they could find help in this endeavor if they chose. Even so, it's certainly no magic wand.

Failing that, more than one Miners fan will be growing older waiting for this vision to take shape.

Haiku for Tommy P & Houston

Penders preens again

invites looks talk rivalry

his hair is perfect

Runnin' Rebels Run UTEP's Show

UTEP head coach Tony Barbee and players Stefon Jackson and Gabriel McCulley mull the Miners 80-67 loss to the UNLV Runnin' Rebels Monday night. It's the first loss of the season for UTEP, which will head straight to Anaheim for tournament play this weekend. Consistent intensity is what Tony Barbee wants his Miners to have. The players agree.

Watch Barbee 112408 in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Watch Jackson-McCulley 112408 in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Price Still Upbeat

UTEP head coach Mike Price talks about the Miners disappointing 42-37 loss at Houston, a game the Miners led ... until the end. UTEP has one more opportunity to get bowl eligible -- at East Carolina in a game nationally televised by CBS College Sports and seen on MetroSports Southwest, Cable 24 in El Paso.

Watch Price 112408.mpg in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com