Roster

[liebestraum]

I don't understand this at all.  UTEP will basically allow anyone in as a student, and I'm not criticizing that.  If they want to raise standards for admission, why would you start with the athletics program?

NCAA requirements for athletic admission (and participation) is HIGHER than UTEP's general admission standards, and has been for thirty years or so.  This is nothing new, and the number of student athlete's on the Academic Honor roll is tied to performance bonus for the coaches, the AD, and such.  UTEP does a good job keeping kids on track to graduate, and those that have any iota of intelligence, usually end up on said Honor Roll.

You might want to check their majors, though.  Quite a few years ago, many universities created a generic Interdisciplinary Studies major.  The university I worked at certainly has one.  It is essentially a liberal arts degree where students can pick courses in three our four areas that total to 120 hours.  They need to have at least 42 hours of upper division work in their major.  The cynic in me sees how it would be easy to have certain courses set that such students (athletes and non-athletes) could take.

When I was department chair, I once had to advise an incoming football player who was transferring from Texas A&M.  He needed some advice figuring out what math class to take.  Since he was an academic sophomore, I wondered why he had not taken a math class in his first two years.  He told me he had been taking Ag courses for two years.  I could not believe that, so I logged on to the admissions website and pulled up his transcript.  Sure enough - two solid years of agriculture classes.  No English, math, history, or other core classes required by the state of Texas were listed.

The student was honest, though.  He knew this was messed up and wanted to get (in his words) a real schedule. Luckily, SHSU had a good academic compliance officer to help him.

Now, there are plenty of athletes that have more traditional majors and they work hard at them.   Z is right about the requirements.  Still, there are ways to play the system.

lieb

I am a cynic, and I think that for most athletes at most schools, the actual school part is a complete farce.  But the business is so big schools will never go back to a day when the athletes were legit students.  Honestly, in my opinion, most colleges are more interested in the money these days than the education part of it even on the academic side of things.  This is one of the things I admire about Natalicio and UTEP -- she was committed to providing the best education possible for as many people as possible.  If you don't have to pay room and board, you can still get an education at a Tier 1 school for under $10k / year.  And that is keeping the focus where it ought to be.  I hope it continues under the new regime.

UTEP's Multidisciplinary Degree was nt created for Athletics, all though a large number take advantage of it.  It was created as a way to move people out the door, especially those non-traditional students, who have too may hours from multiple schools (both JC and 4yr) and should have graduated twice over.  Aligning curricula between levels and campuses is difficult, thus we did the BMS. 

I agree with Leib, I have seen tons of transfers with cray cray transcripts, but they deserve a quality education.  I like to think my alma mater provides that.

Z is right about the reason for creating the degree.  At Sam Houston State, if an undergraduate has more than 140 hours on their transcript and still no degree, they have to start paying out of state tuition!  There are a few exceptions, depending on degree plans. 

I also remember visiting some of my UTEP professors when I was working on my PhD at UT-Austin.  They all wanted to know if UTEP had prepared me well.  It sure had.  And it is nice to know that it still does.

lieb

[Chanson]

We haven't had any recruiting noise in a while. We still need a big man & a ball handler.
I read the other site & a few think we have a steal in Jorell (Superman's dad). I saw a few vids & saw he can shoot & is a strong 6'4". What I didn't see was ball handling & quickness. D1 speed is a lot faster. I hope the kid can acclimate sooner than later.

Also, I finally saw "Last Chance U" on Netflix. Not sure if any of you remember Floyds walk on Highler,  but he is one of the kids featured on the show at East LA Community College. The show is well done. Even though I am happy Highler was able to get a scholarship at a D1 school, I'm glad we didn't offer him one here. He was very inconsistent. If you haven't seen the show, you should. KJ Lewis was another kid highlighted in the show & he will be going to TX Tech. Kid is a beast.

[Austintacious]

Z is right about the reason for creating the degree.  At Sam Houston State, if an undergraduate has more than 140 hours on their transcript and still no degree, they have to start paying out of state tuition!  There are a few exceptions, depending on degree plans. 

I also remember visiting some of my UTEP professors when I was working on my PhD at UT-Austin.  They all wanted to know if UTEP had prepared me well.  It sure had.  And it is nice to know that it still does.

lieb

My last year at UTEP, I decided Metallurgical Engineering was not for me.  I worked at ASARCO during my years at UTEP and saw many things I did not like.  I lacked two semesters to finish which I did.  I then decided to go to UT Austin and basically took a Liberal Arts curriculum for two years before entering a graduate program.  Did UTEP prepare for the increased dedication required at UT?  Yes and no.  I didn't have to work as hard at UTEP.  But it did provide a good enough foundation to succeed at UT.  UT's standards were higher and I definitely had to work harder and longer to succeed for those two years of Liberal Arts courses.  And Graduate School?  Definitely had to be dedicated and put the time in.  Did I get an adequate education at UTEP?  Yes!  But I speak from the curriculum of the engineering program including all the science and math courses I also took. 

[Chanson]

As I look at recruits, Khalfani Hill 6'9" PF was recruited by Terry in 11/2020. I'm reading on other sights that he is probably moving on, but I see no evidence of that. I checked multiple social media sites & none of them say anything otherwise. I don't see anything on Instagram or Twitter that he is still looking around or any signs of de-committing. Does anyone else see or hear of anything different? Just curious.

[Chanson]

It looks like 6'1" PG/SG Kezza Giffa has signed with UTEP. Great get from Golding. I think we have all guards in place. We just need 1 big guy & we have a complete team. I'm not sure if any of you have seen vids on this French kid, but he is good.

[SisyphusMiner]

I watched video of Kezza Giffa and i was really hoping we'd sign him.  I liked what I saw a lot.  IMO, this is a huge piece.  I think that Bienemy wore down a bit as the season progressed.

Completely agree with Chanson.  One more decent big man that can give us some quality minutes and we're in very good shape.

[Minermojo]

Man, I'm really impressed with this Kezza kid. He is the complete package. He's got speed, passing skills to the max, he can make his layups (something we've been lacking because the people we've had would be able to penetrate but almost always missed the shot), he can shoot from the outside if need be. He has pride in his defensive skills. I just wish we could have him for more than two years. Golding seems to have a good eye for skill. I can't wait for basketball season, this time for sure.

PS you can find him on Youtube under his name.

[Chanson]

I believe the kid is coming in as a Freshman. I think we have him for 4yrs, Mojo. I don't think the kid will be used to the speed of our league, but his ability to finish with contact is really good.

[Minermojo]

I believe the kid is coming in as a Freshman. I think we have him for 4yrs, Mojo. I don't think the kid will be used to the speed of our league, but his ability to finish with contact is really good.

I don't usually disagree with you but on the subject of speed I think he can function more than adequately. I can't wait to see him in a Miner uniform.

[Chanson]

I believe the kid is coming in as a Freshman. I think we have him for 4yrs, Mojo. I don't think the kid will be used to the speed of our league, but his ability to finish with contact is really good.

I don't usually disagree with you but on the subject of speed I think he can function more than adequately. I can't wait to see him in a Miner uniform.

I hope you are right. The only time I saw a guard in high-school that I knew would be fine with the speed was Omega Harris. Even Culpeper needed a year to acclimate.

[SisyphusMiner]

Signed a 6-8 player, Jamari Sibley, transfer from G'Town.  4 star on verbal commits.  Will have 4 years

[Chanson]

What a get. I saw video on the kid. He can jump, he's very athletic, and has an OK touch on his jumper. Even though he is a 4☆, he needs to work on control and his Bball IQ. I think Golding is exactly what this kid needs. I don't see this kid as an impact player his 1st year, but we can build around him.
We have a team, fellas. Who ever else Golding picks up is icing on the cake.

[SisyphusMiner]

My only real concern is he clearly didn't have to work very hard in high school to dominate.  Has he accepted the need to work 100% every minute at this level?  It's hard to imagine a highly pursued kid like this going to play for Golding if he wasn't willing to hustle though.  It's what Golding's ACU team was known for.

[Chanson]

My only real concern is he clearly didn't have to work very hard in high school to dominate.  Has he accepted the need to work 100% every minute at this level?  It's hard to imagine a highly pursued kid like this going to play for Golding if he wasn't willing to hustle though.  It's what Golding's ACU team was known for.

I thought the same thing. Kid looked like a man among boys in high-school. I saw his footwork was poor, but made up for it with athleticism & energy. I saw he only averaged minutes a game at Georgetown last year. I'm thinking he struggles on defense. He'll be a project, but a fun one to watch.

[Chanson]

Roster Run Down:
1) Bieniemy
2) Boum
3) Kennedy
4) Sibley
5) Verhoeven
Satterfield, Agnew, Giffa, & White are combo guard back ups.
Onyema & Bonke are the big man back ups.
This is no longer a ground and pound team. This is a run & gun team. Looking at a Golding team from the past, he likes lean quick kids that can run & get easy buckets, grab steals, & stay tight on D.