(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ / EL PASO TIMES)
For 63 teams in the WNIT field, the tournament is a bit of a consolation prize.
As recently as two weeks ago, everyone except UTEP's opponent on Thursday, Abilene Christian, had hopes of being in the NCAA tournament, and several, including the Miners, clung to that all the way through the final minutes of the selection show. (ACU is ineligible for the NCAAs because it is in a transition year after moving up from Division II.)
For a regular-season conference champion like UTEP, disappointment is natural. But, there is one area where the Miners are a bit different.