'Huge positive': Veteran UTEP men fired up to officially start practice
The "official start" of the college basketball season became a random day some time ago, the UTEP men's "first day" on Monday didn't look different than their workouts the previous four months, but it did look different from the "first day" one year ago.
Depending on how Elijah Jones is counted — he transferred in last January and redshirted — the Miners have eight eight or nine returnees. Nine would make three times as many as a year ago when UTEP began the transfer-portal process of a thorough rebuild that had it playing catchup all season.
The feeling around the team as it angles toward an Oct. 14 scrimmage and the Nov. 6 opener is quite a change.
"It pays huge dividends to bring guys back," coach Joe Golding said after Tuesday's second official day of practice for his third UTEP team. "It’s been a huge positive. As we’re navigating this all of us are learning about the portal, having some guys back with some retention is huge.
"We had a great summer, a great fall, we’ve had some really good leadership in our program with our returners. We’re further ahead right now than we’ve been.
"We’ll see what that looks like, I don’t know if that’s good or bad but we’re further ahead than what we’ve been in the previous two fall camps before we started. We’re excited about that."
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Those returnees include starter Tae Hardy, Calvin Solomon and Otis Frazier, who have taken on some leadership for the six new faces.
"Those three guys, Otis, Tae and Calvin, those guys started for us last year a ton of games, they have a lot of experience, we need those guys to be good," Golding said. "We need them to be good, we need them to play at an all-conference level, we need them to show the new guys what our program looks like.
"Those three guys are bought in, they’ve worked their butts off, they had a great summer and a great fall."
The six newcomers include star transfer Zid Powell from Buffalo, expected to be the point guard and floor leader, but all of those have been here since summer and as freshman Trey Horton pointed out, he has some familiarity with his new team.
"I’ve known some of the guys after my visit last year, so some of the returners, Calvin, Tae, I’ve been keeping in touch with them in the season," said Horton, who is from North Carolina. "Since I’ve been on campus we’ve started gelling. We’ve got good team chemistry.
"I’m learning from older guys they teach me a lot, to get accustomed to it. The energy is high which helps the learning, it’s fast-paced. There’s a lot to take in but it’s coming."
Forward Jon Dos Anjos is one of the returnees and perhaps one of the most excited for a new season, as several injuries limited his action a season ago.
"I feel great," he said. "Especially after last season, coming back from two injuries last year, that was hard, but I’m prepared. I’m ready to go.
"We have eight returners, we know what to expect, we know what coach wants. We know when it comes to the games. We know what’s expected. The energy has been high since summer. Yesterday, the first day of practice, it’s just another day, but we love this, we embrace it, we like the work."
Golding said the process now is similar to what the football team went through in August.
"We’re on practice two, we have 29 practices left, then two scrimmages as we navigate this," Golding said Tuesday. "We have a scrimmage Oct. 14 and the 21st. It’s kind of like fall camp for football except you have school in session as well. We’re navigating that.
"Practices are getting a little longer now, it’s a camp for a month to prepare yourself for the season."
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 'Huge positive': Veteran UTEP men fired up to start practice
