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Conference USA Standings
(updated 12.24.2010 at 10:16 PM MST)
| East | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
| Central Florida Knights | 7 | 1 | 10 | 3 |
| Southern Miss. Golden Eagles | 5 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| East Carolina Pirates | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| Marshall Thundering Herd | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| UAB Blazers | 3 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| Memphis Tigers | 0 | 8 | 1 | 11 |
| West | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
| Tulsa Golden Hurricane | 6 | 2 | 10 | 3 |
| SMU Mustangs | 6 | 2 | 7 | 6 |
| Houston Cougars | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
UTEP Miners
|
3 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Rice Owls | 3 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| Tulane Green Wave | 2 | 6 | 4 | 8 |
Miners Football Schedule
| Ark.-Pine Bluff | Sat 09/04 | W 31 - 10 |
| @ Houston | Fri 09/10 | L 24 - 54 |
| New Mexico St. | Sat 09/18 | W 42 - 10 |
| Memphis | Sat 09/25 | W 16 - 13 |
| @ New Mexico | Sat 10/02 | W 38 - 20 |
| Rice | Sat 10/09 | W 44 - 24 |
| @ UAB | Sat 10/16 | L 6 - 21 |
| Tulane | Sat 10/23 | L 24 - 34 |
| @ Marshall | Sat 10/30 | L 12 - 16 |
| SMU | Sat 11/06 | W 28 - 14 |
|
@
Arkansas
|
Sat 11/13 | L 21 - 58 |
| @ Tulsa | Sat 11/20 | L 28 - 31 |
|
BYU
|
Sat 12/18 | L 24 - 52 |
Miners Look to Get Back on Track in Sun Bowl Invitational
by asalom on Dec 27, 2010 3:52 PM MST
The Bank of the West Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational basketball tournament is set to tip off tomorrow, December 27th, at 7:00 p.m. mst. This year's tournament includes Western New Mexico, Air Force, and Sam Houston State, along with our UTEP Miners. The tournament is the oldest collegiate holiday basketball tournament in the nation, and it was recently renamed to honor the late, legendary Don Haskins.
The opening round will pit UTEP (9-3) vs. Western New Mexico (3-7) at 7:00 p.m., with Air Force (7-3) taking on Sam Houston State (6-4) 30 minutes after the completion of the first game. This year the tournament will take on a little different format than in previous years. Second day games have already been set, with Sam Houston taking on Western NM at 5:30 followed by UTEP vs. Air Force at 7:30. Apparently, this was done in order to prevent UTEP from taking on SHSU in back to back games as the Miners play the Bearkats on January 2nd in the Don.
UTEP will look to regroup, and rebound after suffering its worst defeat of the season last Thursday in Provo, UT. The Miners took on now no. 16 BYU, dropping that contest 89-68. The Miners started hot in that one jumping out to a quick double digit lead, but were unable to weather the storm once the Cougars caught fire. The Miners will need to turn it around quickly as these three teams can all provide much of a challenge.
Western New Mexico is struggling at 3-7 on the season, but they do have some talented players and will be ready to go come game time. Air Force comes in at 7-3, and will be looking to rebound after their 74-63 loss at Northern Arizona. Sam Houston State is 6-4, but has lost games to no. 13 Texas, and twice to Houston by 2 and 4 points. These should be some good tuneups for the Miners prior to opening up conference play on January 5th vs. Tulsa at home in the Don Haskins Center.
Tickets for all games are still available. More information on the tournament, and on tickets can be found by contacting the Sun Bowl offices at (915)533-4416.
0 commentsMemphis Falls, UCF Rises
The University of Memphis Tigers slid down in the rankings again, after dropping another contest to a top 10 team in no. 9 Georgetown last Thursday. The Tigers are ranked 21st in the AP, and 22nd in the coach's poll. Central Florida continues to win games, and has now pushed its record to 11-0. The Knights have jumped up to 19th in the the AP poll, and 21st in the coach's.
Mexico a No Go For Sun Bowl Players
University of Miami and Notre Dame officials have taken precautions in order to ensure that none of their people will travel into nearby Juarez, Mexico. Miami players and coaches did not bring their passports on the trip, while Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly took his players' passports from them so they would be unable to go. Fans and others are urged to be cautious, and encouraged not to travel into Mexico because of the ongoing drug war.
Updated RPI
by asalom on Dec 22, 2010 1:48 PM MST
I realize that its still early in the season, and that RPI doesn't necessarily mean too much at this point. But, we're quickly approaching the new year, and the midway point of the season. A team's RPI is going to start being a little more meaningful real soon here. Because of that, from here on out I'm going to go ahead and give an update on Conference-USA's RPI ratings every week. We saw that some teams still had very high RPI's a week or two ago, so let's see where they stand now.
- Southern Mississippi - RPI 22
- Memphis 44
- Central Florida 45
- Alabama-Birmingham 76
- Marshall 115
- UTEP 126
- Tulsa 142
- Rice 160
- Houston 210
- East Carolina 219
- Tulane 247
- Southern Methodist 298
As you can see we've definitely made some moves as a conference. Conference-USA still ranks tenth in the nation in overall conference RPI, behind the power 6, the MWC, A-10, and the Colonial. Obviously, strength of schedule (SOS) means a lot too, but I felt I'd let the rest of the non-conference schedules play out so we can get a true feel of C-USA teams SOS.
There are some huge games coming up that will have a profound impact on individual teams' RPI and SOS, and the conference's as well. Among them are Thursday's matchups between UTEP and BYU, and Memphis and Georgetown, and later matchups between Memphis and Tennessee, and UAB and Duke.
Know Your Enemy: The BYU Cougars Are Loaded; And I'd Have it No Other Way
by Adrian Mac on Dec 22, 2010 12:50 PM MST
in UTEP Miners Basketball
Like many Miner fans, I grew up with a sincere hatred of BYU basketball. I remember the utter shock that swept El Paso after Kevin Nixon hit that shot in the 1992 WAC Tournament Championship. No player was ever more disliked by my dad than Danny Ainge- to the point where I still root against him as a general manager in the NBA. It's probably safe to say that most Mountain West and old WAC teams really enjoyed beating BYU. I'm sure many of those schools consider BYU to be their rival too.
But few of them have as rich a history of pure relentless dislike like BYU and UTEP had in the 1980's and early 1990's. You had the sense that a fan could rush the court with a broken beer bottle at any second. You had the sense that a brawl between players could erupt at any hard foul. It was different. It was special. And, the rivalry defined WAC basketball for a decade as UTEP and BYU both fought like animals for the right to be WAC Champions.
Games of the Week
by asalom on Dec 21, 2010 12:37 PM MST
Welcome everybody, to the second installment of "Games of the Week". Last week's games proved to be some good ones as three of the five were decided by 6 points or less. The two that weren't decided by such close margins were UTEP MBB beating Texas Tech by 11, and UTEP FB losing by 28 in the New Mexico Bowl. Also, the only outcome of the five that was predicted wrong was that of the New Mexico Bowl. This week is filled with many more good games, and it was difficult to narrow it down to five, but here it is.
5.) MBB: Central Florida (10-0) @ UMASS (7-3) December 22nd 7:00 p.m. et
The Knights continue to roll at 10-0, finally cracking the AP top 25 (24) . They are coming off a big win at home over the University of Miami 84-78, with sophomore Marcus Jordan really beginning to come into his own. UMASS began the season at 7-0 before dropping its last three contests to Boston College, Maine, and Seton Hall. They'll be looking to right the ship, and not drop another OOC game on their home court. This is another big test for Conference USA as the A-10 is considered to be a better league. A win here for the conference may go a long way come selection time.
OUTLOOK: Central Florida moves to 11-0, drops the Minutemen, 77-68.
UTEP Pulls Away from Stephen F. Austin 61-52
by Adrian Mac on Dec 21, 2010 9:57 AM MST
in UTEP Miners Basketball
UTEP overcame a sluggish first half to run away from a good Stephen F. Austin squad last night at the Don. The Lumberjacks entered the game having only lost to the Big 12's Texas Tech Red Raiders and Texas A&M; Aggies. The pace of the first half was slowed by a slew of personal fouls and referee interruptions and UTEP led only 23-17 at the break. Unsurprisingly, 18 UTEP turnovers also helped keep SFA in the game until Randy Culpepper caught fire and helped UTEP put away the Lumberjacks. Here are my quick observations, bullet style:
- A New Starter: Gabe McCulley, who I deemed this squad's 'glue guy' earned the start in this one over veteran Jeremy Williams. Williams has had some nice games this season, notably an 18 point game in UTEP's home win against New Mexico State. That said, he looked a bit sluggish against Texas Tech. He still ended the game with more minutes than McCulley, but played the fewest of the season (23) overall.
- Making the Most; McCulley had a nice performance in his 21 minutes of action. He was 3/3 from the field and finished with 7 points and 3 rebounds. More than his stats, McCulley is a hustle guy, someone who runs the floor and plays aggressive defense.
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