UTEP loses to ENMU?

[MinerMan2010]

At least its an exhibition. Arizona lost to Seattle Pacific and Butler lost an exhibition game too this year. NMSU slammed this team last night though. I didn't go to the game and it wasnt on 92.3. I thought all UTEP games were on 92.3, even exhibitions.

Not a reason to worry, but a bad loss for UTEP.

[mistabinks]

Nah, exhibitions in years past have not bee on The Fox.

[Realm]

Guys... we need to do a better job when we post.

i.e. what sport are we talking about... what was the score... who played and who didn't.... any injuries that limited a players time... did Tim go ape shit??

These are the questions Realm needs to know.

Realm...

[MinerMan2010]

Sorry Realm. Didnt see or hear the game. Still disappointing that we lost to a D2 team.

[BleedingOrange]

I went to the "game" last night. I use the quotations because Floyd warned people that this was nothing more than a very, very preliminary look at all our new players, and he said it would likely be ugly (which it most certainly was). The final score was UTEP 64 ENMU 75, and they basically held the lead the entire game. They went up by as much as 22 points in the second half, due mostly to horrific defense and bad shot selection by us, but we made a run and got within six before they extended it to the final margin. Yeah, losing to a D-2 school is never a good thing, but let me attempt to explain what went on...

First off, I liked what I saw from a lot of the new players. They looked just as they were-- a bunch of true freshmen who were playing in their first collegiate game. As such, they were lost at times, the offense was rather disorganized (God, how I missed seeing Julian out there!!) and they were playing rather flat-footed defense and letting guys blow by them for scores. On the other side of the ball, ENMU returned four out of five starters from last year, so it really looked like a team playing together versus a bunch of guys who got thrown together for a pickup game. They were also a decently talented team, and once they got confidence and saw how raw we were, they probably played even better than they usually would have.

Floyd also wasn't messing around with trying to find players to put together. Rather, it appeared he was playing a couple of potential/likely starters with three backups, and instead of replacing one or two players at a time, he let five guys play a few minutes and then rotated five new guys onto the floor at the next stoppage. He said he would do this in order to let them make mistakes and play through them, then sit them down and talk to them about what they needed to fix, and then throw them back out to try again. So really, this was less of a game in his mind than it was a scrimmage (but of course, ENMU certainly didn't look at it that way).

Yet another thing to keep in mind is that we had ZERO veteran leadership in the contest. John Bohannon was out (not sure why, hope it wasn't an injury or discipline thing), and Gabe McCulley had some kind of surgery and will be out 6-8 weeks, so the lone returning player with any sort of experience at all was Michael Perez. Take a bunch of freshmen, throw them out there with Juco transfers, have them run a system they've only just learned, and an 11 point loss to a D-2 team is the result. But I saw lots of potential, and I truly believe that Floyd can get them headed in the right direction and improving game to game. If you'll humor me a couple more paragraphs, I'll assess the new guys as best I can (since one game is hardly enough to even guess at their talent level, of course).

#2 Darius Nelson - 6-7 Fr G/F - decent scoring touch and quickness; got lost on D and let his guy get by him far too often (but then, they all did that at times).

#5 C.J. Cooper - 6-0 Fr G - didn't play a whole lot; hit some nice shots but missed a few as well; good foot speed; looks like a work in progress.

#10 Julian Washburn - 6-7 Fr G/F - Nice moves on the offensive end, but needs to body up on D better; looked like he could really be a force with more practice and coaching.

#11 Jacques Streeter - 6-0 Jr G - transfer from Cal State Fullerton who practiced with the team while sitting out last year; seems ready to step in and be the starting PG until the frosh are ready to challenge him. He looked fast, but shot selection and passing were suspect (probably due to the combination of players out there with him). Need to see more to really make a judgment.

#15 Jalen Ragland - 6-6 Fr F/G - Excited about this kid... looks raw, but has skills. Nice stroke from the three point line, good foot speed, nice offensive moves. Like all the others, needs to improve on D, but if he listens and learns from Coach, this guy could be awesome.

#24 Michael Perez - 6-3 So G - only returnee from last year who played, and it showed; had some nice moves to the hoop, and showed more of the talent we saw sparingly last year when he played behind the seniors. Should provide leadership and help the newbies along.

#25 Tim Jacobs - 6-1 Fr G - I don't recall seeing a whole lot of him (perhaps he really didn't do much to make an impression positive or negative); more to follow as I see more games.

#31 Cedric Lang - 6-9 Fr F - I LOVE THIS GUY. At a solid 225 he has the body of a college player already, and uses it very well underneath. Had some great offensive moves, and also blocked a few shots after the guards let someone get to the hoop. Looked like an aggressive rebounder also, and really hustled more than others. Pair him up with Bohannon and our front court could be a major strength. The only real knock on him was his free throw shooting... he only hit about half his shots from the stripe, and threw two complete air balls (one missed the rim by a foot!). Not good considering how often his aggressive inside game will result in freebies. If he improves on that, he could well be a starter for the next four years. He also looked bigger than 6-9; I could easily see him playing center for us.

#32 Hooper Vint - 6-10 Fr C - another work in progress, but also showed aggressiveness underneath, both scoring and rebounding. Looked a bit lost on defense at times, but it appeared he got paired with more freshmen, which could have hindered his real skills a bit. Like Lang, could play forward or center, and looks to have lots of potential.

#44 Malcolm Moore - 6-7 Jr F - (Juco transfer); saw some good and some bad from him; made some pretty shots, but took a few more than he should have; looked slow on D, and often fouled his man from behind after being beat (Floyd will definitely put a stop to that); uses his frame well underneath, and should improve immediately once he learns Floyd's system better.

#55 D'Von Campbell - 6-0 Fr G - Another work in progress that has tons of potential. Nice outside shot and good ball handling, but didn't really distribute the ball as well as I'd hoped (but then our offense wasn't very organized all night); from what I've heard, he will be a starter if he can outperform Cooper and learn from Perez, but will backup the more experienced Streeter until then.

Whew.... so that's my very amateur and premature analysis of our team, having only seen last night's experiment. More to follow as I see more games (I have season tickets). Basically, we're a very young and inexperienced team who will go through a lot of growing pains this season, but the talent is definitely there. I'd say we may finish around 15-16 wins this year, but will get better every game. We won't have a ton of success this season, but it will be really cool to see these kids grow up and become a solid team in the next couple of years.

[strelz]

BleedingOrange-great job...many thanks, strelz

[mistabinks]

I agree about Lang. He was the only one who stood out - and it wasn't for his air balls from the free throw line.

[Realm]

Very nice and detailed outline for each of the players on the team.

I can't be at the game... and this is the NEXT best thing to being there.

Thanks again Bleed.

Realm...

[BleedingOrange]

My pleasure, Realm.

I'll try my best to keep you updated of our progress as the games go on if you don't mind me rambling a bit.