Wake up, posters!

If you're content that "a win is a win" then you are a fan only and a basketball pundit NOT!<p

"A win" is not "a win" in sports. In sports it's how are you playing right now and who do you play next?<p>

By almost blowing a big lead late in Wednesday's game, UTEP reverted back to the teams of last year and before. The team let up, the team took really stupid shots and the team made turnovers. UTEP was on its way to a 20-point win with less than 10 minutes to play, but had to hold on to win by three — and So. Miss missed the last shot to tie it.<p>

When UTEP gets to the NCAA (it appears likely), it will certainly be playing a team that does not let up, take bad shots and turn the ball over in the clutch. That's why last night's Miners were not an NCAA caliber team.<p>

Here's the best UTEP team:

Caracter getting fed inside (he's almost unstoppable). Why doesn't UTEP go to the big 6-9 guy a lot more<p>

Williams slashing to the basket.

Culpepper poking balls away from the opponents, not shooting 3-pointers at every opportunity. Yes he can be really hot, but you really can't live for long periods of time on outside shooting.<p>

Moultrie playing garbage detail under the hoop. He'll get his double-digit points, and if he can get his eight or more rebounds, he's doing a good job. He must be content to let Caracter be the go-to guy.<p>

Wednesday it was really good that UTEP hung in with So. Miss in a close game for a long time. Then UTEP's might took over and it looked like a 20-point win, and no stopping the Miners in Conference USA now! Then the old UTEP returned.<p>

Comments

[neptalla]

Joe if you logic is true, then give me your best team for Minnesota or Texas. Again, all good teams have bad days and find a way to win! I watch a lot of basketball and have seen every good team have days like the miners did, you just don't like the coach or this team - keep it real! If UTEP was not a good team, they would have lost this game to a good home team, the fact that they won, and with defense, says a lot about them. What this tells me is that when the miners face a team in the NCAA tournament, they will know how to win the close one since they have been there an done that. Think about it Joe!

[Eat It]

Well sorry if us posters don't agree with you. The last time I checked, you're blogging for El Paso Times, not as an analyst for ESPN. If what you say is to be true against hundreds of us posters then maybe Purdue doesn't deserve to be ranked as high as they are because they won by a single point against unranked Minnesota. Perhaps Kentucky doesn't deserve to be ranked #2 after squeeking out a win against a lower ranked Vanderbilt team in their house. ITS TOUGH TO WIN ON THE ROAD!!! Especially since Southern Miss gave UAB and Tulsa a lot of fits before losing. Southern Miss was 10-2 at home before UTEP beat them, next time think about the facts Joe!!!!

Face it, the posters are right on this one and you hate the fact that you're wrong.

P.S. If you have to do a response blog to posters over this issue then it shows how much of an emotional guy you are and completely unprofessional.

[Ryan G]

Thats true neptalia but Southern Miss is not the same caliber as a tournament team...a tournament team wont let the Miners win a close one that Southern Miss would. The way UTEP has won the big ones all season has not been by "winning close games", this team has gotten bigleads and maintained them (@UAB, Tulsa, @ Tulsa). If UTEP played the way they played last night in the tournament, then we're looking a first round exit!

Hate to say it, but Joe's "best UTEP team" is right on the money

[Eat It]

And another thing Joe, its amazing that UTEP fans have to fight against their own sports blogger. Very sad that you make stupid critiques when it is not necessary.

Look at Dan Wolken, I hate that guy because he's biased but he at least supports the Memphis Tigers. Go eat a turkey Joe.

[Dare05]

So because they played poorly their record is now 20-6 even though the score puts another "W" for the Miners? Interesting that the score doesn't dictate a win!

[OZ]

Fire Joe!?!? As always, Joe's writing stirs up controversy...this blog makes you log into the El Paso Times...and you want the Times to fire him? Come on! UTEP could have played better but they still won...at end of the day, the W is all that counts. I don't go to every game since I have three little ones...but I bought my Rice and UAB tickets last week!

[2myeye]

No one is really giving Southern Miss the credit it deserves for making UTEP look sloppy. As Coach Barbee correctly called it, it was a 'street fight." And those are never pretty.
All games have momentum shifts. Just look at the lead changes through out the game.
Joe, it still appears your are a late arrival bandwagon fan. Grudgingly.
Just enjoy the ride, allow yourself to be pleased now and then, and smile once in a while. It's just a game.

[Rob]

Make no mistake..Joe is not now nor has he ever been a Miner Fan. He makes his living crapping on the Miners.

All Joe cares about is stirring the pot to provoke commentary..It's right in his headline "Wake up, posters!"
If Joe isn't making controversial statements about UTEP..readership and page views for his writing go down.

Interestingly enough Joe doesn't even bother to read those user comments he's begging for in this story, or he would have learned how to close his HTML code in the rather detailed instructions I left him previously to eliminate all the open p's that plague every blog post he makes.

[Joe Muench]

Re: [Joe on utepia] Rob submitted a comment to Wake up, posters!

Tell me again how to get rid of the p Your first message was not clear. You said I needed a / somewhere.

[ALM]

Joe, your attempt at defending your hypocrisy (and not to mention your mediocre writing skills) is futile at best. Stop bashing the Miners (whose bandwagon you'll certainly jump back on after this weekend), and show some loyalty. A win is not a win? Are you serious? While the Miners have plenty of finesse in them, they are also a scrappy team with a lot of perseverance. Yes, the opponents reduced a big lead, which made for a tense final few moments. But which team came out on top, and who went home empty handed? Moral victories or losses don't count for much at all. It's all about the team that has the most points at the end of regulation.

[RoOsTeR]

WAKE UP POSTERS!!!!

We weren't the one who waited till also 2 pm the following day of an early night game to post something! Your a joke Joe! I hope The Times pay you in peanuts you lazy elephat! So if your theory of a is true.... Your telling me there's a such thing as a good loss? Good luck with that.

[Manny]

OZ I have three little ones myself and im always at every home game with them trying to be on the television screen yelling at the camera guy supporting the Miners in every game not just when they are winning. FIRE JOE NOW! Seems like your not the only one buying tickets to go to the game the sacrifice should of been made since the beginning of the season. Joe I wonder what you would of blogged if the miners would of made all those so called stupid shots? its better to take shots than to turn the ball over, you cant get on fire unless you shoot the ball! they probably could have done a better job at eating up the clock before shooting, but thats not the way UTEP plays, we are used to running it all night long! The miners are outlasting their opponents in that area, thats due to the good conditioning they have! (win against UAB in 2OT)
Go Miners!

[neptalla]

Ryan that is not true, I will bet my pay check that UTEP would kill Minnesota on the court. With the depth and talent the miners have the could very well do the same thing to many of the teams in the top 25. I will bet no one wants to play the miners in the NCAA in the first round, as a matter of fact, Andy Katz and the group from basketball final have said several times that UTEP is the dark horse for the tournament and no team will want to face them. The problem is this, the media in the east and the BCS leagues want to still believe that CUSA is a week league, however, we know that is not true. This year the miners will shock a lot of people as they do a lot of damage in the tournament. There are a lot of BCS schools that are going to get bids that are not that good, they are living off BCS hipe! Next year the miners will be a pre season top 10 team and so will Memphis. Southern Miss and Marshall will be strong as well, this conference is stronger than the media wants to admit. Barbee is a great coach, I hope the miners and the alum stop being so cheep and this time keep him. I just love him and the whole staff, we have a winner here. Fans we need to start calling the athletic department and putting some pressure on them to keep Barbee. This is a basketball school and we need remember that. Football is OK but basketball rules this campus!

[stahala]

Thank you for responding to the posters Joe.

[Canaima]

Holy cow! Joe's comments and analysis on this UTEPIA blog continue to be the weakest and least informative.

Because they had some lapses doesn't mean they aren't NCAA caliber. Very few teams, even the best, are consistent day in, day out and especially on the road at the end of the season. Part of being an NCAA caliber team is being able to weather the tough days - the days when the shots aren't falling - and pull out a win. I watched Kansas the other night against Oklahoma and KU sure didn't look like a number one team. The key is they didn't look like a number one team on that given night but they won and they are judged for the totality of their accomplishments.

[Rob]

Joe..this might be easier to follow, I cannot post the code examples here in comments as they won't display correctly.
go to this URL: http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

The code format you need is in the "Example" box, surrounding this text - "My first paragraph."
*note the format of the closing p code add the slash to create a closing tag.

If you ever need a reference for HTML or most other code syntax examples www.w3schools.com is the definitive source.

[OZ]

Manny, you are so quick to the trigger...probably makes you feel good after ou type. You don't know what type of fan I am...and I'm certainly not going to explain myself to anyone. In part, thanks to you and me; Joe's job is secure.

[Manny]

OZ I still love you and every true miner fan out there! Lets keep selling out the DON! GO MINERS!

[CLEOFITZWITZ]

Joe's comments reflect those who have never played competitive sports. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes a difference in how you watch sports. Your expectations become unrealistic because you don't understand the rigors of competition.

Southern Miss was a worthy foe and as much as I would like to see the Miners dominate every opponent, it's just not going to happen. The bottom line is the win. Good teams often win in spectacular fashion. Great teams find ways to win no matter what.

[RJ]

Joe:

I think you just missed the point with the previous post. To me...what was "disappointing" was that we were up by 15 and didnt put them away.
If it were a grind it out game, I think it would be a different story and you (JOE) would be saying this team toughed it out.

[Joe Muench]

Re: [Joe on utepia] RoOsTeR submitted a comment to Wake up, posters!

Check your facts on posts

[Joe Muench]

Re: [Joe on utepia] CLEOFITZWITZ submitted a comment to Wake up, posters!

Have extensive competitive background, albeit only a little bit at the college level. Go lift some more weights

[strelz@thestrelz.com]

the miners have a great team this year. the talent is the best I have seen in 42 years, and remember I sat next to the legend when I announced the games at memorial, the coliseum (yes we played there and it smelled bad) and the don. Joe stirs the pot and we all jump in! If he wrote a positive blog few would comment. the miners are a sweet "16" team and if they play together for 40 minutes they can be an "8". next year they will be ranked in the top "25" before the ball bounces and make the final 4!

[Joe Muench]

Re: [Joe on utepia] strelz@thestrelz.com submitted a comment to Wake up, posters!

Thanks, Strelz. People dont understand that a sportwriter is not supposted to be a fan.

[Manny]

Whatever Joe you still suck! FIRE JOE NOW!