Mid-Major Madness: All Posts by Anthony Salom

Sources: Chris Washburn Not Involved in Bar Scuffle

2013-05-14T23:03:54Z

As was first reported by KVIA's Asher Wildman, UTEP freshman forward Chris Washburn Jr. was recently named in an El Paso Police Department complaint report filed Saturday night after an altercation that took place at the Palomino Tavern located in the Cincinnati Entertainment District.

According to the report, Eric Nunez, a security guard at the Palomino, was struck in the head during an altercation and suffered a minor injury because of the blow. Washburn and "two other unidentified black males" were accused, however neither Nunez nor witnesses could identify who actually committed the assault.

Since the incident, rumors have been flying that go as far as to say that Washburn hit the security guard in the head with a bottle, but sources close to the situation have expressed that isn't the case. Those sources state that while Washburn was at the establishment, he was not involved in the altercation.

The complete details of the situation are still unclear, but at this point Washburn has not been charged or arrested, and it is not expected that he will be. We'll continue to monitor the situation as it develops so stay tuned to MinerRush for more information as it becomes available.

2013 Battle For Atlantis Field Set

2013-05-02T23:19:11Z

The tournament, to be played November 28-30 2013, will take place on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and will feature the likes of Kansas, Iowa, Tennessee, UTEP, USC, Villanova, Wake Forest, and Xavier.

As was first reported by CBS' Jeff Goodman hours ago, Iowa becomes the final participant, rounding out a loaded 8 team field.

Battle 4 Atlantis field down in the Bahamas is: Kansas, Tennessee, Villanova, Xavier, Iowa, Wake, UTEP and USC.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) May 2, 2013

The Hawkeyes had previously committed to playing in the Great Alaska Shootout, but bailed when presented with the opportunity to play at Atlantis, seemingly in an effort to strengthen a non-conference SOS that potentially kept them out of the NCAA tournament this past season.

The pairings for the tournament have still not been released, but as was first reported by MinerRush on our Twitter account earlier this week, the Miners will play Georgetown, Cincinnati, and USC in the upcoming season; leaving much speculation that UTEP and USC could be paired together in the opening round in the Bahamas.

Regardless of who the Miners end up being paired with, this field will provide some great matchups, and some great experience for a maturing UTEP basketball team. And again, much like this past season, next year's schedule is shaping up to be another one of the best we've ever seen.

Make sure to stay tuned to MinerRush and our Twitter account @sbnminerrush, as we'll continue to bring you information on UTEP basketball, and all things UTEP sports as the information becomes available to us.

Scott Stoker is UTEP's New Defensive Coordinator

2013-04-19T23:18:26Z

Over the last day and a half, there has been much speculation that Sam Houston State defensive coordinator Scott Stoker was the leading candidate to replace the departed Jeff Choate as the defensive play caller for the Miners. Now, we know that will be the case.

It was first reported by Pete Roussel of www.coachingsearch.com yesterday morning, and was confirmed by MinerRush that Stoker was the leading the candidate for the job, and now we can say with certainty that he will be the new defensive coordinator for the Miners.

Sources within the program have confirmed that he has been offered, and has accepted the position. At this point, no contracts have been finalized, but that should happen in the very near future, and an official announcement from the university should come a short time after that.

Stoker comes in with a great resume, and a great deal of experience that includes a seven year head coaching stint, as well as a handful of years as a coordinator on both sides of the ball. He is also known as a solid recruiter and should fit right in here in El Paso. Stay tuned for more information, and an official announcement in the coming days.

UTEP Looking at Sam Houston Assistant Stoker to Replace Choate

2013-04-19T18:36:38Z

As was first reported yesterday by Pete Roussel of www.coachingsearch.com, UTEP's top target to take over the defensive coordinator duties is current Sam Houston State DC and linebackers coach Scott Stoker. That has been confirmed by MinerRush.

In his time with the Bearkats, Stoker has had quite a successful run, making his defense tops in the Southland Conference in back to back years, and also helping his team to FCS national title game appearances in each of those campaigns.

Stoker was named the Football Championship Subdivision "defensive coordinator of the year" by footballscoop.com following his unit's performance in 2012, and the coach also has proved to be a great recruiter in Texas and Louisiana.

Prior to taking the defensive reigns at Sam Houston State, Stoker was an assistant on both sides of the ball at McNeese State (1994-2002), and also spent seven years as the head coach at Northwestern State, compiling a 43-38 record.

Stoker seems to be a great candidate for the job, perhaps an even better one than Choate was. Of course, we'll never get to know how good of a defensive mind Choate actually was, but its nice to get a guy with a quality resume like that of Stoker.

As of this morning, no deal is in place, but it does seem like Stoker is the top candidate, and perhaps one of the only candidates for the job. We should expect to hear more on this very soon. Make sure to stay tuned to MinerRush for more on this and all things UTEP sports.

UTEP Football Rumors: DC Jeff Choate to Take Job at Florida

2013-04-17T00:03:37Z

Rumor has it that UTEP's new defensive coordinator Jeff Choate will be leaving town before ever coaching a game in the Sun Bowl. While there is no confirmation from UTEP Athletics, word has it that Choate has accepted a special teams position at the University of Florida.

Choate came to the Miners under new head coach Sean Kugler after spending a season as the linebackers coach at Washington State. Prior to that, however, Choate spent six years at Boise State where he served as running backs coach (2006-2008), linebackers coach (2009), and nickel backs coach (2010-2011), and was also the special teams coordinator in each of his years with the Broncos.

At Florida, the Gators have been without a special teams coordinator for some time now, and coach Will Muschamp has been expected to round out his coaching staff in the coming days.

According to Hays Carlyon of The Florida Times Union:

"Muschamp said he expects to have his staff filled out in the next week. Bryant Young resigned as UF's defensive tackles coach Wednesday. Muschamp could elect to hire a special teams coach, as the Gators already have one defensive line coach in Brad Lawing."

Choate doesn't have direct ties to Gator head coach Muschamp, but did coach alongside Florida's offensive coordinator Brent Pease from 2006-2011 at Boise State.

Again, there has been no official word from either side as to the hiring of Choate, so at this point these are simply rumors, but we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops. Make sure to stay tuned to MinerRush and @sbnminerrush on Twitter for more information on this story, and all things UTEP sports.

MinerRush's Bracket Challenge

2013-03-18T21:47:31Z

Miner fans, the UTEP basketball season may be over, but March Madness is just about to hit high gear. Here's your chance to fill out an NCAA tournament bracket, compete against other Miner fans, and win cool prizes. Best of all, its absolutely free.

Come join us over at Yahoo for our bracket challenge by using the following link to find our group:

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup_assign_team?GID=128859&P=miners1966

Once there, you can sign in using your Yahoo, Gmail, or Facebook accounts, and you can join the group by entering password miners1966 into the password slot.

Once again, come join the MinerRush bracket challenge (group #: 128859) over at Yahoo. Sign in, sign up (password: miners1966), compete against other Miner fans, and have your chance at winning some cool UTEP prizes.

If you have any issues signing up, make sure to contact us here, by email at sbnminerrush@gmail.com, or on Twitter @sbnminerrush, and we'll make sure to take care of any issues that you might have.

Also, make sure to spread the word about the bracket challenge! Invite friends by sharing the link above, or by giving them the group number and password. All brackets must be filled out prior to start of games on Thursday, so make sure to get them in as soon as possible!

PRIZES:

(1) One grand prize winner will receive a family four pack of season tickets to UTEP football games in the 2013 season, and (3) Three first place winners will receive a UTEP t-shirt.

***ALL PARTICIPANTS ARE SUBJECT TO THE OFFICIAL RULES FOUND HERE***

UTEP Men Give Up Season High 85, Fall to Southern Miss

2013-03-15T23:16:16Z

Not even a month ago, UTEP and Southern Miss squared off in Hattiesburg, MS in a contest that ended with a final score of 45-39. That wouldn't exactly be the case in Friday's rematch in the Conference USA semifinal.

The Golden Eagles were first on the board at 2-0 just 30 seconds in, and while it would take them a while to gain any significant advantage, that was about as close as the Miners would get for the rest of the afternoon.

Early foul trouble plagued the Miners as less than 12 minutes in John Bohannon, Cedrick Lang, McKenzie Moore, and Julian Washburn all had 2 or more fouls. Washburn, who has been the Miners' best offensive threat as of late, picked up his 3rd just more than 10 minutes in and was forced to the bench for the rest of the half.

With Washburn on the bench, the Golden Eagles began to increase their lead. The Miners were able to hold on for a while, keeping the deficit in the single digits as the three minute mark approached. But, after a big C.J. Cooper three to get the Miners within six at 37-31, Southern Miss turned it on and closed the half on an 11-0 run to take a 48-31 lead into the intermission.

Following the break, the Miners were much more competitive, and were able to get the lead down to as few as 10 with about four minutes to play, but it was just too little too late as they simply ran out of steam and fell by a final score of 85-67.

Cooper led the way for the Miners, scoring a career high 20 points. Julian Washburn finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists on the afternoon, and Jacques Streeter finished with 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists, but also had 3 turnovers.

Southern Miss was led by Dwayne Davis who finished with a game high 27 points to go along with a couple of rebounds, and an assist. Jonathan Mills finished with a double-double, going for 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Jerrold Brooks had 13 points of his own.

For the Miners, it was simply the worst defensive performance of the year at the worst possible time. After holding Southern Miss to only 45 points in the entire game in Hattiesburg, they allowed them 48 in the first half alone in this one.

The Miners also allowed a season high 85 points, and a season high 58.5% from the field. The previous highs given up were 84 against Oregon in triple OT, and 55% in a loss at Houston. For a team that doesn't exactly score of ton of points, and prides themselves in their defense, this had to be as far away from the gameplan as possible.

The loss drops the Miners to 18-14 on the season, effectively ending any hopes of making the NCAA tournament, and most likely the NIT as well. News should come in the coming days on whether or not the team will be invited to take part in either the CBI or CIT, and whether or not they would even accept such an invite.

With the win, the Golden Eagles improve to 25-8 on the year, and greatly help their chances of making it to the big dance, with Memphis, for the second straight year. The Golden Eagles will take on the winner of tonight's second semifinal between Memphis and Tulsa, in tomorrow's championship game. That will take place tomorrow morning at 9:00 am M.T. on CBS, and will determine Conference USA's automatic bid.

UTEP Women Fall Short Against UCF

2013-03-15T22:38:15Z

The Miners got off to a hot start in Friday morning's semifinal matchup with Central Florida, scoring 43 points in the first half en route to a three point lead. But, the scoring continued in the second half and the Miners just were unable to keep pace.

UTEP maintained its three point lead minutes into the second half, but senior center Anete Steinberga picked up her 3rd foul, and the wheels would soon come off. With Steinberga on the bench the Knights used a 12-0 run to turn a three point deficit into a nine point lead and they never looked back.

The Miners were able to fight back to pull within five but that's as close as they would get. In the end, UCF walked away with an 89-77 victory and punched their ticket to the Conference USA tournament final.

All five Miner starters scored in double figures, led by Steinberga who finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Kayla Thornton had 18 points and 5 rebounds, Cameasha Turner and Kelli Willingham finished with 12 points apiece, and Chrishauna Parker chipped in with 12 points and 10 boards.

UCF was led by Briahanna Jackon who finished with 18 points and 5 rebounds. Sara Djassi and Kayli Keough had 17 points each and Gevenia Carter finished with 16 points of her own. In all the Knights had six players score in double figures, and five of them had 5 rebounds or more.

The loss drops the Miners to 22-10 and they will now have to wait to hear what their postseason fate will be. UCF moves a step closer to an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and can secure that bid with a win over host Tulsa in tomorrow's championship game.