basketball

[zyxwvutsru]

I am disappointed, but not surprised, that both our bb teams lost. I thought the ladies were better than this.

[SisyphusMiner]

To me, besides the obvious lack of inside strength and the streakiness of our shooters, there is one main weakness that it appears to me Golding is trying to work on, and we are seeing some progress but not there yet.

That area is 40 minutes of intensity by all 5 players on the court.  I see 2-3 minutes of intensity at a time.  I see a couple players that play with a fair amount of intensity every minute they are in, and others that don't.  There's lots of times we jack up a 3 and everyone stands there watching it and some already start heading back on D.  It goes in or it doesn't.  Some of the back door cuts are because someone fell asleep

No question that Agnew plays intensely every minute.  Onyema plays intensely.  They just don't have what it takes in other aspects to get the minutes.
Boum doesn't take a lot of plays off on either side of the court.  Bienemy sometimes does take plays off defensively.  Everyone else that gets minutes takes more plays off than him.  Kennedy wasn't our leading rebounder because of his size, but because he played intensely.

I remember the intensity as being a characteristic of Gillispie's teams, here and at A&M.  I don't recall however whether that was a struggle in year 1.  Help me out here.

[Chanson]

That was supposed to be a joke. lol

Normally I recognize humor, but because I was so pist at the outcome, I didn't. My bad, KY.  Oth coaches have adds to make trip to Dallas to see them compete. It's very hard to book that reservation when both teams are playing like ass.
I'll still make the rest of the games, but to spend that money only to be disappointed is very tough.

[kyyote]

I understand completely. It is the reason for my joke. What is unfortunate is that my jokes and serious comments can?t be told apart from one another.  lol

[SisyphusMiner]

i'm not necessarily saying CUSA should be a one bid league, or that we are tourney worthy, but it sucks in general just how many bids are given to P5 leagues.

I rant about this every year, and nothing changes, but still.  I would much rather see a G5 team with 2-3 conference losses than a P5 team with 8 conference losses.
You should have to finish in top 25% of your conference or 33% to get a bid no matter how strong the conference is perceived to be.

[kyyote]

The whole concept of seeding begins with the premise that one team is better than another based on whatever excuse is needed. Are they right?  Most of the time and when they are wrong it is supposed to be self correcting. The cartels are better. They and the ncaa use the non cartels teams like the trotters use capitals. Perhaps a better analogy would be the jackpot at at slot machine at a gas station in Elko. The rich aren?t just getting richer they are consolidating their power and duking it out for the biggest cut of the pie. What bothers me is not the game being played. It is pure Darwinism and capitalism at it?s best. Competition for the competition dollars, bragging rights and the perks that come with winning and fame. Our problem is our lack of effort to compete in the game. And worse than that it over decades is just who we are. Have you ever in your life heard anyone from UTEP speak about getting better and moving up. Keep in mind the number of times over these same years that our competition moved on and up from us. With the latest barely alive move to keep our conference alive what do we hear from UTEP?  We are hanging in there hoping for the best. Just like always. Same as it ever was. 
What I think the non cartel teams should do is form a sub cartel. It should maybe think about playing half as many cartel games. Make them play each other and let their records suffer. The non cartel cartel should schedule a pre ncaa dance tournament and use the results to field the top non cartel teams to fill the slots in the dance with the best of the non cartel teams competing. The pre tournament would be almost as big as the dance in draw and the extra exposure would help level the overall competition perhaps. Idk.

[SisyphusMiner]

we're beating a dead horse, but I'm a big believer in the idea that if the game is stacked against you the only way to win is to refuse to play.  Ideally you flip the table over and demand to play your own game by your own rules.  That takes both vision and balls, but it's the only way to break out of the cycle.  Right now I feel like all the non P-5 schools are in an endless Stockholm Syndrome, or beaten wife syndrome.

[Chanson]

Are you kidding me? What a win. Nothing pretty to see on either side of the ball, but the Miners won the dog fight.

Golding- called a great game defensively. Shut the big scorers down & made them play a scrappy game. It's this kind of blue collar win that the Miners were attracted to when they hired Golding. Ugly, but effective.
JB- once he settled down, he played well. Didn't go off for big points, but clawed his way to holding this team up.
Boum- Did his job despite Williams greqt defense. Rebounded like a BOSS. This kid needs help.
Jorrel- Golding was hoping he would be the one to step up. He needs work on both sides. I still like his potential.
Hollins- wasn't the 1 to step up, but played OK, especially with those 7 rebs.
Sibley- another guy Golding needs to step up, but didn't. He did play well on D, but not a factor.
Agnew- should not have even stepped on the court. He was a mess & Golding layed into him hard. So athletic, but not a smart player.
White- didn't make a mistake & allowed breathers. Wish he was a bit assertive, but you never know with role players.
Onyema & Kalu- still learning. I still like them both.
Verho- got outplayed, smarted, rebounded, &scored by a superior player. Still managed held strong & helped before fouling out with 9pts & 4rebs.
Maring- did we just have a Bonke sighting? Oh My! No one expected his grit in the paint. He had 5 tough rebs & 5pts. Come out player of the game.
What a great win. Golding expected help to come from the usuall suspects & gets it from an unexpected source. I'm not holding my breath on Maring, but that was a breath of fresh air in a barn burner. I hope that gave him confidence.
Anyone else have a different perspective?

[kyyote]

STARTERS   MIN   FG   3PT   FT   OREB   DREB   REB   AST   STL   BLK   TO   PF   PTS S. BoumG                                    1   11            12                                       28

UTEP                                13/17


LA TECH                            17/31  54.8%

[SisyphusMiner]

Agree with Chanson

I thought TV did reasonably well against a much superior opponent.  A lot of Boum's boards were because TV had Lofton sealed off and couldn't release to the ball but Boum stepped in.  I assume that was game-planned because we haven't seen it before.

The Maring we saw last night would get meaningful minutes.

68% FT shooting would have had La Tech winning by one.

[Chanson]

Great win by the Miners. USM stayed close most of the game, but UTEP was too strong in the end.
Golding- Love this guy. Great plan to shut down there big guy. Admitted didn't play very well on D & I agree. Once again, we win because of another team's poor FT. Not an impose your Will kind of Coach, but very good at exposing another teams weakness. Just ask Shaka Smart.
I'm only going to respond to those who played more than 10min today.
Onyema- was in to fill time. Still lots to learn.
Verho- strong min & good scoring. Liked his D, but needs to work on rebounding.
Sibley- I think he got the concept that if you can't score, make it up. He did with 9 rebs. His scoring will come with confidence. Still a freshy.
Hollins- only 16min, but very important with 7pts. Golding has figured he is better with clutch min than extended play.
Agnew- finally played well. Best maxed min on the team with 15min & 11pts.
Saterfield- 12pts & 3rebs. That is a fantastic night for him. Just keep hitting 3s, mijo.
Boum- scored 12, but had 7rebs. When he's not scoring 20+pts, he does everything else. It's funny, because he missing a lot of layups & easy shots. While that & ball security are his weaknesses, his D, scoring, & rebs are strong.

On to MTSU. Hope those bad Marshall type games are behind us.

Go Miner

[Chanson]

Looked at MTSU & they are on a roll like the Miners. The edge will probably go to MTSU, only because they are playing at home.

[kyyote]

I have been trying to get a handle on how I feel about Golding at this point.  Generally, I like that he has them playing great defense is a great foundation.  I have seen enough to make me believe that he can design and employ an offense to get open shots.  Player development is difficult to measure in one year, especially with covid and other health related things involved.  Of course, JB has gone from having arrived here because of his shooting to have become John Wesley Hardin of the Hardwood and if that is due to Golding he is a magician.
We are 9/5 at home and 7/5 away.  We aren't afraid to travel, including to the Eastern Time Zone.  I sorted our conference teams into  good, ok, and bad.  We are 1/3 against good teams, 3/1 against ok teams, and 4/1 against bad teams.  We have 4 games left and they are 3 goods and an ok.  How we do in these last four games will go a long way towards clearing things up.  When we began conference play i felt like we were probably a 17 win team.  Wild guess based on what I had seen at the time.  If we win seventeen it was a good season.  If we win 18, 19, or 20 with the teams remaining we might just win 23, or however many it takes to win the conference tournament.  That would be a great season and put Golding in the Cold Seat for Hot Coaches!  One or two more like it and he climbs a ladder.
So, we have a very exciting time coming up.  Gird your loins, buckle up, Buttercup, smoke 'em if you've got 'em, UTEP Basketball is about to get serious as a heart attack.

Go Miners!

[Chanson]

AMEN brotha'.
I am ready to get The Don rockin again. It's electric when that place is packed.

[SisyphusMiner]

Consider that we are almost certain to have a better final record than any Terry year, and already have a better conference record than any Terry year.  Without Bryson Williams. 

Where CJG fits in the overall history of UTEP coaches remains to be seen, but I like what I see so far.