MINNEAPOLIS — Texas Tech will play against Virginia for the national championship, and that is something that is tough to write for a native El Pasoan.

Texas Western College (now UTEP), of Glory Road fame, holds the distinction of being the only Texas team to have won a Division I national championship in men's basketball.

When I was growing up, it was a badge of honor that El Pasoans, UTEP fans and students wore proudly.

The 1966 championship is even more noteworthy, because it marked the first time a team with five African American starters won a national championship.

It resonated even more because it happened against Adolph Rupp and all-white Kentucky. The SEC did not have any African American players at the time.

I heard stories all the time about that time from my father. Bobby Joe Hill making back-to-back steals against future pro basketball players Louie Dampier and future NBA coach Pat Riley.

The thunderous dunks from David Lattin.

My father remembered that day like it had just happened. With the joy he must have had as an 11-year old boy when the victorious Miners landed in El Paso.

And now Texas Tech is on the doorstep of making history of its own.

The Red Raiders could become the first school in Texas to own a men's and women's national championship, following Marsha Sharp, basketball Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes and the 1993 Texas Tech women's team. An accomplishment that Texas and Texas A&M, the heavyweight athletic programs in the state, cannot claim.

Jarrett Culver and Chris Beard are poised to join their Red Raider colleagues in Texas lore along with Matt Mooney, the senior grad transfer that scored 23 points, long-armed Tariq Owens and Brandone Francis.

Davide Moretti, Norense Odiase and Kyler Edwards could be remembered as much as Texas Western’s Willie Worsley, Orsten Artis, Harry Flournoy and Nevil Shed.

And Beard might join Don Haskins, who would probably love the Red Raiders defensive grit, as national championship coaches.

At the arena that bears Haskins’ name in El Paso, the Miners faithful stand at the beginning of the game until the first points are scored by the opposition, a carryover from the day the Hall of Fame coach roamed the sidelines.

UTEP will always be the first team to win a championship from the state, but the Miners would no longer have a familiar rallying cry before every home game.

The historical aspect is one that also cannot be undone.

The impact that Haskins and the 1966 Miners had on college basketball and college athletics as a whole is hard to fathom. The game has opened doors and led to books, documentaries and a Disney movie.

For many, even members of the team, the world is ready for another Texas national championship — especially when given the alternative, another ACC team, Virginia, winning a title.

Willie Cager, a prominent member of the 1966 champions was quoted in the El Paso Times saying he would be fine with the Red Raiders cutting down the nets. Others around that team agreed with him. I'm not sure all El Pasoans feel the same way.

A few will don Virginia caps on Monday waiting to pop the champagne as the 1972 Miami Dolphins do after the last undefeated team loses annually in the NFL.

But others will be rooting for Texas Tech knowing they were the first and welcome the newest member to an exclusive club after 53 years.

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