UTEP Getting Some ‘Pep’ In Its Step
by Zach Smart
Ah, to be 19 with otherworldly, eye-popping springs.
Meet Randy Culpepper, a generously-listed 6-foot guard for the University of Texas-El Paso. Mr. Culpepper, through a catalogue of soaring, emphatic, rim-ringing, gravity-defying and rim-punishing bangers, has etched his name in YouTube lore. The chances of the neophyte – who emulates The Matrix characters with his bounce – relinquishing talent is about as likely as John Edwards sporting his chiclet-teeth permasmile at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. As many would opine, the chances of Mr. $400 haircut polluting the DNC with his presence is about as likely as Ron Jeremy being warped in a dry spell during the mid-eighties.
The SLAM magazine-fiending, Google search surfing hoop junkies are already buzzing about the kid from Memphis.
Culpepper, he of the blazing-quick slashes to the cup and three-point sniping, has all the tools to emerge into one of the premier guards along the Western seaboard this season.
The spindly sophomore averaged 12.8 points in just 24 minutes of tick as a freshman. Culpepper, however, has shown flashes of freakish brilliance that’ll have you punching the “rewind” button in no time. The Miners hope these sudden flares – many of which have registered their presence on the aforementioned YouTube circuit – help them explore uncharted territory next season.
I have an affinity for under-sized guards audacious enough to poster a big man and learned of the half-pint guard by way of the Internet. Is this guy serious? Slim’s got springs like Colorado. While R.C. may have dipped below the national recruiting radar, his basketball pedigree and fearless game should now engender drool from the coaches who were put off because of his size.
Culpepper was a flat-out aggressive scorer in high school, blitzing opponents to the beat of 33.4 points per game as a junior at Sheffield High School in Memphis. The human trampoline nearly duplicated that average his senior year, shouldering the burden of go-to-guy. Game after game, tournament after tournament, all eyes were pasted on the little big man.
Culpepper’s game was on display during the early days, when his talent was just starting to splash the shoreline. He subscribed to a 24-hour, 365-days a year basketball regimen. He began making waves on AAU circuit.
Perhaps his most memorable game came when he was still trying to establish a niche. Culpepper rained on the Atlanta, Ga. 16-under-national tournament scorching the nets with an 14 trifectas. Playing for the acclaimed Memphis Grizzlies, he finished his volcanic eruption with 52-spot. The blood-lettering effort allowed him to garner the tournament MVP award. The so-called little kid with a big heart has continued to punish anyone ballsy enough to interrupt his date with the basket.
Are Culpepper’s high-flying antics and good life from beyond the arc the future for UTEP? I’m not certain, but what I am sure of is this: Any kid that young, with that kind of athletic upside, should punch tickets and help a school which certainly wouldn’t mind more national visibility.
