Joe on utepia

5 Nov. games? Uh-oh!

When we last left UTEP football, the Miners were finishing 0-4 in November. The final season record was 4-8. The last win came on Oct. 6.

Now here's where the "clangs!" come in:

Coach Mike Price, in 26 years as a head coach, has a November winning percentage of 35 percent. He's been to a lot of bowl games, including two Roses while at Washington State. But his teams don't win late in the season. That's been true at Weber State, Washington State and now here. Here he's 5-10 in November regular-season games (0-2 in December bowl games). It's always been a mystery. He's a good coach, and all.

Clang! UTEP has five November games in 2008: vs. Rice, at Louisiana-Lafayette, vs. SMU, at Houston and at East Carolina.

Clang! Five games in November is 40 percent of the whole season.

Clang!

Talking hoops

The latest UTEP men's and women's basketball podcast is now available.

Fred Albers, Joe Muench, Ruben Ramirez and Bill Knight talk about the men's team's first road victory, plus Stefon Jackson scoring 41. Plus, they look at how the women just keep on rolling.

To listen to or download the podcast, click here.

Why half price?

This is the time of the basketball season when sellout crowds are expected in The Don. So how come UTEP is offering 50 percent off on Copper level and Upper Reserved seats for Wednesday's game against UAB? Where's the fight to get a Miner basketball ticket these days?

The team is 16-9. That's not bad for a freshman-dominated team, led by a junior scorer. People should like a team like this. Why don't they?

Why must UTEP resort to the old red-tag sale on tickets during the crunch part of the season? Is UTEP hurting for money, what with football attendance down, too?

Is UTEP's announced average basketball attendance of 8,265 inflated? You bet it is. That's why there's the red-tag sale — to get at least a little more money.

Why doesn't El Paso like this team?

In the clutch

In the clutch, on the road, with fewer than 20 seconds to play, and behind by 1 point, Stefon Jackson got a good shot — he made it!

That goes a long way in building a whole team's confidence. And most of the Miners will be around for several more years, so the quicker there are good results in the clutch the better the team gets.

The Miners were previously winless in road Conference-USA games. At Marshall Wednesday they faced a team that usually wins at home. They didn't beat some patsy.

Players will always say they believe in their future successes. But seeing is believing — believing it even more.

Mark down Wednesday's win as a construction block in the building of the Coach Barbee program.

Talking hoops

The latest UTEP basketball podcast is now ready.

KTSM's Fred Albers, plus Bill Knight, Ruben Ramirez and Joe Muench from the El Paso Times break down the latest UTEP men's team road loss, plus talk about the women's team's rise to #19, as they stay undefeated in Conference USA.

To listen to or download the podcast, click here.

UTEP falling apart

What's being seen in Utepia is the falling apart — in the mental category — of a young team that hasn't learned a slam-jam/just-shoot-it offense won't win road games in Division 1. That's why the Miners are winless in conference road games.

At home in The Don, where crowds are large and roaring with pro-Miner noise, the team is unbeaten. Most Division 1 teams win most of their home games. Road wins are what get you ranked and/or on NCAA Tournament bracket sheets.

Alas, Miner fans will have to wait before determining if UTEP is winless on the road because the team is full of immaturity ... or if the Barbee style of athleticism basketball will work at UTEP, a school usually not chosen by the biggest and most talented athletes during the recruiting process.

Can this team, when freshmen turn to sophomores, be coached to win on the road? Or does Barbee have to go back a tad to the styles of predecessors Doc Sadler and Billy Gillispie, where defensive play was a big part of the overall scheme?.

Defense? It didn't die when His Coachency retired.

Barbee's thinking?

Maybe it was an often-used coaching ploy when Tony Barbee criticized two older players after Saturday's loss at UAB. He got on senior Victor Ramalho for one rebound and junior-college transfer Tavaris Watts for two. I'm surpirsed he didn't use the old line on Ramalho, "Yeah, he got one more rebound than a dead man."

Could it be Barbee is positioning himself. Watch and see if he starts going more with freshmen because it's apparent he's not going to a post-season tournament with Ramalho and Watts.

With a young lineup, everyone will say he's doing the right thing because he's giving his young players more time on the court. And that'll give him an excuse for not winning road games.

If UTEP was better than 14-8 overall and 5-4 in Conference USA, Barbee would never have said on his post-game radio show: "The last time I checked, they (UAB) don't have Shaq on their team, they don't have Tim Duncan on the team. We don't have a power forward. We have a guy who plays forward (Victor Ramalho), he played 28 minutes and had one rebound. Our starting center (Tavaris Watts), two rebounds."

I say Barbee was sending a message: This season is now to be used to get young talent ready for next year, and by blaming two older guys, he's setting up a situation where he can bench them.

If that's the plan, it's the right thing to do.

No going for spiel

There's still something that doesn't ring clearly in what's to be the hiring of a new UTEP defensive coordinator.

To hear coaches, Osia Lewis is leaving New Mexico for UTEP — a lateral move at best — because New Mexico Head Coach Rocky Long puts his fingers into the defense much more than does UTEP's Mike Price. Lewis can be the boss here, which will help his resume as he moves toward becoming a head coach someday.

And Long is saying Lewis' leaving has absolutely nothing to do with the NCAA investigation into the New Mexico football program.

Maybe all this is true. I'm not saying it isn't. But having been around coaches since 1966, it's clear to me that they can weave really convincing reasoning when there's really something else that lurks below the public's line of sight.

Also,we've known for quite a few days now that Lewis is to become the new UTEP defensive coordinator, but he has yet to be officially named by Price.

Speculation — all the conspiracy theories, if you will — usually end shortly after official decisions are announced. Could it be UTEP is doing its own investigation into Lewis "not being involved in the NCAA deal at New Mexico" before making the hiring final?

Why come here?

How come a defensive coordinator from a better football conference, and from a bowl team, is leaving his position to become defensivef coordinator at UTEP?

Just wondering how UTEP Coach Mike Price got Osia Lewis to leave New Mexico of the Mountain West Conference to take over one of the worst defenses, statistics-wise, in the NCAA.

Don't go for any "liked the challenge" quotes.

There's got to be a good reason the UTEP job is better than the New Mexico job.

Talking hoops

The latest UTEP basketball podcast, which includes a question from the podcast hotline, is now available by clicking here.

KTSM's Beau Bagley talks to Times staffers Bill Knight, Joe Muench and Ruben Ramirez about the game versus #1-ranked Memphis, as well as a look ahead.

Other audio now available:

To hear what UTEP women's basketball coach Keitha Adams had to say as UTEP moves up in the rankings, click here. 

And to hear what UTEP men's basketball coach Tony Barbee had to say about the close loss to Memphis,  click here.