Proud El Pasoan Wrote:jhallmphs Wrote:apparently not
So tonight may have not been our night. What you don't think we've beaten better teams at home, on the road and in the NCAA tourney before? Here's some history: The Miners upset the top seeded Kansas Jayhawks, who were ranked 2nd in the country, in the second round of the 1992 NCAA tournament. The Miners upset 10th ranked New Mexico here in El Paso some years ago. And in an exhibition in 2003, the Miners upset the Harlem Globetrotters who had beaten every team they had visited including the defending national champion that year. So that say that we haven't "been there done that" cause we have.
I'm aware of the UTEP tradition in hoops and that's great, CUSA needs it. THis year, the Tigers are finally reaping the fruits of Calipari's recruiting efforts because everyone showed up instead of jumping to the NBA. 2 years ago, your current team would have given Memphis all it could handle. Memphis has not had much NCAA success in the last 10 years, most of their success has been in the NIT (3 Final Fours, one Championship).
Reality is that Memphis is going to be very good for the next few years considering their youth and the recruits coming in. Calipari has finally got the train moving in the right direction.
Hopefully, Memphis's success will translate into and eleveated recruiting success for the other teams in the conference and the level of competion will get better. UTEP, UAB and Houston are almost there. The others in the league have a way to go, but they can get it done.
Here is a scarey thought. Memphis brings everybody back next year (of significance) except Carney (assuming noone jumps to the NBA), and adds 4 quality recruits. Based on what we have observed this year, where do you think they would be ranked? They could posibly be a #1 preseason ranking. UTEP will have to do some fabulous recruiting to be able to match that, and get a win in El Paso.
Whatever happens, I, for one, am glad that you guys are now with us in C-USA. I look forward to many interesting, hard fought games in the future.