Played great

The obvious: UTEP played up to the loyalists' expectation Monday night in Oklahoma City, beating the Big 12's Oklahoma ... into the ground, 89-74. Oklahoma is a big-time school with modern-day national basketball acclaim. And the game was nationally televised. It was a high-point night in Coach Tony Barbee's four years here.

UTEP's mission now is to be much more consistent. The team is now 7-2. Shall we say it shoulda, coulda been 9-0?

We now know this team might be especially good. Monday is evidence.

But it didn't look that way when UTEP lost at home to down-and-out New Mexico State and again in Mississippi when Ole Miss came from a double-digit deficit to win by 10 in overtime.

We saw UTEP's football team win two games that were considered upsets — Houston and Tulsa. And then finish 4-8.

We've seen some "ups" like this from basketball, and then some "downs."

It was a special win for the Miners, and for their RPI status. And, on paper, this is supposed to be a special team that goes to the NCAA for the first time in Barbee's tenure. It remains to be seen if this truly a special team. On paper, talent-wise, yes. On the floor? Have some more games like Monday's

Comments

[CLEOFITZWITZ]

Almost every team in the country will lose a game it's not supposed to. The difference between a winning season and a losing season is it's response to bad losses and UTEP's win last night was it's response.

Don't go comparing the basketball team to the football team. There is no UTEP curse. Every school in the country feels snake bitten when things don't go well. Just read other sports blogs from around the country and you'll see this is true.

[SM]

UTEP is better than I thought. The only other time I had seen them play was on the Internet watching them lambast the Aggies in LC. Needless to say, I stopped watching after halftime.

Yesterday was the first time I got a good look at the Miners. I don't know who is going to stop Polk off the dribble, and if Caracter starts taking better shots, he is going to be pretty dominant. Moultrie is good, but needs to gain a bit more muscle. We all know Culpepper is one of the better scorers in the region. Great win for the UTEP Mohawks.

On my Aggie note (I always sneak one in, sorry Cleo), we got McKines back last night. The WAC is on a down year and I think we might make a push. Looking to next year, I really can't wait to see how the Aggie-Miner matchups play out with McKines v. Moultrie, Young v. Culpepper, LaRoche v. Polk, and Rahman v. Caracter. Should be nasty.

[Lorenzo]

Great win for the Miners yesterday. With all the pre-game hype surrounding this UTEP team (some even picking them to win C-USA), you know there were some folks on the Tourney committee watching to see what UTEP was made of in one of the very few nationally televised games they'll play this year. The balanced attack was definitely on display with Caracter and Moultrie feeding off each other, Culpepper and Polk scoring the ball, Williams adding fire off the bench and Stone his usual work. I've been talking up this team to friends who go to other schools around the country and it's nice to have some proof on ESPN2. Hopefully they've learned how to finish off opponents for good now.

FEAR THE MOHAWK!!

[Lorenzo]

I meant pre-season hype.

[John Franco]

After watching yesterday's game I would like to make the following points:

1)This team is alot better than Gillespie's NCAA tournament team(I know this will anger all you Gillespie/Price AK's-fill in the blank)
2)Joe, if you seriously think this is a team of nobodys you are are deranged
3)CLEO, you are right Stone is the leader of this team and Caracter is gonna be right behind
4)This team is capable of winning C-USA and the the CUSA tournament
5)Good guys don't always finish last(Coach Barbee)

[j.g.]

I continue to be impressed with Derrick Caracter. It's been a long time since I've seen a post player with his ability. He moves with amazing grace and speed when he's got the ball in the paint. I don't think there's a defender in college basketball that can guard him one-on-one. His passes from the post are equally impressive.

On the defensive end, I can't believe how well he explodes to the rim for rebound after rebound. He has the talent of timing his jump perfectly for blocking shots.

We've been waiting so long for a player like this in Utepia. I kept pinching myself expecting to wake up from a dream during these past few games. I chatted with DC shortly after he arrived in El Paso. Seems like a really nice kid to me. What a great addition to the team.

[marcusg]

FIRE BARBEE!!!!!

oh wait are we not on the train anymore. haha i flew in from md monday and jus made it in to see the miners win. it was a good game and great national exposure

anyone know about ruppel's status. is he still on the defense dog house or is it more than that now? my uncle says hes the best pure shooter he's seen at utep and hes been a season ticket holder since like 1972 so thats saying something

[j.g.]

Ruppel is a natural shooter. He has some great talent. Unfortunately, according to the rumor mill, his issues are far worse than lack of playing defense. I would be very surprised to see him in a Miner uniform again. I hope I'm wrong.

[Lowercase Ray]

I hate to sound like the guy that's trying to bring down the party but it seems to me that we're losing some perspective here. I've just finished watching the UTEP vs OU game for the third time; very entertaining for a Miner Fan. I'm going to keep it real though, as they've beat OU and not Ole Miss. OU is a young team trying to get better. They are 8-4, an RPI of 114 and have lost to San Diego and Houston. They are currently #10 in the Big 12 conference. Just a game ago I was incredulous about UTEP losing a game they seem to have in the bag, and now I'm going to believe they're better then a team that went to the NCAA Tourney two years in a row? I'll wait to see how they do against up-coming teams like Niagara, Texas Tech and BYU. Even if they do well against these team, they still have a tough Conference USA schedule to go through. Btw, CUSA is showing itself to be very good right now; they're just behind the big boy conferences and the MWC.

SM, I hope you're right about NMSU making a good push in the WAC. As it is now, the loss against each others team is weighing down the RPI of both teams. Both teams need to get their RPI better than 100 so as to help each other's RPI.

[John Franco]

Lowercase, you are probably a Gillespie supporter too, so I could care less about your opinion. This team is big, physical, and willing to learn what Coach Barbee is teaching. They will go further than (hiccup) Gillespie's NIT team did at UK.

[Lowercase Ray]

No John, I'm not a big supporter of Gillespie. Since I don't really get to meet the the coaches on a personal level, I mainly judge them by how well they do with UTEP. If he does his job well and takes the team into the post-season, then I really haven't much to complain about. What he does after leaving UTEP is of very little interest to me. The only coach that matters at the time is the one we presently have; presently that's Barbee. I too would like to see him take this team into the tourney, but I do have my reservations. In previous years he's been unable to get them over the hump. This year he's assembled a group of players that have the ability, the question remains whether he will be able to mold them into a group that can take us there. That we should be better able to say once we've played some tourney caliber teams.

I've got no disagreement with your assessment of how good the team looks. Only some reservations as to how far they'll go.

[Lowercase Ray]

John,
Bill Knight of the EPT wrote an article today which kind of goes along with my thoughts.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/minersmania/ci_14053602

[Big G]

Emotions and loyalty aside. Lets get real here. I love the miners just as much as the next guy but UTEP will never win it all again. The football program will never amount to much. The basketball team, i believe, proves to be atleast consistant. Although they will never go all the way, I believe they atleast keep it competitive and have a shot at the sweet sixteen any given year. Barbee is doing a great job with the program. What do we expect with what UTEP is willing to pay a coach.