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| Volume 11, No. 49 |
September 1-7, 2010 |
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| | Kappy’s corner | | By Steve Kaplowitz | |  This week, 24 men’s and women’s basketball teams are competing in Tulsa, Okla., for the Conference USA Tournament championship. The women are playing at the Reynolds Center, the 8,355-seat arena that is the home to the University of Tulsa basketball teams. The men’s tournament will be played at the BOK Center, a new 19,199-seat entertainment venue that houses arena football, minor league hockey, basketball and concerts. This is the first time Tulsa has been awarded the home site for the C-USA Basketball Tournaments, and their economy is expected to receive a huge boost from the six-day tournament. However, Tulsa’s basketball teams have struggled this season, and attendance for their home tournament games might be much less than expected. Here is a preview of what to expect from both Miners teams this week.
After top seed Tulane, the rest of the women’s tournament field is evenly matched. Houston, SMU, East Carolina and Memphis are all expected to contend with Tulane for the C-USA Tournament Championship. The UTEP Women’s team began their season with high hopes, but injuries and road woes contributed to their struggles. They finished the regular season with a 15-15 regular season record, but won just 6 of their 16 games in conference play. Seniors Jareica Hughes and Tamika Williams failed to provide the leadership that head coach Keitha Adams needed. However, Hughes, Williams and the rest of the Miners played an inspired game Monday and defeated Rice 52-51 to win their first-round game. Hughes scored 25 points, Williams grabbed 10 rebounds and the Miners hung on for the dramatic one-point win. At the time this column went to press, UTEP and Houston were preparing to meet in the C-USA Tournament Quarterfinals. Despite being labeled big underdogs against the Cougars, the Miners still have the talent to win their next three games. If Coach Adams can get her team to rebound and play 40 minutes of defense, UTEP has a legitimate chance to win the C-USA Tournament and receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Unlike the Miner women, the men’s team lived up to their preseason hype. Head Coach Tony Barbee’s team was not favored to win their conference, but the Miners won 15 conference games and lost just once to capture their first ever C-USA regular season title. UTEP received the top seed in the C-USA Tournament, and will play the winner of Wednesday’s SMU/UCF game. The Miners will have to deal with some adversity in the tournament as far as their game times. Instead of having the most time between games as a reward for winning the league regular season title, the Miners will have the least amount of time between their first two games. UTEP will play the late game Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Tournament, and then will have only 15 hours to prepare for the tournament semifinals. The good news is that the three teams that gave UTEP the most trouble this season – Houston, Memphis, and UAB – cannot play the Miners until the championship game.
I expect the Miners to win their quarterfinals game, but they might struggle with the potential match-up against either Marshall or Tulsa in the semifinals. Marshall almost defeated the Miners last week in Huntington, W. Va., and UTEP will have to deal with a hostile home crowd should Tulsa advance to the semifinals. However, Coach Barbee’s team has shown a tremendous amount of resilience all season long, and has always risen to the challenge. If the Miners can advance to the C-USA Tournament finals, expect Memphis to be the opponent. Unlike UAB, the Tigers have been the most consistent team in conference play (with exception of the Miners). Memphis is the reigning tournament champs, and may need to win the tournament to ensure they advance to the NCAA Tournament. UTEP has won every close conference game all season long and should be able to defeat Memphis, UAB or any other opponent that might advance to the finals. Even if the Miners do not win the league tournament in Tulsa, they have at least 24 victories, more than enough to receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Finally, I hope you enjoyed some of my favorite UTEP dunks from the 2009-10 basketball season (see page 16). Please vote for your favorite Miner slam to win great prizes, and if you would like to own one or more of my UTEP dunks, visit whatsuppub.com. They would make a great gift for any Miner fan.
Steve Kaplowitz is a local El Paso sports commentator. In addition to Kappy’s Corner, Steve hosts KROD 600 AM’s “Sportstalk” weekday afternoons from 4 - 7 p.m. and appears on local TV stations. You can reach Steve at skaplowitz@krod.com.
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