Miner Rush, a UTEP Miners community

Excerpt: Two Heat players, Michael Haynes and Desmond Lee, have signed to play for UTEP next year. Haynes, the Heat’s most prized recruit this past season, turned down offers from Duke, UCLA and Texas to play for UTEP.

April 27, 2010 - Michael Haynes, a high-scoring forward from Heat Academy in Martinsville, Va., has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at UTEP beginning with the 2010-11 season. AM Update: Bump'd: ChicagoHoops.com broke this story last week, but now the paperwork is in. Haynes is a heck of a player. After seeing Curry swept up by a Big East program, it's nice for UTEP to sweep one back. Thanks, Miner Mike for posting this!

Brian Stinnette of Chicago Hoops is reporting that Michael Haynes, a 3 Star (Rivals) forward has committed to UTEP. Haynes had offers from Minnesota, South Florida, and Xavier and made headlines when Duke showed interest in him late in the recruiting season. Haynes visited Duke for their February game against Virginia Tech. ESPN (Insider) shows that Haynes drew interest from Marquette, Iowa State, DePaul, and Bradley. UTEP's C-USA rival Marshall was also reportedly interested in Haynes. Haynes was a star at Chicago's Washington High before transferring to the Heat Academy in Martinsville, Virginia. Haynes was rumored to visit UTEP last weekend along with Rashanti Harris and Stinnette says that he "loved the environment at UTEP" and was "excited to become a Miner." I can't verify the accuracy of this report. I do know that Tim Floyd is on the recruiting trail right now and we should expect some official announcements when he gets back to El Paso. One thing is certain: Tim Floyd is being aggressive on the recruiting trail. Haynes had offers from marquee programs in powerful conferences. If Floyd has signed him, along with Rashanti Harris, it would be huge for the program on a national recruiting level.