UTEP Recruit

[50's PONY]

http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/s ... 0083.shtml
Sports Sunday, April 25, 2004
Joe Muench
Former UTEP recruit may be going to Kansas

Joe Muench
El Paso Times

Joe Muench


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Some alternative thinking on UTEP basketball recruiting, among other snippets:

Fans are led to believe prize recruit Alex Galindo was granted a release from his UTEP scholarship because of the coaching change. No Billy Gillispie and/or Sergio Rouco, no UTEP. Galindo would have been UTEP's most heralded recruit ever. He's a top-100 prospect.

But wait. Since he won't be following Gillispie to Texas A&M or Rouco to Florida International, Galindo will have new coaches no matter where he goes.

So is there a different reason he dissed UTEP, after professing his love for El Paso, UTEP and the Latino culture?

One school that has caught Galindo's interest is Kansas, coached by Gillispie's mentor, Bill Self. If Galindo picks Kansas, that's a sock to the stomach of UTEP fans.

Meanwhile, it only sounds good that rescinding the 5/8 recruiting rule will help UTEP. It would open more scholarship holes this recruiting season. Under 5/8, UTEP would have a maximum of 10 scholarships next season, three short of the NCAA's maximum 13.

But here's why rescinding 5/8 would hurt UTEP. More of the elite players would fit on the rosters of the top-25 teams, leaving the other schools with thinner pickings.

The 5/8 rule says a school may recruit no more than five players in a year and no more than eight over two years. It was put in to spread out the talent. Now, when a big school loses young players to the NBA, they cannot be replaced. If the rule is rescinded, schools like Duke and Kansas always can have the maximum 13 players on scholarship.

There's a good chance the 5/8 will be rescinded this week. The NCAA Division 1 Management Council voted unanimously last week to repeal the rule. Now it needs a final NCAA stamp.

Bound for Washington

Yes, of course UTEP Athletics Director Bob Stull will take the University of Washington AD job, if offered. He was the Huskies' associate AD for development the two years before joining UTEP in 1998. He was an assistant coach at Washington from 1975-84 under now- retired legend Don James.

It's logical that James could be a middle man in a deal, just as it's believed Gillispie had a middle man between himself and Texas A&M. That way Gillispie wasn't fibbing late last season when he said he had not been contacted by A&M. James attended a UTEP spring football practice recently.

Money trouble

A hurdle for UTEP joining Conference USA might well be the initiation fee, said to be $1 million up front and another $1 million spread out creatively.

UTEP has dipped into boosters' pockets heavily of late. And if UTEP couldn't come up with a lot of money to at least tempt Gillispie to stick around, where will this new ante come from? Maybe from the discretionary funds overseen by President Diana Natalicio?

UTEP is C-USA's best fit for a Western Division that also would include: SMU, Rice, Tulsa, Houston and Tulane. Other candidates are North Texas and Louisiana Tech.

Nobody cares about North Texas in the Dallas area. It's easier for teams to fly into El Paso than to reach Louisiana Tech, which is 70 miles from the airport in Shreveport, La. UTEP outdraws both schools in football and basketball. And in El Paso, UTEP is the No. 1 sport. North Texas is far down the list in Dallas-Fort Worth. Louisiana Tech is way out in the pine trees.

Joe Muench may be reached at jmuench@elpasotimes.com; 546-6381.


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[Corso]

It would be interesting if that guy ends up at Kansas, seeing as how every other KU player is jumping ship. Three have transferred so far, right? Or is it more?