It seemed like it was finally going to fall into place for Tim Floyd and his Miners.
After watching sixth seeded Middle Tennessee upset one of the Miner's biggest threats in Old Dominion, there was a sigh of relief that UTEP would walk into the championship game in Birmingham.
After all, six weeks earlier UTEP dispatched the Blue Raiders by 13 points in El Paso. The previous year the Blue Raiders provided a huge boost of confidence to the young Miners who traveled to Murfreesboro without three key dismissed players and snapped a 25-game home conference winning streak in Tennessee.