UTEP Makes ESPN’s List of the Top 50 College Basketball Programs of the Past 50 Years

When it comes to sports we love to hate lists.  They help us quantify and qualify a vast amount of data and opinion.  They also come under much scrutiny because they tend to be subjective.

ESPN.com attempted to take all subjectivity out of its top 50 college basketball programs of the past 50 years list.  Their scoring system takes into account conference regular season and tournament titles, winning percentage, NCAA Tournament bids and seeding, NCAA Tournament advancement, NCAA and NIT titles, first and second team All-Americans and players taken in the top 10 of the NBA Draft.  Programs also lose points for NCAA sanctions and vacated seasons.

UTEP tallied a total of 187 points, good enough for 46th out of 50.  The Miners ranked higher than Alabama, LSU, San Francisco, and Boston College.

According to ESPN's scoring system, UTEP was the ninth best program of the '60s and the 25th best program of the '80s.  The '70s, '90s, and '00s weren't as kind to the Miners.

UTEP's 50 in 50 starting five are Tim Hardaway, Bobby Joe Hill, Nate Archibald, Jim Barnes, and David Lattin.  The top options off the bench are Stefon Jackson, Brandon Wolfram, and Dave Feitl.  The coach is, of course, 'the bear.'

To check out the complete list click here.