El Paso is a college basketball city, and thanks to the late, great Don Haskins, Texas Western/UTEP still holds the title of the only Texas University to win an NCAA Tournament championship. A lot of fans of the UTEP Miners are hopeful that Coach Tim FLoyd can take us back to the NCAA tourney, despite a very rough start to the basketball season. But like the rest of the season, the CUSA Tournament is going to be a nail biter.

UTEP Miners Fifth Seed For CUSA Tournament
courtesy: elpasotimes.com/mark lambie
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The UTEP Men’s basketball team beat UTSA 61 – 51 last night in its regular season finale, but that win still wasn’t enough to get a top four seed and a double bye in next week’s CUSA championship. UTEP has battled all kinds of problems all season long to get to where they are.

So far this season, the Miners lost prize recruit Isaac Hamilton, then when the team was playing in the Bahamas, an altercation between Floyd and USC coach Andy Enfield broke out, and then there is the FBI investigation that resulted in three UTEP players being kicked off the team. It's been an eventful season, to say the least!

Fast forward to next week's Conference USA tournament happening at the Don Haskins Center. UTEP was hoping for a top four seed so they could get a double bye, but they missed it by one. They will be seeded fifth in next week’s CUSA conference tournament. The Miners will have to play and win four games in order to win the tourney and get into the NCAA Tournament.

The Miners will take Friday off, and then get back to work Saturday to start getting ready for the tournament.

C-USA Championship all session tickets are on sale now. You can get them by calling 747-6150. Tickets start at just $80 for a total of 29 men's and women's games at the Don. You can also get single session tickets by calling 747-5234. Men’s single session prices range from $15-$50, and women’s single session tickets are $10.

You can watch the first, second and quarterfinal round games on Tuesday, March 11, Wednesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 13 on the C-USA Digital Network. The Friday semifinal games will air on the CBS Sports Network at 2 and 4:30 local time. CBS will carry the championship game on Saturday, beginning at 9:35 a.m. local time.

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