June 18, 2008

UTEP is projected to be one of 65 schools in next year's NCAA Tournament, according to the latest Bracketology on ESPN.com.

ESPN college basketball analyst Joe Lunardi has the Miners seeded 12th in the "Big Dance" and ticketed to the South Regional, where they are pitted against fifth seed Arizona State in a first round game at Boise.

"It's good news, and hopefully it's a motivating factor for our players," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "It's moreso for the fans and the media. But I hope our guys see it and get excited and it drives them to work hard this summer. We have a good team with some pieces in place. Nobody's expectations are going to be higher than our team's."

UTEP is one of three Conference USA schools listed in the new Bracketology, joining top seed Memphis and seventh seed UAB.

ESPN's Andy Katz also thinks highly of the Miners, putting them in the "also under consideration" category in his preseason top 25 poll. Memphis is the nation's seventh-ranked squad. UTEP and UAB are two of the 16 teams listed as "also under consideration," meaning UTEP is predicted to be one of the top 41 teams in the country.

The Miners return three starters and nearly 70 percent of their scoring output from last year's 19-14 club that advanced to the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament and earned a bid to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.

UTEP welcomes back a first team All-Conference player in senior guard Stefon Jackson, who ranked seventh nationally in scoring a year ago (23.6 ppg), as well as sophomore guard Randy Culpepper, the 2008 C-USA Sixth Man of the Year. The Miners will also introduce six talented newcomers: 7-0 junior center Kareem Cooper, a Memphis transfer; 6-5 guard Isaac Gordon, a Mercer transfer; and four freshmen - 6-1 guard Blaise Ffrench, 6-6 swingman Jason Jones, 6-11 forward Arnett Moultrie and 6-8 forward Chano Rashiduddin.