:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57803405/Beyond_the_arc_2017.0.jpg)
Tim Floyd, basketball coach at UTEP, abruptly retired after the Miners lost Monday night to Lamar. The Miners dropped to 1-5 on the season with the only win being against Division III Louisiana College. Floyd, who has been the head coach at UTEP for more than seven seasons compiling a 138-98 record, decided it was “time for someone else to get to have this fun."
UTEP announced Tuesday assistant Phil Johnson will take over as head coach of the Miners. The abrupt decision for retirement also comes on the heels of UTEP very recently naming Jim Senter its new athletic director.
The cauldron boils
Since the Big Ball(er) debacle has all but gone away, let’s revisit the college basketball FBI investigation. A total of eight high profile schools are caught up in the investigation including preseason No. 2 Arizona. Assistant coach Emanuel Richardson is accused of paying bribe money to a player to sign with the Wildcats. By the way, coach Richardson also goes by the name of “Book”. First warning maybe?
No. 14 USC was also caught up in the scandal. Assistant coach Tony Bland is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, soliciting a bribe and wire fraud. He allegedly made cash payments to the families of two current USC players. He has been suspended by the university.
What makes this even better is the fact coach Bland is being represented by New York attorney Jeffrey Lichtman. Who is Jeffrey Lichtman you say? Mr. Lichtman happens to list El Chapo and John Gotti Jr. as former clients. That’s what you call “lawyered up”.
When the buzzer sounded at the end of Alabama’s game against current no. 12 Minnesota last Saturday, the Tide only saw three. As in, only three team members on the floor.
Early in the second half Bama lost seven players to ejection, one player to fouls, and one to injury which left the Tide with only three eligible players for the remaining 10:41 of the game and trailing 67-54. The three players went on to outscore the Golden Gophers 30-22 over the final 10+ minutes of the game, actually pulling to within three points with 1:39 remaining at 83-80. Minnesota pulled away at the end, winning 89-84.
Baylor’s Maston out with injury
Baylor senior forward Terry Maston suffered a broken right hand in the Bears 76-63 loss at Xavier last Tuesday. Maston serves as the teams sixth man averaging 26 minutes, 11 points, and 8.6 rebounds per game off the bench for the Bears. He will have surgery on Thursday and will be out at least until January.
Chasing records
The Red Raiders basketball team became the first team in Tech history to win its first six games of the season by double digits. Now we look at consecutive wins to begin the season.
With a win over Seton Hall, the 2017-18 team will tie two other squads for the third longest winning streak to begin the season at seven. Second all time is the 2009-10 team who began the season by winning nine straight and the 1929-30 team holds the all time streak to begin the season with 12 wins.
A win over Seton Hall certainly puts this years team in an admirable position to at least tie the all time streak as their next five games would be considered very winnable. The game that could move this squad into first all time for wins to start the season would be the Big 12 conference opener at home against Baylor on December 29.
Lady Raiders
The Lady Raiders fell to 3-2 after a rough home loss to the now No. 18 Texas A&M Lady Aggies, 90-56. Tech found themselves down 34-5 at the end of the first quarter but played a solid game the rest of the way. The next game is Thursday as the Lady Raiders face LSU at 6:30 p.m. local time at the United Supermarkets Arena. The game is part of the Big 12/SEC challenge.