Joe on utepia

Hardaway Miner assistant?

Word is Tim Hardaway has told acquaintances he'd like to be an assistant basketball coach at UTEP.

There are no openings on Head Coach Tony Barbee's staff ... now. They may be an opening before next school year.

Imagine the plusses ex-UTEP star Hardaway could bring to the Miners: Tremenous work ethic. Heart. Leadership ability.

Also coaching experience. After his long career in the NBA, Hardaway served as a head coach in the NBA's developmental league.

Hardaway was an NBA superstar for well more than a decade after being the first-round pick in the 1989 draft by the Golden State Warriors.

Imagine the recruiting asset he'd be. He is from Chicago, where he is a hometown hero. Chicago is full of major college-level talents. He played more than half a decade with Golden State (San Francisco/Oakland), and more than half a decade with the Miami Heat.

I'm not predicting Hardaway as the next Miner assistant. But if he really wants the job, as he's told some in El Paso, I'm betting Barbee will be willing to consider one of UTEP's all-time best players if there is an opening on his staff.

How C-USA Tournament bidding works

Now that both the county, city and Convention & Visitors Bureau have agreed to underwrite UTEP hosting a future Conference-USA Basketball Tournament, here's how the bidding works:

El Paso will bid this year to get the 2010 tournament. It won't get it. Tulsa will. Tulsa is in line. And no, it's not ALWAYS going to Memphis. The other schools don't want Memphis to have that home-court advantage EVERY year.

The protocol: You bid and make a good presentation to the conference (hotel rates, etc.). Then you're placed on the waiting list. That happened when El Paso first bid for the U.S. Bowling Congress Women's Championships. The city had to wait, and now the tournament is coming here in 2010. That's the big one, the $50 million economic payday for El Paso's economy.

We were put up front on a list of cities in waiting, because we made a good presentation.

For the basketball tournament, the strategy is to bid on 2010 and then get it for 2011.

It looks like we are going after 2010 as a long shot, in case something happens with Tulsa. Or we're the prime candidate for 2011. Notice that nobody is mentioning other cities other than Memphis next season and probably Tulsa in 2010.

Horton doesn't hear any Who in Birmingham, Dallas, Houston or wherever else asking to be a host site.

Some posters earlier suggested that our local governments would mess this up because they can never work together. They don't have to. UTEP and the CVB will be doing the work. The county and city are just the insurance that UTEP won't lose money. If UTEP doesn't break even, hotel-motel tax money will be the off-setter. And that's not even our tax-paid money. That's tourism money.

On the average, the tournament annually breaks about even. No taxpayer dollars are likely to be spent on this event that will bring in an estimated 2,000 people over four or five days.

The next step is to make a good presentation, as El Paso did when convincing the Bowling Congress to put its biggest women's tournament of the year way out here in El Paso. Women bowlers and their families will come here from every state, staggered on weekends, usually from late February into late spring.

We'll bid on Conference USA Tourney

Word is, via a joint effort, El Paso/UTEP will bid on being host for the 2010 Conference USA men's and women's basketball tournaments.

It's good news. It's a good joint effort in this city.

Here are the players who would join UTEP: Sports Commission, County, City and Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The general thinking is that the tourney host (UTEP) would probably break even. But, just in case, the other entities would agree to foot any expenses. Word is the other entities seem favorable to such an arrangement.

Having the tournament, of course, means some 2,000 out-of-towners in our hotels over a five-day period That guarantees a tourist-dollar boost.

The finals are shown nationally on CBS.

Stefon's agent

Could it be that UTEP basketball star Stefon Jackson will hire his landlord to be his agent for the NBA draft this June?

Jackson has been living at a place in the gated community of Camelot Townhomes. His pad is owned by former UTEP and NBA player Greg Foster, who's now a successful investments man in El Paso. The two have been seen together often of late.

And word is Foster taking the necessary steps to become a sports agent.

If Jackson changes his mind and pulls out of the NBA draft, he can return to UTEP for his senior season — if he has not signed with a professional agent.

Stefon Jackson suspension lifted?

Apparently UTEP has lifted its "indefinite" suspension of junior basketball player Stefon Jackson. Must have ...

... Otherwise why would UTEP have honored Jackson Thursday as its' Male Athlete of the Year during its annual sports banquet?

Surely they wouldn't bestow the  highest honor — save Hall of Fame — on a guy who's suspended from the team?

If he's still actually suspended, UTEP sent a bad message to kids.

Jackson is/was suspended pending an investigation that he may have lied to authorities about a man they wanted to arrest on several charges in Pennsylvania. Jackson, himself, was arrested and is now out on bond.

 

Pretty nice digs

Here's an anomaly, all right. UTEP basketball player Stefon Jackson has been living in some pretty nice digs, Camelot Townhomes at 4800 Stanton. It's one of those gated-community places. It's at the highest point of Stanton Street in the Franklin Mountain foothills.

I must have missed the episode on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

That's the address listed for Jackson upon his arrest by Sheriff's deputies April 15. He was charged with hindering an investigation amid authorities trying to locate his cousin, who was wanted on six felony warrants in Pennsylvania.

Anyway, don't college kids, even those on athletic scholarships, usually live in a regular college-kid apartment — and usually share the rent with a bunch of other guys just to make ends meet?

Camelot Townhomes is pretty nice digs for the usual college fare of beer cans, pizza cartons and "TURN DOWN THE MUSIC, I'M TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP!"

Scholarship athletes can choose to live in a campus dorm, and have the athletic department pick up the bill. Or they can get the equivalent amount of cash from the athletic department and live off campus. It's common for two or more guys to live in the same place, share the rent and have spending money left over. Perfectly OK with the NCAA rulesbook.

But it's got to be your money. Better not be any booster stuff involved.

I'm thinking it will take the whole Miner basketball team to share a place in Camelot Townhomes, at the highest point of Stanton Street in the Franklin Mountain foothills.

And unless they stiff the guard at the entry gate at Christmas-present time time, they'll probably need half the track team living there, too.

This is a place where a knock on your door doesn't mean the super is hounding you for last month's rent. This is a place where a judge or a bank president knocks and asks if he can borrow your crepe pan.

Pretty nice digs, indeed.

Why not Barbee at UMass?

It's obvious why Memphis Coach John Calipari would push his guy Derek Kellogg instead of his guy Tony Barbee for the head basketball job at UMass.

Just about all good coaches help their assistants get head coaching jobs. It's a mark of honor to have your guys all over NCAA Division I.

Barbee left Calipari for UTEP. Now Calipari can use his considerable influence to promote another of his Memphis assistants for a head job.

This means Barbee stays at UTEP as long as he doesn't get too good (having a perennial NCAA Tournament program) or too bad (sent to Got the Boot Hill).

I don't think Barbee is on the short list of any schools who think they may need a new coach after next season.

Some here say they're tired of coaches coming and leaving quickly at UTEP. Barbee is going to be here a while.

Barbee & UMass job

No doubt two-year UTEP Basketball Coach Tony Barbee would take the UMass job, if offered. And not just because he played there and assistant-coached there.

The situation at UTEP is quite iffy: If Stefon Jackson does not return, it will be hard for Barbee to show improvement on this season's 19 wins. If Jackson does return, I don't think he'll be very popular with the fans. And that will reflect on attendance — gate receipts. This, of course, is in regards to Jackson having been arrested because it's alleged he was giving safe harbor to two alleged felons. "Murder" is the key word here. Most Utepia posters know the story well.

A team that doesn't challenge for the NCAA Tournament in such a so-so league as Conference USA will not make Barbee a popular man in El Paso. Already he has the reputation of not getting out into the public as much as past coaches. Fans here like to know the coach and know the players. That hasn't happened.

Originally I figured Barbee going to UMass, of the Atlantic 10, would be a move down. Of course that cana be a matter of opinion. What's yours?

Basketball-wise, there are actually 14 Atlantic 10 teams, virtually all household names:

UMass, St Bonaventure, Richmond, Charlotte, Rhode Island, Dayton, Duquense, Fordham, Geo. Washington, La Salle, Saint Louis, Xavier (won 30 games this season), Temple and Saint Joseph's.

There are 12 C-USA teams. Are they all household names?

UTEP, Memphis, UAB, Houston, So. Miss, Univ. of Central Florida, Tulsa, Marshall, Tulane, E. Carolina, SMU and Rice.

Stefon scenario

Here's a scenario not yet explored on the Stefon Jackson situation:

We know he didn't grow up in Leave It To Beaverville. His brother was shot dead. His father died of a gunshot wound. He's from the streets of Philadelphia. Obviously he's seen a lot of violence.

But att UTEP, Jackson didn't get into any trouble the past three years. He acted like an OK guy off the court.

So, what if some of his bad-guy Philly acquaintences (one was a relative) just showed up at his door in El Paso? And he didn't throw them out? What if he was afraid to throw them out? Both are alleged to have been involved in murders.

I'm not saying this is what happened. But it could have happened that way.

I think the best thing Stefon can do is convince the pros he's an OK guy, and he can get away from his roots by playing in Europe.

Lost art? Wrong phrase

No kidding! Missed free throws doomed Memphis.

Some people call free-throw shooting a "lost art." Ever since Shaq starting clanging 'em up in the NBA, it seems charity tosses are no longer considered an integral part of the game. Big, strong-pawed guys just can't get that needed touch. It's an "oh, well" attitude, and it's wrong.

Free-throw shooting should be considered one of the most important parts of a team's stock of skills. What good is a 6-9 forward, who averages in double figures and rebounds well, if you can foul him late in the game and he's rendered a dud?

Shrugging and saying free-throw shooting is a "lost art" is like saying the kicking game in football is not as important as the offense and defense.