I'm watching the Tourny Selection Show and immediately, some great match-ups come to mind. Kentucky gets Marquette in the first round of the Tourny. That means Billy Gillispie will play the man he replaced as head coach at UTEP. Despite being the Director of Basketball Operations for Marquette and weighing in at well over 300 lbs, Jason Rabedeaux will be roaming the sidelines in Anaheim as the two teams meet. Remember, Rabedeaux resigned at UTEP just prior to the start of the 2002-03 season. Gillisipie took over the Miners and won just six games his first season. After that, the rest is history. Another great opening round match-up is USC and Kansas State. The of the best freshmen in the nation will collide when USC's OJ Mayo meets K-State's Michael Beasley. Can't wa ... Read More »
I'm watching the Tourny Selection Show and immediately, some great match-ups come to mind. Kentucky gets Marquette in the first round of the Tourny. That means Billy Gillispie will play the man he replaced as head coach at UTEP. Despite being the Director of Basketball Operations for Marquette and weighing in at well over 300 lbs, Jason Rabedeaux will be roaming the sidelines in Anaheim as the two teams meet. Remember, Rabedeaux resigned at UTEP just prior to the start of the 2002-03 season. Gillisipie took over the Miners and won just six games his first season. After that, the rest is history.
Another great opening round match-up is USC and Kansas State. The of the best freshmen in the nation will collide when USC's OJ Mayo meets K-State's Michael Beasley. Can't wa ...
I'm sitting in the media room at The Mandalay Bay Hotel gearing up for my live broadcast. This fight is much smaller than the De La Hoya and Mayweather bouts I've covered in past years, but many of the same boxing personalities are here: Tony Walker from HBO Sports, Bert Sugar, Bob Arum, and many boxing writers and columnists. Today's show should be fun. Scheduled to appear are Juan Marquez, Manny Pacquiao, Shane, Mosley, Winky Wright, and Marco Antonio Barrera. Some interviews will air live on today's show, while others could air tomorrow when I return to El Paso and broadcast live from Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. I'm also anxious to follow the UTEP-Houston game on Gametracker and see if the Miners can make it two in a row in the C-USA Tourny. I spoke with The Bear last night and we agree that McKiver can get his ... Read More »
I'm sitting in the media room at The Mandalay Bay Hotel gearing up for my live broadcast. This fight is much smaller than the De La Hoya and Mayweather bouts I've covered in past years, but many of the same boxing personalities are here: Tony Walker from HBO Sports, Bert Sugar, Bob Arum, and many boxing writers and columnists. Today's show should be fun. Scheduled to appear are Juan Marquez, Manny Pacquiao, Shane, Mosley, Winky Wright, and Marco Antonio Barrera. Some interviews will air live on today's show, while others could air tomorrow when I return to El Paso and broadcast live from Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino.
I'm also anxious to follow the UTEP-Houston game on Gametracker and see if the Miners can make it two in a row in the C-USA Tourny. I spoke with The Bear last night and we agree that McKiver can get his ...
Forget any thoughts of the UTEP Men's basketball team making the postseason. That ended last night in Dallas with a double OT loss to the Mustangs. I don't know what's worse, losing to a horrible SMU team or freshman sensation Randy Culpepper getting into it with Tony Barbee. Both are signs of frustration for this young Miners team. Since Barbee has repeatedly questioned his team's toughness, how does the coaching staff make this team any stronger?
It's hard to imagine any UTEP basketball team, men or women performing better than Keitha Adans' bunch this season. The Miners finished their C-USA road schedule undefeated, after an 89-74 win at UCF today. That's now 19 wins in a row for the Miners, who haven't lost a gme since December 1st. The win also gave UTEP their first ever outright regular season conference championship, and the first banner that will be hung inside the Don Haskins Center next season. Let's hope this team will get their first ever sellout when they host SMU on Thursday at 6pm.
This afternoon, we announced on Sportstalk that Roberto Duran, "Manos de Piedras" will be headlining our Sports and Health Expo on Sunday, April 6th. The event will be held at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. I met Duran last May in Las Vegas prior to the Oscar De La Hoya/Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight. Duran was all class and I asked him about coming to El Paso for the Expo. He was interested and the rest is history. What I didn't realize what just how great a champion he was over a 20 year period. Boxing historian Bert Sugar rates Duran the 8th best fighter in the history of boxing! I know we should have one of our biggest crowds ever.
Congrats to the Miners for their first conference road win in more than a calendar year. UTEP knocked off Marshall 79-76 and one of the biggest reasons for the win was the play of Stefan Jackson. DJ finally displayed the leadership this team has lacked on the road and wasn't afraid to shoot with the game on the line. I hope his performance was the first of many more clutch situations we'll see from UTEP's best player.
Just trying to figure out why Tony Barbee's team can't win a road game? Lack of Leadership? No big man? Poor point guard play? Coaching? How about all of the above! Until the Miners solve some of these issues and it could start with the Marshall game tonight, it's doesn't look like a pretty end to the season.