Apparently UTEP thinks they won

[MustangStealth]

On their front page:

[RGV Pony]

On their front page:

Regular season champs.

[Roach]

Go to the women's basketball page on their site, and they have a photo of Timikia Williams fouling SMU's Elbie Gates.

Then there's this little missive from their "press release":

SMU christened the second stanza much like the first, with five straight points push their edge to 10 (30-20). The Miners responded much like the champions that they are (regular-season C-USA title), utilizing an 18-0 stretch over the next 6:28.

OK, it's understandable that the website puts things in an UTEP-friendly light, since it's run, after all, by the university. But it is a PRESS RELEASE, you nitwits! It is not a newsletter for the booster club. You're supposed to distribute information, not add opinions (including inaccurate opinions). Our site does a great job of that - if we lose, it says we lost and Killen or Dodds had 14 points, or Sanders caught a touchdown, or something. That "much like the champions they are" crap would be like saying Thomas Morstead punted "much like the national player of the year he is." I happen to think he's the best punter/kicker in the country, if only because I can't name another, but it's flat-out inaccurate. UTEP is not the Conference USA champion. We are.

I know their little feelings are hurt in El Paso because they got whipped and still have never won anything of significance since Don Haskins was making history against Kentucky. They'll get into the NCAAs this year for the first time ever, but they still have never won a conference tournament and can not call themselves champions.

CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONS: SMU

[MustangStealth]

Did you see the headline?

Regular Season C-USA Champion Miners Drop Close Contest to SMU

16 points isn't that close.

[MustangLaxer]

I do feel bad for UTEP. What do they have? El Paso? Sweet athletics? They had women's basketball, but now thats even gone...I guess the sweetest thing about el paso would be las mujeres caliente

[Bigtime41]

On their front page:

What they have done is entered in to Spin City. THey put in small print that they are REgualar Season Conference CHamps however it is so miss leading to the average fan who visits their site. THe one thing that is real and it is on this past Sunday afternoon 3/9/08, in front of a National Audience, UTEP got spanked by some team called the SMU Mustangs. By the way they are the 2007-2008 Conference USA Champions!!! That my friends is UNDISPUTABE!!!!!!!!

[Terry Webster]

Check out this comment from one of thier fans. Found it in the El Paso Times.

One thing this report does not mention is the officiating or lack thereof. The second half appeared to be a game of 8 against 5. Review the game video you'll see Hughes getting flattened clear across the court with no calls from the officiating crew and yet within the same time frame a ticky-tack foul against UTEP. Most of the points SMU scored on the second half were due in part to such calls and plenty of free-throws, yet SMU was able to get away with lots of elbows, slaps to the face and no calls against them. The officiating crew should be reprimanded at the very least. Personally, I would ban this crew from officiating any future games. Thanks is in order from SMU to these officials, as this win was the only way they would get to the NCAA tournament.

[MustangStealth]

In the second half, Hughes started falling down every time she shot, even if there was nobody near her. The refs talked to her but she kept doing it. At one point she tried it on defense too, but her timing was a little off, and she fell over after Samuels had changed directions and was actually running away from her.

[PonyPride]

Check out this comment from one of thier fans. Found it in the El Paso Times.

One thing this report does not mention is the officiating or lack thereof. The second half appeared to be a game of 8 against 5. Review the game video you'll see Hughes getting flattened clear across the court with no calls from the officiating crew and yet within the same time frame a ticky-tack foul against UTEP. Most of the points SMU scored on the second half were due in part to such calls and plenty of free-throws, yet SMU was able to get away with lots of elbows, slaps to the face and no calls against them. The officiating crew should be reprimanded at the very least. Personally, I would ban this crew from officiating any future games. Thanks is in order from SMU to these officials, as this win was the only way they would get to the NCAA tournament.

That fan is right - without the win over UTEP, we're headed to the WNIT - no doubt about it. That fan also right that Hughes got drilled a couple of times without a call - she and the rest of the UTEP team had a legitimate beef there. But let's not act as if the refs decided the outcome here. Piekarska hammered Dodds a few times without getting called while she was busy racking up 15 first-half points. She nailed Gilliam on a defensive switch and got away with it. Hughes handed out her share of shots on Cobb and Samuels, too, and Krezel got away with some, too. The only UTEP starter who didn't do any major unpunished crime was Natasha Lacy. The refs weren't good, but they weren't biased. They were just bad - on both ends of the floor. Both teams got calls they shouldn't have, and both teams got robbed.

I'm biased toward the Mustangs, of course, so I can allow that fan's bias toward his/her team, too. But to try to blame this game on the officials is nothing more than sour grapes. The better team, at least for one game, won. Both, deservedly, are headed to the NCAA Tournament.

[PonyPride]

... At one point she tried it on defense too, but her timing was a little off, and she fell over after Samuels had changed directions and was actually running away from her.

Ha! Missed that one.

[PonyLove]

I loved it every time Hughes got knocked down. Nice hard foul by Cobbs to set the tone that we weren't going to be pushed around.

[crazy horse]

A "true champion" would not have the lost the most important game of this season, the CUSA conference tournament championship, by 16 points on national televison.

I hope this entitlement attitude among their fans is not shared by the team. They will not last long in the NCAA tournament with that kind of thinking.

[EP Pony Fan]

At least UTEP coach Keitha Adams gets it:

""I want the players to step back and say, 'Wow. We nearly ran the table in Conference USA. Wow. Amazing.'

"We have to see the positive."

Story:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/minersmania/ci_8528143

I know a lot of people out here who are fans of the team but who are embarrassed by the behavior of some of the players. Coach Adams is a class act all the way, and has to cringe every time her idiot players behave like they did in Orlando ... or most of the time.

[smu diamond m]

UTEP is just plain bitter, sore losers. They can't even begin to say the refs threw the game -- at one point in the second half we had 6 more team fouls than UTEP.

[regis]

Yes, UTEP is acting like whiny bleeeeeeeeps. But they did win the Regular Season Championship and have the right to claim as such.

We do the same thing with our banners in Moody. We have a banner for the Men's 1993 SWC Championship. Nobody seems to remember that we got bounced in the first round of the tournament by those stooopid toads. Yet, we still have a banner because it was a tremendous accomplishment.

Our women's banner for 1999 says WAC Tournament on it and I bet the one they make for 2008 will say CUSA Tournament on it.

Let the Minerettes have the title, they earned it.