Joe on utepia | The place for commentary for UTEP athletics

It's awful

No, "a win's a win" does not apply to UTEP's overtime overcome of pitiful SMU 61-58 — in a poorly attended home game.

I don't know that UTEP has ever been this low in fan support, either. I don't believe there were really as many as 6,444 people in attendance, as the stats show. The rich-man seats, behind the benches, were just about totally empty. That's a sad sign.

Back to the game:

SMU (8-18) led by as many as 15 points in the second half. And it wasn't so much as UTEP rallying to take the lead, it was that SMU committed so many unforced turnovers that they missed numerous chances to even shoot the ball.

UTEP, as usual, was wild on offense. Don't say there is an offensive scheme. The Miners don't even wait to get open for a shot, they just fire.

Also: What's with the lights in The Don? They don't seem bright enough for TV. Saturday's ESPN game and Wednesday's game on Time Warner's cable Channel 24 looked like the flash didn't go off on a disposable Kodak camera.

No, it's not "a win is a win." You always have to look at where a team is NOW, and what can be expected in future games.

Wednesday it looked like two NAIA teams stumbling around.

Can't be a Memphis

Tony Barbee is putting the Memphis style of basketball into UTEP's game plan. That's the mantra, all right. But it sure didn't look like it was working Saturday in the lost to ... Memphis.

Memphis' style is playing fast, fast, fast and crashing the boards. But at least Memphis can pass the ball around a little before taking a shot — a much better percentage shot than UTEP gets with its willy-nilly firing of the ball.

In the second half of a close game Saturday, UTEP was allllllll Stefon Jackson, and he couldn't do much. When he and Randy Culpepper drove head-strong to the basket, it was like a leaf hitting a floor fan. Or, it was Culpepper taking a wild shot. The percentages inevitabley caught up with UTEP and Memphis dominated the final 10 minutes.

Memphis, playing fast, fast, fast Memphis ball is not going to contend for many NCAA championships. UTEP isn't going to get the talent Memphis has to challenge for any national championships.

Look at the top teams every year: Duke, North Carolina, Oklahoma ... Texas and several others. They all show much more control. And they all have "basketball" players with height, speed, bulk and talent.

Fast, fast fast means "talented" players who try to play basketball.

Why Cooper left?

Just guessing now because all the details haven't come out. I'm saying Kareem Cooper left UTEP Tuesday — during the season — because he has an offer to play pro ball in some foreign country.

He didn't figure in UTEP's plans, anyway.

Basketball is played world wide and year round these days. Maybe Moldavia needs a big slow guy? Or one of the "Stans." Hey, Coop, no going to Iran, though.

Since former UTEP Coach Jason Rabedeaux reads this blog, and is coaching the Jiangsu Nanjing Dragons in China's main pro league, maybe he needs a center — although his season ends in March.

Note to Rab (I always liked Rab): No on Cooper. And don't eat too many sauteed eel eyeballs and pig snouts while you're over there.

Question mark game at Rice

Wednesday's game at Rice should be an easy win, but UTEP doesn't seem to win easily this year. For those posters who think post season is good, even if it's a pay-to-play, a win is virtually a must against lowly Rice.

But, UTEP at 15-9, had a hard time winning at home against Rice-like Marshall on Saturday. The game went to the wire when it should have been a 20-point rout. Rice is 8-16 and Marshall is 8-14.

Rest of season

At this point of the late season, wins will not pretty UTEP's basketball picture as much as losses will smudge it.

I admit that's a screwy way to make a point.

Perhaps this is better: UTEP, already 14-9, is not going to finish with a good record, but it's ever so important — for next year's hoo-hah — not to finish any worse than the present five games over the .500 mark.

UTEP can acheive that.

But the Miners are one loss away from double digits. Nine losses for a season looks a whole lot better than 10, even though 10 would mean a 20-10 regular season record. Don't count on the 10, though. It looks like a blah season of 18-12 or 17-13. For most of the season it's been the same story. UTEP doesn't win unless its shooters are hot. Stephon Jackson and Randy Culpepper, the only two real scorers on the team, are good shooters and thus will show up "hot" more than half the time — for an 18-12 record and no NCAA bid. The big men, biggest on record in Utepia, are not the force they're supposed to be.

This is not a good season. Tony Barbee, after three seasons, will not have taken the team to an NCAA Tournament. With a 64-school bracket, three straight years as a no-show does not bode well.

These UCFs, Marshalls — the UAB and Southern Miss types — would have been looked upon as pushovers for Miner coaches of yore. And, no, they're not getting better as much as UTEP is going downhill.

OK, I'll end the ranting. But it remains obvious — it's an unremarkable season. Just don't crash and burn and make it a bad season.

Good times

I'm still saying UTEP does better when players other than just Stefon Jackson and Randy Culpepper are on the offensive. For two games now, shooting hog Culpepper has been restrained — and the Miners won remarkably at Houston and at home Saturday vs. Southern Mississippi.

I'm betting that Culpepper really does have a sore shooting hand.

Also, I'm glad that some Utepia bloggers are agreeing that UTEP should be on TV, especially for all road games. Outa sight, outa mind. Attendance and spirit are at 1970s lows in The Don, even though season-ticket sales went OK.

UTEP must get its games on TV. The upper-level schools are on TV. UTEP has been upper level in the now-343-school Division I since the 1960s. Go out and get your games on TV, UTEP.

Yes, football too.

Football note: Some think UTEP is having a great recruiting year. This is the month new signees are announced. Can you remember a year UTEP said it didn't do well on the recruiting trail?