The Dig: UTEP Recruiting News & Notes Edition

In The Dig:  Will new UTEP QB Nick Lamison's first win as a Miner be to bring his offensive tackle and favorite receiver with him to El Paso?  And, with no game until Saturday, time to take a quick look around the league and catch up on some recruiting notes.  Let's kick it off with news that Tim Floyd may be targeting a trio of Arkansas high school studs including  6'11 big man, a 5 star shooting guard prodigy from Little Rock, and a junior who's tearing up the AAU circuit.....   Just another day at the office for Coach Tim Floyd........

UTEP Miners Basketball Recruiting Updates

#1:  A Boy Named Hooper?  Word out of Arkansas is that UTEP's Tim Floyd is starting to take notice of 6'11 center prospect Hooper Vint.  Vint, from Van Buren, Arkansas, is in the class of 2011 meaning he is a senior in high school now and will be eligible next fall.  Here is a link to Vint's Scout.com profile.  

#2:  The 5 Star Shooting Guard Archie Goodwin:  Coach Floyd reportedly traveled to Arkansas on Monday to see 5 star shooting guard Archie Goodwin.  Goodwin is a 5 star prospect that ESPN grades a 97 overall.  He is a 6'5 guard who ESPN ranks as the 17th best overall prospect in the class of 2012.

#3:  The Arkansas Connection:  UTEP has reportedly offered Dusty Hannahs, a 6'2 shooting guard, also out of Little Rock, Arkansas.  Hannahs is a junior, so he wouldn't be a member of this upcoming class. Hannahs also has offers from Clemson, Southeast Missouri, and Louisiana Tech so far. 

#4:  Another Big Man:  As noted in the FanShots, UTEP has also made a move for JUCO big man Phillip Jurick.  According to Angel Luna:

Junior college center Philip Jurick, a 6-foot 11 inch 265 pounder, received an offer from UTEP. He has offers from Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Southern Miss, UCF and West Virginia. He spent a redshirt season (2008-2009) at Tennessee before leaving for junior college. He’s was rated a four-star prospect by Rivals.com out of East Ridge High School

Let's Keep Digging.........

More than Rebuilding:  Few could blame Tony Barbee for taking the golden Auburn paycheck last summer.  I didn't think it was the right job for him, simply because I thought he had a team here that was a tourney lock (with Arnett Moultrie and Derrick Caracter at the time) and thought he could position himself for a better gig.  Well, Auburn fans might be happy with their BCS National Championship, but I doubt they expected it to be this rough a start for Tony Barbee.  ESPN's Pat Forde has the numbers.. It's Ugly.

Auburn (28), representing the Southeastern Conference. Record: 7-10 overall, 0-3 in the league. Sagarin rank: 289. Pomeroy rank: 254. Lowlights: As good as the football team was, the basketball team is every bit that bad. When you open the season with home losses to UNC-Asheville, Samford and Campbell, you're not good. The only thing keeping the Tigers from being the worst of all big-conference teams is their incomprehensible upset of Florida State on Jan. 3. When will the Tigers win again: Home against Alabama, Jan. 22. It will be Iron Bowl glory redux.

Here's another link to the Hattiesburg American's profile on Tim Floyd.

We're #1:  SBNation Houston has their C-USA Power Rankings up.  Like Asalom's Power Rankings , SBNation has UTEP #1 two weeks into C-USA league play.

1) UTEP Miners -- 15-4 (3-1) -- While they haven't had the awe-inspiring start that UCF had, the Miners have looked much better in-conference thus far, blowing out three teams and losing a 3OT road game to the UAB Blazers. Behind Randy Culpepper, this team probably has the best chance of making the tourney as a non-automatic bid

Quick UTEP Football Recruiting Note

The Lamison Factor:  UTEP was lucky to nab Mt. San Antonio (CA) Juco QB Nick Lamaison last week.  Lamaison has been hard at work recruiting fellow Mt. SAC players James Martin (his offensive tackle) and wideout Mike Edwards to UTEP.  The San Antonio Express News is reporting that Martin is down to UTEP and UT-San Antonio while Edwards "is close" to following Lamaison to UTEP.

Still trying to track down anything new with Mt. San Antonio offensive lineman James Martin, who said Sunday he is down to UTSA and UTEP. Said a source, “Nothing new.” A factor could be Mt. SAC teammates Nick Lamaison and Mike Edwards; the former has already signed with the Miners and Edwards is apparently close to following suit.

Edwards is rated a 2 star prospect by Rivals.com.  It would be nice to see Lamaison score his first win at UTEP by bringing his best blocker and receiver with him to El Paso.  The trio all visited UTEP together.

Speaking of Lamaison, KROD (now an ESPN Radio Station in the EPT) interviewed him and has the audio up here. Check it out.

The Houston Cougars

Locking Houston Down:  The Chronicle has a nice feature on UH Coach James Dickey.  Dickey's plan starts with locking down the fertile Houston recruiting ground.

The Marshall Thundering Herd

Sad News:  Former Marshall stud running back Darius Marshall left the Herd after his junior season to go pro.  He was never drafted so he went back to school. Now he's been arrested for domestic battery.  

Marshall and West Virginia play tonight.  Here's the CBS game preview.  

Around the League

Here is the link to all of the C-USA's Weekly Team Capsules with game information and statistics for Wednesday nights games.